EVANSVILLE, Ind. – University of Southern Indiana Softball opens a four-game homestand Wednesday afternoon when the Screaming Eagles tangle with Butler University at 3 p.m. for a midweek, non-conference matchup from USI Softball Field.
Admission to all 2023 USI Softball home spring games is free, courtesy of The Women's Hospital Deaconess.
USI enters Wednesday with a 14-17 overall record and is 6-11 in non-conference games this season. Last Tuesday, USI fell 3-0 in a home non-conference game against Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI).
The Screaming Eagles are coming off a thrilling series win last weekend at Eastern Illinois University to move to 8-6 and third in the Ohio Valley Conference. A gritty effort by USI led to two wins out of three games against one of the top teams in the OVC. The Panthers claimed the series opener, 2-0, in a game that saw five total hits between the two teams. In the middle game, USI went ahead twice and saw EIU come back twice, forcing the game into extra innings. In the ninth inning, USI scored three runs to capture an 8-5 win. Southern Indiana carried the momentum into another pitcher's duel in the series finale, conquering Eastern Illinois 2-0 to win the series.
Southern Indiana's offense was led by junior first baseman
Lexi Fair (Greenwood, Indiana), who batted .333 with a double and a triple to go along with four key RBIs. In USI's 8-5 win in extra innings, Fair gave USI an early three-run lead with a two-RBI triple, and in the ninth, Fair had the go-ahead RBIs. Sophomore
Hailey Gotshall (Lucerne, Indiana) also had two RBIs in the extra-inning contest and a two-hit game in the series finale win. Senior infielder
Rachel Martinez (Chicago, Illinois) hit .300 in the series while also driving in two runs. In the pitching circle, sophomore
Josie Newman (Indianapolis, Indiana) went 2-1, taking a hard-luck loss in the series opener. Newman pitched two complete games, including one shutout, and posted a 0.84 ERA for the weekend. She struck out 14 in 16.2 innings of work.
Overall, senior
Allie Goodin (Evansville, Indiana) paces the Screaming Eagles with a .438 batting average, 13 doubles, and 24 RBIs. Her numbers rank among the top of the OVC, and her batting average and doubles total are top-25 in the nation. Fair leads the team with four home runs and is second in RBIs with 19. Junior outfielder
Mackenzie Bedrick (Brownsburg, Indiana) is hitting .316, leading the team with 23 runs scored. Newman leads the rotation in the pitching circle with a 12-7 record, 2.29 ERA, 118 strikeouts, and 12 complete games. She has earned OVC Pitcher of the Week three times this season.
Butler is 15-23 this season, having gone 9-3 in the Big East conference season. The Bulldogs won one of three games last weekend at home against Villanova University and have gone 1-4 in their last five games. Offensively, Butler is hitting .268 with 26 home runs and 29 stolen bases. The pitching staff has a 5.27 ERA and opposing batters have hit .322.
The all-time series is tied 7-7, dating back to the early 1980s. Butler had the upper hand in the last all-time meeting, winning both games in 2000. USI's last win in the series was a 5-2 victory in 1995.
Wednesday's game can be seen with an ESPN+ subscription and heard on The Spin 95.7 FM. Additional coverage links are on the USI Softball schedule page on usiscreamingeagles.com.
