SMYRNA, Tenn. – The 2023-24 Vincennes University bowling season came to an end over the weekend at the United States Bowling Congress Intercollegiate Singles and Team Championship Sectionals hosted at the Smyrna Bowling Center in Tennessee.

VU freshman Cayden Russell (Noblesville, Ind.) led the charge for the Trailblazers at Friday’s Singles Championships, finishing with a total of 1,343 pins over six games and just missed the cut to advance to Nationals by only seven pins.

Russell got the weekend off to a great start by finishing all six games with over 200 pins, including a best game of 255 to place seventh out of 171 bowlers competing.

Freshman Dakota Waskom (Louisville, Ky.) was the second VU finisher, ending with a total of 1,210 pins and finishing in 59th place overall.

Freshman Nicholas Gregg (Salem, Ill.) was the next Trailblazer on the leaderboard, placing 65th with a total of 1,203 pins.

Junior Brighton Lucas (Salem, Ill.) and freshman Kannon King (Salem, Ill.) were next in line with Lucas finishing 120th at 1,091 and King using a team-high game of 256 to rocket up the leaderboard to 132nd with a total of 1,058.

Freshmen Dylan Lewis (Louisville, Ky.) and Ethan Ennis (Kokomo, Ind.) rounded out the VU day at the lanes Friday with Lewis ending at 995 in 150th place and Ennis ending at 975 in 156th place overall.

The Trailblazers then came back as a team to compete in the Team Championships, consisting of 64 baker games broken up into four blocks of 16 games each.

The Blazers had a good start to the team portion of the weekend, ending the first block of 16 games with a total of 2,969 pins, five games of 200-plus and were 14th overall on the leaderboard.

Vincennes was very consistent to close out Saturday, scoring 2,916 pins in the second block of games but unfortunately slid on the leaderboard down to 18th overall after the first day of team competition.

VU looked to move up the ranks when the Trailblazer bowling team returned to the lanes Sunday morning for the final 32 baker games.

COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – University of Southern Indiana Softball opened its 2024 Ohio Valley Conference campaign on the road at Tennessee Tech University on Sunday, but the Screaming Eagles fell victim to a doubleheader sweep by final scores of 2-1 and 5-0.

The series opener saw Southern Indiana (6-11, 0-2) get a runner in scoring position in each of the first two innings, but the Screaming Eagles could not advance either runner home. Tennessee Tech (9-6, 2-0) took advantage with three two-out singles in the bottom of the second inning to strike first, 1-0.

Following scoreless middle innings, USI tied the game, 1-1, in the top of the sixth inning on a two-out RBI double by senior catcher Sammie Kihega (Greenfield, Indiana) that scored senior first baseman Lexi Fair (Greenwood, Indiana) from first base. However, Tennessee Tech scored a go-ahead unearned run in the bottom half of the sixth after a pair of defensive errors by USI, allowing the Golden Eagles to take the first game.

USI scored one run on five hits, as Fair led Southern Indiana with a 2-2 game at the plate. Tennessee Tech tallied its two runs off eight hits.

USI junior pitcher Josie Newman (Indianapolis, Indiana) took the hard-luck loss to move to 5-5 this season. Newman tossed a full six innings, giving up two runs – one earned – with four strikeouts. Tennessee Tech’s senior pitcher Lennon Spicer moved to 2-3 with the win, surrendering one run in 6.1 innings, and freshman Emily York recorded the save.

In the back half of Sunday’s doubleheader, Tennessee Tech quickly took a 2-0 lead with a sac fly in the first inning and a bases-loaded RBI single in the second frame.

Just like the first game, USI had a couple of opportunities with a runner in scoring position early on but had trouble stringing together the necessary at-bats to drive a run across home plate.

In the bottom of the sixth inning, Tennessee Tech capitalized off back-to-back walks to lead off the inning and later put together three consecutive RBI at-bats – two singles with a sac fly sandwiched in between – to add three insurance runs, giving the Golden Eagles the double-dip sweep on Sunday.

In the second game, three of USI’s five hits came from the top three in the batting order. Kihega and senior outfielder Mackenzie Bedrick (Brownsburg, Indiana) recorded a hit in each game Sunday. Meanwhile, the Golden Eagles scored its five runs in game two across nine hits.

USI junior pitcher Whitley Hunter (Nashville, Indiana) was charged with the loss in the late cap, dropping to 1-3. Hunter went four innings, allowing two runs. Tennessee Tech junior pitcher Payton Wagner moved to 3-1 with the win, hurling five shutout innings on Sunday. York closed out the second game also for Tennessee Tech, earning her fourth save with two scoreless frames.

