UE set to face Drake in 3-game set
 EVANSVILLE, Ind. – Missouri Valley Conference play opens this weekend when the University of Evansville softball team welcomes Drake to Cooper Stadium. A noon doubleheader opens the series on Saturday before another noon contest marks the third and final game on Sunday with all three games to be carried on ESPN3.
 Last Time Out
– Taking to the road for its final non-conference tournament, the Purple Aces traveled to Murray, Ky. for the Racer Classic
– After dropping games to St. Thomas (MN) and Western Illinois on Sunday, the Aces came back to defeat both squads on Monday to earn a weekend split
– Sydney Weatherford tossed two complete games including a 6-0 shutout against the Tommies that saw her go 2-4 with four RBI and a home run
– Earning the win over the Leathernecks was Izzy Vetter, who struck out seven batters in the 7-2 triumph with Jessica Fehr and Marah Wood adding two RBI apiece
Can’t do much more than that
– In Monday’s 6-0 shutout against St. Thomas, Sydney Weatherford tossed a complete game shutout while going 2-4 with four RBI and a home run at the plate
– The big performance saw her season RBI tally improve to 18, which paces the MVC
– Her four triples is tied for the conference lead while she is slugging .571 on the season, which ranks 9th
– Weatherford’s pitching has been impressive, checking in with the 4th-best ERA in the league at 1.98 while allowing two earned runs in her last 14 innings of work
Regaining her form
– Despite an 8-game hit streak being broken at the Racer Classic, Marah Wood has recorded a hit in 10 of her last 12 games and enters the MVC schedule batting .273 with four home runs and 14 RBI
– Wood is tied for second in the league with six doubles, tied for fourth in the league with four home runs and is in a 6th-place tie with 14 RBI
– The sophomore scored six runs at the UE Softball Invitational including two in the wins over Green Bay and Morehead State before belting her third home run of the year to add some insurance in the 2-0 triumph over Creighton
Two more no-no’s
– Evansville’s home tournament saw Izzy Vetter record no-hitters against Morehead State and Creighton to improve her career tally to four
– She has won seven of her last eight appearances in the circle and paces the conference with 11 victories in 2022 while earning three MVC Pitcher of the Week awards
– Vetter ranks atop the MVC in opposing batting average (.145), innings pitched (74.0), strikeouts (112), strikeouts looking (24) and wins (11) while ranking second with an ERA of 1.51
– Her 112 K’s is 9th in the nation while her 10.6 K’s per 7 innings pitched is 27th
