Aces Look ForS eries Sweep On Sunday
 In a day that had everything from Senior Day festivities to a lightning delay, the University of Evansville softball team picked up a pair of important Missouri Valley Conference victories over Valparaiso inside Cooper Stadium.
The Purple Aces (18-26, 8-13 MVC) opened the day with an 8-1 win before taking game two over the Crusaders (15-26, 4-18 MVC) by a 6-2 score. UE’s pitching duo of Emily Lockhart and Izzy Vetter combined for a 1.62 ERA, allowing three earned runs in 13 innings on the day while Eryn Gould batted an unreal .800 (4-5) to go along with three walks for an on-base percentage of .889.
After Valparaiso opened the scoring in the top of the second of game one, the Aces used some 2-out magic in the bottom of the frame. Bailee Bostic drew a walk with two outs before McKenzie Johnson followed with her first home run of the season to give UE a 2-1 lead.
Just an inning later, Eryn Gould added to her team-leading home run tally, belting her 10th of the season to deep center field. UE scored for the third consecutive frame with two runners coming home in the fourth. Bailee Bostic and McKenzie Johnson led off with walks and were pinch run for by Mea Adams and Olivia Cheatham. The duo advanced to second and third on a sacrifice by Jessica Fehr.
With two outs and Gould at the plate, the Crusaders looked to intentionally walk her, but the first pitch got away from the catcher. That, coupled with an error, allowed both runners to score and make it a 5-1 game.
Jessica Fehr opened the sixth inning with a stand-up double before Toni Galas reached on an error. Eryn Gould sent both home with a single to left field. An Allison Daggett single later in the inning ended the game with a 9-1 Aces win. Gould had two hits, scored twice and added three RBI in the game. Johnson notched two RBI. Emily Lockhart went the distance, allowing just two hits.
UE got right back to work in game two, scoring one in the first inning. Gould was hit by a pitch to lead off and advanced on a single by Katie McLean. Next to the plate was Haley Woolf, who singled to left to score Gould. Evansville added three more runs in a second inning that included a lightning delay of 34 minutes.
McKenzie Johnson led off with a long double to the center field wall and scored on a Jessica Fehr double. Mea Adams and Gould also added RBI knocks in the frame. The offense scored once again in the third, loading the bases with two outs for Katie McLean. She drew a walk to score the fifth run of the game.
Aces starter Izzy Vetter faced the minimum number of batters through 4 1/3 frames before the Crusaders notched their first hit in the fifth as Jaymee Lawton hit a double to left-center. Next up for VU was Morgan Matalin, who got them on the board with a home run off the scoreboard to cut their deficit to 5-2.
Johnson helped the team get one of the runs back, notching her second home run of the doubleheader to make it a 6-2 game and that is where it would finish. UE had nine hits in the game with Johnson, Gould and Woolf posting two hits apiece. Izzy Vetter tossed the entire game, allowing two runs on four hits.
