GAME NOTES (PDF)

EVANSVILLE, Ind. – With half of the Missouri Valley Conference season under its belt, the University of Evansville softball will gear up for the first half of the midweek series with Southern Illinois, traveling to Carbondale, Ill., for a doubleheader at 4:00 p.m. on Tuesday. The two teams will complete the three-game series next week, as the Aces will host the Salukis in a single game on April 24.
 
Halfway through the Valley season, Evansville stands as the eighth place team in the league with a 4-11 MVC record. The Aces are most recently coming off an 0-3 weekend against Wichita State, during which a 7-1 loss and two 1-0 decisions gave the Shockers the series sweep.
 
Sophomore Katie Sears led the Aces at the plate last weekend, going 5-for-9 with five singles and a stolen base against the Shockers. Overall, freshman Kayla Fortner is batting a team-best .402 with 26 runs batted in and 66 total bases.
 
Junior Sarah Patterson currently leads the Aces’ pitching staff with a 3.57 ERA, ranking ninth in the Missouri Valley Conference with 82 strikeouts in 110.2 innings of work.

CATCH THE ACTION

	Live Stats	Radio Broadcast	Twitter Updates
Game 1: UE at SIU, 4:00 CST	Click Here	91.5 FM WUEV	@UEAthletics
Game 2: UE at SIU, 6:00 CST	Click Here	91.5 FM WUEV	@UEAthletics

 
SCOUTING THE SALUKIS
Southern Illinois Salukis (25-12, 10-4 MVC)
Southern Illinois is coming off a 1-1 split against Missouri State last weekend, after Sunday’s rubber match was cancelled due to rain. The loss represented just the fourth Valley loss of the year for the Salukis, also falling once to Illinois Sate, Indiana State and Creighton in the first half of the conference season. Southern currently stands in second place in the MVC, just four games behind undefeated Northern Iowa.
Hitting:
The Salukis enter Tuesday’s games hitting .300 as a team with 26 home runs on the year. Five Salukis are hitting above .300, led by Mallory Duran who is hitting .386 with four home runs and a team-high 62 total bases and 14 stolen bases. Allie VadeBoncouer leads the team in run production, collecting 35 RBI on the year with six home runs and a .578 slugging percentage.
Pitching:
Three pitchers split almost equal time in the circle for the Salukis, with freshman Katie Bertelsen seeing the most action with 94.0 innings tossed this season. Alyssa Wunderlich leads the staff with a 9-1 record and a 2.85 ERA in 73.2 innings pitched, while Brittney Lang has tallied a team-high 49 strikeouts in 80.0 innings of work.