Game Notes
EVANSVILLE, Ind.— After a midweek doubleheader at No. 12 Missouri on Wednesday, the University of Evansville softball team will travel to Peoria, Ill., to take on Bradley in a three-game Missouri Valley Conference series. The Aces will play the Braves in a doubleheader on Saturday before finishing the weekend with a single game on Sunday. Both days are set to begin at noon.
The Aces (8-20) come off a pair of losses against No. 12 Mizzou, falling 4-2 in a close game one before the Tigers completed the sweep with a 7-0 win over Evansville in the nightcap.
Junior
Tamara Robey and senior
Allison Aguilera were the only Aces to notch hits in both halves of Wednesday’s doubleheader. Aguilera finished the day going 2-for-4 with a pair of singles and a run batted in. Robey, who carries a three-game hitting streak into the Bradley series, tallied a pair of singles and two stolen bases against the Tigers.
Evansville enters this weekend’s contests with a 1-5 record in the Missouri Valley, tying with Bradley for seventh place.
As a team, Evansville ranks sixth in the league with a .257 batting average. Freshman
Kayla Fortner still leads the Valley at the plate, hitting .427 on the season and averaging 1.25 hits per game.
Game Coverage Links
Scouting the Braves
Bradley University Braves (11-18, 1-5 Missouri Valley conference
The Braves enter the weekend tied with Evansville in Valley play with a 1-5 conference record. Bradley’s lone MVC win came against Creighton in the opening weekend before the Braves were swept by Drake in last weekend’s series. Bradley is most recently coming off a 5-4 loss to Western Illinois after a walk-off double gave the Leathernecks a come-from-behind win on Wednesday night.
Hitting
Bradley is hitting .248 as a team with just four home runs on the year, each coming off the bat of four different hitters. Baliegh Basham, who notched one of the Braves’ homers, leads the team with 16 RBI and ranks second in the valley with an on base percentage of .553. Julie Sherman leads the team with a .337 batting average, ranking fourth in the MVC with 34 hits on the year. Sherman also leads the Valley in swiped bags, going 14-for-14 in stolen base attempts.
Pitching
As a staff, the Bradley bullpen has tallied a 3.69 ERA on the season, led by Madeline Lynch-Crumrine who owns a 2.74 ERA coming into this weekend’s contests. Lynch-Crumrine has also totaled the most innings of work, collecting 44 strikeouts while issuing 28 walks in 99.2 innings of work.
