UE to play five games this weekend
 Week three of the season for the University of Evansville softball team will see the Purple Aces continue to travel through the southern half of the United States as the squad heads to Chattanooga for the Frost Classic.
Hosted by Chattanooga, the Aces will face IUPUI, Southeast Missouri State, Eastern Illinois, Western Illinois and Chattanooga. UE will take on the Jaguars at 10 a.m. CT Friday before facing SEMO at 12:30 p.m. Saturday’s action will feature another 12:30 game against EIU before playing WIU at 3 p.m. Sunday’s finale will pit the Aces against the Mocs in a 10:30 a.m. contest.
McKenzie Johnson has gotten off to a good start in the first two weekends ranking second on the UE squad with a .318 average. Entering the year, she had not recorded a multi-hit game, but she has notched two such outings in 2018. Johnson posted a pair of hits against EIU in the first weekend before having her best offensive effort last weekend against Samford, going 3-3 with a walk and run scored.
Sitting with a 1.05 ERA, junior Morgan Florey ranks 7th in the MVC while her 26 strikeouts is 5th. Florey started last week with a complete game against Winthrop, giving up four runs, just one earned, and fanning six. She tossed two more scoreless frames on Saturday versus the Eagles once again before throwing a 6-inning gem against #17 Georgia; she allowed two runs on five hits and struck out five Georgia batters.
Three freshmen (Eryn Gould, Lindsay Renneisen, Allison Daggett) have started all eight games this season for UE while Elyse Hickey has made four starts and played in six games with Mea Adams seeing time in all eight contests. Jaime Nurrenbern has made three pitching appearances while batting .500 in a pair of plate appearances.
IUPUI comes into the weekend with a 1-4 record while Southeast Missouri State is currently 2-3. Eastern Illinois has gotten off to a 7-3 start, but one of those losses came to the Purple Aces in the Mardi Gras Classic. The Leathernecks of WIU stand at 2-7 while Chattanooga is currently 4-5.
