 Aces welcome UNI for 3-game series
The University of Evansville softball team is back home this weekend, playing host to UNI in a 3-game set at Cooper Stadium.
Due to Easter, the series will begin with a doubleheader on Friday, beginning at noon with Saturday’s series finale also slated for a noon start time.
Evansville is coming off of a great effort on Tuesday at Kansas. In the second game, it took ten innings to settle it between the Purple Aces and Jayhawks. Morgan Florey pitched a career-high 7 1/3 innings and held KU to just four hits over that span. The only runs she gave up came in the 10th inning as she pitched seven scoreless frames up to that point. Her ERA of 1.66 continues to lead the Missouri Valley Conference.
Courtney Land brought home the Aces’ two runs in the game. With two outs in the fourth inning, her double plated a pair of runs as UE tied the score at 2-2. Michal Luckett and Hayli Scott were responsible for the runs. Land has had a nice turnaround at the plate in recent weeks. After beginning the season hitless in her first 17 at-bats, she has gone 10-28 while recording a hit in 8 of the last 11 games.
Danielle Freeman begins the weekend hitting .278 while her 8 doubles is tied for the conference lead. Chandra Parr paces the UE offense with 17 RBI while her and Luckett are tied for the second-highest tally of doubles in the conference with seven.
UNI comes to Evansville with a 22-8 mark and clinched their first conference series last weekend, going 2-1 against Wichita State. The Panthers are also winners of 8 of their last 10 games.
One of the top offenses in the MVC, UNI hits .303 as a team, ranking second in the conference. Five regulars in the lineup bat .320 or above, led by Alyssa Buchanan. Through her 23 games, she has batted .423. Chelsea Ross has the top RBI tally in the MVC with 30 while Micalla Rettinger has scored an MVC-best 27 runs.