UE defeats St. Bonaventure and Bellarmine

 LOUISVILLE, Ky. – On Sunday, the University of Evansville softball team erupted for 36 runs in two games to defeat St Bonaventure and Bellarmine.  With the performance, the Purple Aces have won four of their last five games.

Game 1 – UE 19, St. Bonaventure 4

Evansville scored 10 runs in the first inning and never looked back, cruising to a 19-4 victory over St. Bonaventure in the first game of the day.  Marah Wood got things rolling with a 3-run home run.  Hits by Alexa Davis and Brooke Voss set the table to Jenna Nink, who brought both in on a 2-run single.

Kayley Batts was hit by a pitch before Zoe Frossard singled to load the bases for Hannah Hood.  She came through with a grand slam to left that capped the 10-run start.  Batts and Nink each had RBI hits while Jess Willsey added a sac fly in a 3-run second inning before Brooke Voss had a 2-run shot in the third to give the Purple Aces a 15-3 lead.

Four more runs would score in the fifth as Lacy Smith, Taylor Howe and Callie Meinel picked up RBI hits to complete the scoring and a 19-4 UE win.  Mikayla Jolly made the start.  She pitched three innings with three runs scoring.  Elle Jarrett threw the final two frames.  Voss and Nink picked up three hits apiece while Hood led the way with four RBI.  Voss added a team-high four runs scored.

Game 2 – UE 17, Bellarmine 7

Another nice start saw Evansville pick up three runs in both the first and second innings on its way to a 17-7 victory.  Marah Wood and Abby Bode each had RBIs in the first while Bode struck again with a 2-run single in the top half of the second.

Two more runs crossed the plate in the third as Hannah Hood picked up a sacrifice fly and Jess Willsey picked up an RBI single to extend the lead to 8-2.  Evansville put a 5-spot on the board in the fifth.  Kayley Batts and Willsey each picked up 2-RBI hits in the frame while Hannah Hood notched an RBI single.

Following scoreless 5^th and 6^th innings, the Aces were back at it with a 4-run seventh with all four scoring with two outs.  After Hood led the inning off with a double, two quick fly outs brought Abby Bode to the plate.  She launched a 2-run homer to bring in hood.  Alexa Davis reached on a dropped fly ball to bring up Brooke Voss, who hit a homer of her own to make it a 17-7 game and that would be the final.

The Aces accumulated 17 runs on 16 hits in the game as Willsey led the way with three hits.  Bode notched a team-high five RBI while Willsey notched three.  Frossard and Hood scored three runs apiece.  Sydney Weatherford made the start, giving up five runs in 2 1/3 innings.  Megan Brenton threw the final 4 2/3 with two runs scoring on four hits.

Missouri Valley Conference action begins this week with UE facing Indiana State at 5 p.m. on Tuesday and Wednesday at Tri-State Orthopaedics Field at James & Dorothy Cooper Stadium.

Evansville, In.:  Deadlocked at 2-2 in the third period’s final stretch, Vadim Vasjonkin scored with only 16.6 seconds remaining to break the tie and win the game for Evansville, 3-2 over Pensacola at Ford Center on Sunday afternoon.   The Thunderbolts’ next home game will be on Friday, March 22^nd against the Peoria Rivermen, puck drop at 7:00pm CT.

Matthew Hobbs opened the scoring with a breakaway goal at 13:36 of the first period, assisted by Brendan Harrogate and Jordan Spadafore to give the Thunderbolts a 1-0 lead.  2:55 into the second period, another breakaway resulted in Evansville taking a 2-0 lead as Harrogate scored unassisted.  Pensacola bounced back as Lucas Herrmann scored on a power play at 5:08 to trim Evansville’s lead to 2-1, followed by Malik Johnson at 14:19 to tie the game.  Despite getting into penalty trouble again in the third period, Evansville’s penalty kill units managed to get the job done, and along with a couple more brilliant saves from Ty Taylor, kept the game tied at 2-2 until Vadim Vasjonkin’s turnaround shot with 16.6 seconds remaining snuck its’ way into the Pensacola net for the game-winning goal from Harrogate and Nick Prestia.

Harrogate led the way with a goal and two assists, while Hobbs and Vasjonkin each scored one goal.  In goal, Ty Taylor made 31 saves on 33 shots for his 3^rd win of the season.  The Thunderbolts and Ice Flyers meet again on March 29^th at Pensacola Bay Center.