With the regular season in the books, the University of Evansville softball team is ready for action in the 2017 Missouri Valley Conference Championship as they open play on Thursday versus Loyola.
Normal, Ill. is the host for the tournament as the Purple Aces and Ramblers will tangle in the first game on Thursday at 11 a.m. The Valley on ESPN3 has full coverage while live stats will also be available.
UE has dropped nine of its last ten games, including three over the weekend at Wichita State. The Aces and Shockers had a 12-inning battle in game one before WSU took a 4-3 win. WSU picked up 5-0 wins in each of the last two games. The Aces open versus Loyola, a team they swept in the first MVC series of 2017.
For the first time since the 2007 and 2008 season, the Purple Aces posted double digit conference wins. UE finished with 12 MVC victories in 2016 and completed the 2017 campaign with 11. Evansville also finished in the top five in the league standings in consecutive seasons for the first time since 2002-03.
Last year, Morgan Lambert hit a season-changing home run against Wichita State to give the Aces their first Valley series win in three years. In this year’s match-up, Lambert launched a 2-run homer in the ninth inning to give UE the lead. For the season, Lambert batted .265 with 8 home runs and 27 RBI. In MVC games, she led the Aces with six homers and was second with 16 runs batted in.
Morgan Florey had another great day in the circle at Wichita State in game one, throwing 11 1/3 innings in a tough 4-3 loss. Her ERA of 1.95 remains third in the MVC while her tally of 188 strikeouts continues to lead the league as she is 30 ahead of her nearest competition. The sophomore has gone the distance in 15 of her last 18 outings while winning 14 games on the season.
Loyola finished the season with a 26-25 mark while going 9-17 in league play on their way to the #8 seed. Shannon McGee paced the Ramblers with a .297 average and 26 runs scored while Katie Kasubke provided the power, notching five home runs and 25 RBI. Kiley Jones posted 18 victories for LUC with a 2.27 ERA.
