Softball opens season on Friday

Aces playing in Rosemont, Ill.

The season is here for the University of Evansville softball team with the Purple Aces traveling to the Chicago area for the Total Control Sports Invitational.  The Dome at Rosemont, Ill. will be the host with each game being indoors.

UE opens the season against Miami Ohio at 12:30 p.m. on Friday before completing the day with a 5:30 p.m. contest versus Butler.  Saturday pits the Aces against Western Illinois at 10 a.m. and IUPUI at 3 p.m. before the weekend will be completed with a 10 a.m. matchup versus Green Bay.  Live stats will not be available this weekend, but follow @UEAthletics_SB for in-game updates as well as GoPurpleAces.com for recaps and stats after each game.

“We are excited to be able to go up to Chicago as we have several players from Illinois on our roster.  We know that we will get the games in, which is a benefit of playing in a dome,” Aces head coach Mat Mundell said.  “There is some really good competition this weekend.  We open with Miami Ohio who won MAC regular season last year.  We’ll face a good Butler team that we played twice last season.  WIU, IUPUI and Green Bay each have really good mid-major talent that will challenge us to open the season.  Looking forward to seeing what these girls can do when we put them together on the field.”

Leading the Aces returners is junior Eryn Gould, who was UE’s top hitter last year, finishing at .306 with team highs in home runs (10), RBI (31), runs (30), hits (41) and walks (35).  She earned her second nod on the All-Missouri Valley Conference First Team.

In her debut season in 2019, Katie McLean batted .305 and recorded 34 walks while reaching base 45.4% of the time.  Just behind that duo were Allison Daggett and Mea Adams, who finished the year hitting .260 and .257, respectively.

Emily Lockhart was UE’s top pitcher last season and returns for her final season.  She won nine contests while throwing 10 complete games.  She notched a 4.03 ERA.  As a freshman in 2019, Izzy Vetter picked up nine victories and led the way with 106 strikeouts.

Miami Ohio is the first opponent for UE and finished last year with a 35-16 record.  Their 16-4 finish in the Mid-American Conference gave them the regular season title.  Butler won 16 games last year, but is a squad the Aces are familiar with.  They squared off twice last season including a game in last year’s Total Control Sports Invitational and a contest at Cooper Stadium with the Bulldogs winning both times.

Western Illinois had an even 20-20 mark a season ago, but excelled in Summit League action, going 12-6.  IUPUI won 18 games in 2019 while Green Bay finished with 12.