UE welcomes Illinois State to Cooper Stadium
In their final home series of the season, the University of Evansville softball team welcomes league-leading Illinois State to Cooper Stadium for a 3-game set.
Play begins on Saturday with a noon doubleheader before an 11 a.m. single game completes the series on Sunday.
Evansville is coming off of a hard-fought 1-0 loss at Southern Illinois on Tuesday. A pitcher’s duel for the ages, UE starter Morgan Florey and SIU’s Brianna Jones duked it out for over 9 innings before the Salukis scored the game-winner in the bottom of the 9th.
Florey tossed 9 1/3 innings, allowing just one run on six hits while striking out seven. UE had seven hits on the day with Hayli Scott accounting for two of them.
Over her previous four games, Morgan Florey has thrown 30 1/3 innings as she picked up two victories and allowed just four runs. She began last week with a complete game, 2-hit shutout over Southern Illinois while striking out 12 batters. She followed that up on Saturday with another gem, going the distance in the opener against Indiana State, giving up just one run on three hits while fanning six batters. Florey registered her second win of the week on Sunday with another complete game effort before going the distance in Carbondale on Tuesday.
In between games on Saturday, nine UE seniors will be recognized for their contributions to the program. The Class of 2017 includes: Mickaela Fleming, Courtney Land, Susan Norris, Michal Luckett, Hayli Scott, Chandra Parr, Ashlee Kawall, Morgan Lambert and Samantha Fleming.
Illinois State sits atop the Missouri Valley Conference with an 18-3 mark in the league while recording a 28-17 overall record. Shannon Felde is the top hitter for the Redbirds, standing at .416. Jordan de los Reyes checks in with a .393 average as ISU hits .314 as a team. Sarah Finck holds a 20-8 record in the circle while notching a 2.38 ERA.
