EVANSVILLE, Ind. – University of Southern Indiana Softball travels south for five games this weekend at the Florida Atlantic Joan Joyce Classic in Boca Raton, Florida.
USI Softball (1-6) will face the University of Kansas (7-4) on Friday at 4 p.m. CT to open the weekend slate before taking on host Florida Atlantic (6-5) at 6:30 p.m. CT for the first of two matchups against the Owls during the Weekend. The Screaming Eagles will then square off against the University of Massachusetts (4-6) on Saturday at 2:30 p.m. CT before a second meeting with FAU at 6:30 p.m. CT. USI concludes play on Sunday at 9 a.m. CT against Villanova University (0-10). The Eagles are meeting each opponent for the first time in program history.
USI is coming off a 1-2 mark at the University of Memphis 901 Classic last weekend. The Screaming Eagles opened the weekend with their first win of the season against the University of Missouri-Kansas City, 7-3. The Eagles came up on the wrong end in the final two games against Ball State University, 9-5, and the University of Evansville, 6-4. The final two games against Miami University (Ohio) and Memphis were canceled due to rain.
During last weekend's Memphis 901 Classic, the top three of the USI batting order were top-notch. Senior outfielder
Caroline Stapleton, freshman outfielder
Katelyn Marx, and junior infielder
Sydney Long combined to go 17-35 (.486). Stapleton led the way slugging with a double and a triple. Additionally, all three scored at least three runs, with Stapleton once again leading with six runs scored. Each also tallied an RBI.
On the season, Marx paces the Eagles with a .409 batting average. Long is second with a .333 batting average. Stapleton is right behind, hitting .320 with a team-high seven runs scored. Sophomore first baseman
Grace Huffman is also hitting above .300 at .316 and has a team-best four RBIs.
On the pitching side, freshman pitcher
Anna Kemp recorded her first career win in last Friday's triumph against Kansas City. Kemp followed with a complete-game effort in Saturday's game against Evansville. Kemp is 1-2 this season with 22 strikeouts in 22.2 innings of work.
While this weekend's two games against Florida Atlantic can be seen through FAUSports.com, USI's other three neutral games can be seen with a subscription through FloCollege, powered by FloSports. Additional coverage and live stat links are available on the USI Softball schedule page on usiscreamingeagles.com.
