Aces clinch series with 6-3 win over Braves

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Weatherford wins 8th game of freshman season

 PEORIA, Ill. – At the top of the lineup, Mackenzie McFeron and Alexa Davis combined for four hits, four RBI and two runs to push the University of Evansville softball team to a 6-3 series-clinching win over Bradley on Sunday at Petersen Hotels Field.

McFeron went 2-for-4 with two runs and a RBI while Davis was 2-4 with three runs batted in.  In the circle, Sydney Weatherford picked up the victory with another complete game performance.

Back-to-back doubles led the game off for the Purple Aces, who took a 1-0 lead.  After McFeron opened with a 2-base hit, Davis did the same to score McFeron and give UE a 1-0 edge.  The Braves took their first lead with a pair of runs in the bottom of the first, but UE quickly countered.

Alex Barnaby crossed home when Haley Woolf reached on a fielder’s choice in the second.  In the top of the third, a string of patient at-bats put the Aces back in front.  With two outs and the bases empty, Alyssa Barela, Barnaby and Hannah Hood walked to load the bases.  Hood came home on a Woolf single to give UE a 3-2 edge.

Bradley tied the game on a single in the fourth and the score remained tied until the top half of the sixth.  Haley Woolf opened with a walk and Bella Coffey was hit by a pitch to put set up a prime scoring opportunity.  With one out, a single by McFeron scored Woolf and would prove to be the game-winner.  Evansville added some insurance when Alexa Davis followed up with a 2-RBI double to extend the lead to 6-3.

Over the final two frames, Sydney Weatherford allowed just one hit and kept the Braves off the board as she earned win #8 of the season.  She gave up three runs, two earned, on nine hits.  Evansville tallied six hits in the game with McFeron and Davis registering two apiece.  Bradley had nine hits.

UE is back at Cooper Stadium for its final four home games of the season.  The week opens on Wednesday with a 5 p.m. game versus Indiana State.