Aces ready for final non-conference tournament
The final non-conference tournament is set for this weekend when the University of Evansville softball team travels to Louisville for the Red & Black Challenge. Over the 3-day event, the Purple Aces will take on Northwestern, Illinois and Louisville in single games while facing Oakland twice.
UE is coming off of a 2-2 trip to Memphis for last weekend’s Blue City Classic, which pushed the Aces record to 8-9 for the year. In Friday’s 6-4 win over North Alabama, Jessica Fehr and Eryn Gould posted two hits apiece while Alyssa Barela hit a bases clearing single to lead the offense. Izzy Vetter was credited with the win, throwing three scoreless innings of relief while striking out five.
Haley Woolf was the star of the show in Saturday’s opening game against Northern Illinois. The sophomore belted three home runs as the Aces finished with a 12-3 win. Woolf was 3-4 with seven RBI and three runs scored. Lindsay Renneisen also knocked in three runs. Emily Lockhart picked up the win while Erin Kleffman earned the save.
After beginning the weekend with a 2-0 mark, Evansville fell in its final two games, starting with a 13-3 defeat at the hands of Northwestern State. Sunday’s game against Memphis saw the teams swap the lead in the late innings. UE held a 6-2 lead entering the bottom of the fourth before the Tigers scored three runs in both the fourth and fifth frames on their way to the 8-7 win. Fehr added three RBI in the game while posting two hits. Katie McLean and Gould also had two hits.
This weekend, the action begins on Friday with a 1:30 p.m. CT game against Oakland. The Grizzlies are 7-6 through the opening three weekends. Two weeks ago, Oakland enjoyed a 3-2 weekend at the Citrus Classic in Orlando where they defeated Clemson, Villanova and Stetson. Sidney Rayba has a team-best .333 batting average.
Friday continues with a 3:45 p.m. game against Northwestern, who sit at 8-11. The Wildcats have played one of the most challenging schedules in the country with nine of their 19 games coming against ranked opponents. On February 15, they earned a 6-2 win over #5 Florida State. Leading their offense is Gracie Huff, who is batting .308.
Just one game is on the docket for Saturday with UE matching up against Oakland for the second time at 3:45 p.m. Two games will take place on Sunday, beginning at 12:30 p.m. against Illinois. The Fighting Illini have a record of 8-9 but defeated a pair of ranked squads in the season opener. They defeated #21 Ole Miss on Feb. 8 before taking down #23 Auburn less than 24 hours later. Avrey Steiner is batting .382 on the season while reaching base 41.4% of the time.
Evansville wraps up the weekend against Louisville, who enter the tournament with a 7-12 record. The Cardinals have some momentum on their side as they defeated 10th-ranked Oregon by a 4-3 final last weekend. They are led by Cassady Greenwood, who is hitting .447.
