It’s what the team has been working toward all year, and now the University of Evansville softball team has to win or go home, as the eighth-seeded Purple Aces (18-33, 10-16) face fifth-seeded Missouri State (18-30, 13-12) in the first game of the State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Tournament. First pitch is set for 11 a.m. on Thursday in Des Moines, Iowa.
With a win in game one, the Aces would play again on Thursday at 4 p.m. against No. 4 seed Northern Iowa. If the Aces continue, day two becomes double elimination and would start off with an 11 a.m. game against No. 1 seed Southern Illinois on Friday.
The Aces’ tournament games can be heard on 91.5 WUEV while also being streamed live on MVC-Sports.com under the MVC Live video streaming.
After missing the tournament last season, the Aces return for the fifth time since winning the whole thing in 2002 with a 3-2 win over host and top-seeded Illinois State. This year, UE will look to break a dry spell in the tourney’s history, as a No. 8 seed has never won the tournament.
Earlier this season, the Bears and Aces matched up for a three-game series at James and Dorothy Cooper Stadium in UE’s first home games where MSU took two out of the three games with 14-10 and 6-2 wins. The Aces may use the high-scoring contest as motivation on Thursday, as UE put up a nine-run sixth inning to pull ahead 10-8 before handing the lead and the win back with the Bears taking six runs in the seventh. The game has the most combined runs (24) and RBI (19) in a single game this season in the MVC.
Last weekend, the Aces used the power behind their bats to leave Creighton with a 3-1 win on Sunday and two close losses on Saturday. As a team, UE put up six home runs in the series, including four in game two’s 8-6 loss. Maggie Little, Alicia Betancur and Jen Stahlhut all put one over the fences in the seventh inning of game two, as the Aces fell just short of a winning comeback. Amy Gaertner posted two homers in the Creighton series to lead the team with 11 this season.
UE’s pitching also stepped up last weekend, as Kendall Kautz held the Bluejays hitless in game three until the fourth inning and scoreless until the bottom of the seventh. Kautz earned her 13th win while giving up only three hits to CU.
Looking at the Bears, Missouri State’s .264 batting average ranks fourth in the MVC. Helping with that ranking are Jenna Schwark and Christa Gammon. Schwark leads the team overall this season while Gammon has stepped up in MVC play. Combined, they have over 100 of the team’s 330 hits. Against UE earlier this year, Gammon recorded a hit in each game, including four in game two’s 14-10 win.
UE saw pitcher Lauren Supak in every game in the teams’ series in late March. Supak along with Natalie Rose have been the Bears’ top pitchers in MVC action. Rose has seen more innings overall with just over 127 innings of work while also having 106 strikeouts.
