UE treks to Chicago
 EVANSVILLE, Ind. – The 2023 season opens on Thursday when the University of Evansville softball team travels to Rosemont, Ill. for the DePaul Dome Classic.
Saint Louis will mark the first opponent for the Purple Aces at 3:30 p.m. on Thursday. Friday includes a 10 a.m. game against the University of St. Thomas before a 3 p.m. contests versus Eastern Kentucky. Opening weekend wraps up on Saturday with a 2:30 p.m. game against Detroit Mercy and a 5 p.m. match-up versus DePaul.
Evansville softball is coming off a 24-27 campaign in 2022 that saw the Purple Aces go 9-18 in Valley play. On the offensive side of the ball, Marah Wood returns following a team-best eight home runs and 31 RBI a season ago. UE’s looks to replace its offense at the top of the lineup with the graduation of its top two average from 2022 (Jessica Fehr-.300 and Mackenzie McFeron-.295).
In the circle, Evansville looks to replace one of the best starting pitchers in recent years – Izzy Vetter. As a freshman last year, Sydney Weatherford proved that she could get the job done at multiple positions. She posted a team-low 3.34 ERA in over 119 innings of work while accumulating 20 RBI on the offensive side.
