Games now set for Friday and Saturday
Another huge weekend of Missouri Valley Conference action is upcoming for the University of Evansville softball team as the Purple Aces head to Normal, Ill. for a 3-game series against Illinois State.
The series has been shifted to Friday and Saturday with the weekend forecast in Illinois; the teams will play a doubleheader on Friday at 1 p.m. with a single game set for Saturday at 11 a.m.
Despite falling in its four games last week, the Aces were extremely competitive, falling by a total of six runs in those contests. Three of those games went to extra innings, including a 14-inning marathon on Wednesday. Mea Adams was the top performer for UE, batting .357 in the last four games while walking on two occasions.
Second on the team in batting was Jaime Nurrenbern, who notched a hit in four at-bats. Nurrenbern threw 10 innings in the last two games, posting an ERA of 0.70 while giving up just six hits. Morgan Florey notched a 3.32 ERA with 25 K’s over the last week while Ashleigh Downing was also solid, tossing 8.1 frames with a 3.36 ERA.
Adams led the way with a .400 batting average against Missouri State and went 1-4 with a run against UT Martin. Adams registered four hits in 10 at-bats while walking twice, recording an RBI and scoring a run versus MSU. She heads to Illinois State riding a 5-game win streak.
Florey struck out the side in the first inning on Saturday and in the process, posted the 600th strikeout of her career; Florey is just the second in program history to do so, joining Katie Markle on the exclusive list. Florey is on the cusp of joining the top 20 in MVC history as Drake’s Jessica Hicks ranks 19th with 653 in her career from 2003-06. With 202 strikeouts on the season, she is just 15 away from setting the single season program record.
The Redbirds sit at 14-23 overall and 5-5 in the Valley. They have won four in a row with two victories over both Indiana State and Loyola. ISU is led by Allison Spence, who is batting .304 on the season. She leads the way with 34 hits, nine doubles and 23 RBI.
