Aces and Bulldogs square off at 10 a.m. on Wednesday
EVANSVILLE, Ind. – The Missouri Valley Conference Championship opens on Wednesday for the University of Evansville softball team with the Purple Aces facing Drake at 10 a.m. in Carbondale, Ill. ESPN+ will have the live coverage.
UE at the MVC Championship
– This marks the third year in a row that the Aces will play in the opening game of the championship, which pits the 8th seed against the 9th
– UE took on Loyola in each of the last two MVC Championship openers with the Ramblers taking both games
– Evansville looks for its first win in the championship since 2013 when the 7th-seeded Aces advanced to the championship game where they fell to UNI by a score of 2-1
– The 2013 championship was the last time Evansville and Drake met at the tournament; UE won by a 2-1 final, defeating the #2 Bulldogs on their way to the final game
Last Time Out
– Scoring three runs in the first inning, Northern Iowa added six in the third to pull away for a 9-1 win on Sunday in Cedar Falls
– Zoe Frossard picked up an RBI single, scoring Alexa Davis in the top of the second
– Megan Brenton made the start with nine earned runs scoring in 2 2/3 innings
Finishing Strong
– Since March 19, Jess Willsey has batted .329 with 27 hits in 82 at-bats
– She has been even better over the last 11 games, hitting .382 in a stretch that included an 8-game hit streak
– The recent streak has vaulted Willsey into the team lead with a season mark of .282
– Willsey finished the Illinois State series with five hits in seven trips to the plate
– In game two against Southern Illinois, Willsey was a perfect 3-3 with four RBI in a 4-0 win for the Aces; the win came less than a day after SIU opened the series with a 17-1 victory
– Willsey has six home runs on the season, which is tied for second on the team
12-Game Hit Streak
– Between April 11 and April 30, Marah Wood posted a 12-game hit streak, which marked the longest for the Aces since Eryn Gould posted a 12-game streak in 2019
Marah Wood begins the weekend with a 12-game hit streak, which is the longest for the team in 2023
– During the streak, Wood recorded 18 hits in 43 at-bats (.419) while picking up multiple hits in five of those games
– It was the longest streak in her college career as she registered a hit in eight consecutive games in 2022.
Wrapping up her Career
– Batting .320 over the last eight games, senior Hannah Hood is wrapping up her senior season on a strong note
– She has accumulated 8 hits in her last 25 trips to the plate to improve her season mark to .270
– Hood earned MVC Player of the Week recognition on Feb. 21 after batting .571 with six runs, five walks, five RBI, four stolen bases and two home runs in the home-opening tournament
