UE back on the diamond for two games on Saturday
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LOUISVILLE, Ky. – A 5-run second inning was the difference for the University of Evansville softball team on Friday evening with the Purple Aces holding off Oakland for a 7-4 win in the Red & Black Challenge.
Oakland (7-8) tagged Evansville (9-9) with a pair of runs in the top of the first. The Aces cut the deficit in half over the ensuing half inning before bringing five runs home in the second. From there, Evansville cruised to its 9th win of the season.
Facing the early 0-2 deficit, Evansville got one of the runs right back in the bottom half of the first with Jessica Fehr reaching on a leadoff single. Fehr advanced to third on an Eryn Gould single before coming home when Alyssa Barela hit a sacrifice fly.
The big inning for the Aces came in the second. Lindsay Renneisen reached on an error before a sacrifice from Halie Fain got her into scoring position. Hannah Hood singled up the middle to bring home the tying run before Kat Mueller launched her first home run in an Aces uniform to give UE its first lead. Following a Katie McLean walk, Gould recorded her second hit of the day, singling to right to bring in the fourth run of the frame before Barela single to center, scoring McLean for the fifth run with Evansville taking a 6-2 advantage.
Oakland picked up a run in the fifth before UE countered, getting it right back in the bottom half of the inning on a Jessica Fehr single. The Grizzlies added another run in the next frame, but they could not get any closer as UE took the 7-4 win to open the tournament.
Emily Lockhart picked up her sixth win of the 2020 campaign, throwing four innings while allowing three runs on five hits. Erin Kleffman gave up an unearned run in two frames of work while Jaime Nurrenbern earned a save, throwing a scoreless seventh.
Fehr led the Aces offense with three of their 11 hits in the game. Hood, Gould and Barela each had two hits. Mueller and Barela each brought in two runs while Mueller notched her first homer as a member of the Aces squad.
Saturday’s schedule pits the Aces in a rematch against Oakland at 1:30 p.m. CT before a 3:45 p.m. CT contest versus Northwestern.
