EVANSVILLE, Ind. – University of Southern Indiana Softball returns home this weekend, April 1-2, looking to get back on track in Ohio Valley Conference play with three games against the University of Tennessee at Martin.
The series begins Saturday with a single game starting at 3 p.m., and Sunday will be a doubleheader scheduled for a 12 p.m. first pitch. Admission to all 2023 USI Softball home spring games is free, courtesy of The Women's Hospital Deaconess.
Southern Indiana enters the series with a 10-14 record and a 4-4 mark in conference play. UT Martin is 11-14 overall and is also 4-4 in the OVC. The two sides sit in a tie for fifth in the conference standings.
The series against UT Martin will be the Screaming Eagles' second home series of the season. On March 19, USI swept a Sunday doubleheader against Lindenwood, winning 8-0 in game 1 and 7-4 in game 2. USI's game 1 victory marked the fourth straight home-opening win for the Screaming Eagles.
Last weekend, USI dropped a road series at Southeast Missouri State University, getting swept by the Redhawks. USI fell in the first game, 8-5, after the Screaming Eagles made a late push to cut into an early deficit but ran out of innings. SEMO won the second game, 11-0, in five innings before walking off in the series finale, 5-4, after scoring three runs in the seventh inning against USI.
Southern Indiana's offense hit four home runs in the weekend series against SEMO. Seniors Allie Goodin (Evansville, Indiana) and Rachel Martinez (Chicago, Illinois) each went deep for the second time this season, while sophomores Hailey Gotshall (Lucerne, Indiana) and Olivia Howard (Fishers, Indiana) hit their first home runs of 2023.
Goodin led the USI offense, continuing her strong stretch at the plate. In the series, Goodin went 6-for-10 with a double, a home run, and four RBIs. Her hitting streak reached 11 games in the series opener before having it snapped in Sunday's first game. She concluded the weekend with a 4-for-4 game and two RBIs.
Overall, Goodin paces the Screaming Eagles with a .446 batting average, 11 doubles, and 16 RBIs. Junior Lexi Fair (Greenwood, Indiana) leads the team with four home runs and is second in RBIs with 13. Junior Mackenzie Bedrick (Brownsburg, Indiana) is hitting .311 and leads the team with 16 runs scored. In the pitching circle, sophomore Josie Newman (Indianapolis, Indiana) leads the rotation with an 8-6 record, 2.84 ERA, 88 strikeouts, and eight complete games. She has earned OVC Pitcher of the Week twice this season.
The UT Martin Skyhawks are coming off a home series win against Tennessee State University, taking two of three games last weekend. In OVC action, UT Martin also has a pair of wins against Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, which came after UTM was swept by Eastern Illinois University in the opening weekend of the conference season in early March.
As a team, UT Martin is batting .294 with 34 doubles and 25 home runs. The pitching staff has a 3.35 ERA and 120 strikeouts, holding opposing hitters to a .227 batting average. The Skyhawks are led offensively by junior outfielder Kaci Fuller, who is batting .494 with six home runs and 25 RBIs. In the pitching circle, junior Brooklynn Linneman is 4-4 with a 2.67 ERA and 48 strikeouts. Junior Katie Dreiling is 6-3 with a 3.50 ERA and 26 strikeouts. Dreiling is the reigning OVC Pitcher of the Week.
The Screaming Eagles are looking for their first-ever win against UT Martin, as the Skyhawks are 4-0 all-time against USI. All four games in the limited series history date back to the 1991-92 seasons. In the last meeting in 1992, UT Martin claimed both games in the series, winning the last all-time meeting by a score of 5-4 in 1992.
All three games can be seen with a subscription to ESPN+ and heard on The Spin 95.7 FM. Additional coverage links are on the USI Softball schedule page on usiscreamingeagles.com.
