Regular season comes to a close on Sunday
CHICAGO – A great all-around effort on Saturday saw the University of Evansville softball team earn a doubleheader sweep over Loyola in the final series of the regular season.
Evansville (24-24, 12-13 MVC) took game one by a 4-1 score before wrapping up the day with a 5-3 triumph over the Ramblers (20-28, 4-19 MVC). With the victories, the Aces officially punched their ticket to the MVC Tournament and will fight for seeing tomorrow in the season finale at noon.
“I am really proud of what this team has done this season, they set a goal of making it to the conference tournament and they accomplished that,†UE head coach Mat Mundell said. “As a group, they wanted to change the perception of Aces softball and I think they have done that. They wanted to compete in every game and they have also done that. Their story does not end with just that one goal, it is onto the next goal!â€
The Aces offense wasted no time in getting rolling, scoring a run in the top of the first inning in game one on a Hayli Scott single. Loyola tied it up in the third, but the Aces plated two runs in the fifth frame. Chandra Parr reached base via a walk and Morgan Florey took full advantage, belting a home run to right field to help the Aces retake the lead.
Morgan Lambert notched an RBI single in the seventh to give the Aces an insurance run and Florey took care of the rest in the circle as UE took the 4-1 win. Florey went the distance, allowing one run on six hits. Evansville mustered up just four hits in the game, but three of them were RBI knocks.
Game two started off scoreless for the first three innings before Evansville erupted for four runs in the top of the fourth. UE loaded the bases with no outs in the inning and Michal Luckett took full advantage, singling to center to score the first two runs of the game.
With one out, the Aces made it very exciting as a double steal saw Luckett advance to second while Kori Keyes stole home. Bailee Bostic finished off the inning with an RBI single to give UE a 4-0 lead. After the Ramblers scored in the bottom of the 4th frame, Evansville got the run right back as Luckett posted another RBI hit to make it a 5-1 game.
Loyola added a pair of runs in the seventh, but starter Amanda Blankenship was able to finish off the win, pitching the complete game, giving up three runs on eight hits. UE had five hits in the game with Luckett accounting for two of them. She also had three RBI.
On Sunday, the regular season finishes up as UE finishes the 3-game series against the Ramblers with a noon contest.
