EVANSVILLE, Ind. – University of Southern Indiana Softball travels this weekend for the second of back-to-back Ohio Valley Conference road series when the Screaming Eagles visit Southern Illinois University Edwardsville on Saturday and Sunday from Edwardsville, Illinois.
The three-game series is set to begin on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. and concludes with a Noon doubleheader on Sunday.
USI Softball (13-22, 10-8 OVC) aims for a second-straight OVC series win on the road to jump SIUE (19-24, 10-8 OVC) in the conference standings. USI heads into the weekend tied for fifth with SIUE and only a half-game back of fourth place.
SIUE leads the all-time series against USI, 59-28-1, as the two sides add to their long history dating back to the early 1980s, and includes several meetings as Great Lakes Valley Conference rivals. Last season, the two sides split a pair of games in respective 8-0 run-rule contests. The third game was canceled due to the weather.
The Screaming Eagles are coming off their second road series win in OVC play last weekend at Tennessee Tech University, taking two of three games. After dropping a narrow 4-3 contest in the series opener, USI rebounded to win the next games, 3-0 and 2-1.
In last week's trip to Tennessee Tech, freshman outfielder
Katelyn Marx led USI in hitting with a .500 batting average. Junior catcher
Alyssa Mumaw was not too far behind with a .444 batting average and led the team with three RBIs.
In the circle, freshman pitchers
Anna Kemp and
Mia Kiegel headlined the pitching staff with two strong performances against the Golden Eagles. Kemp turned in her third complete game and USI's first solo shutout of the season in the 3-0 middle game of the series, striking out three and allowing only five hits in the process. Kiegel made her first career start and earned her first career win in the series finale, giving up just one run and striking out four in four innings of work.
Following last weekend's effort at the plate, Marx jumped into the team lead with a .343 batting average. She is tied for second on the squad with 13 RBIs. Senior outfielder
Caroline Stapleton is right behind Marx in batting average, hitting .330 with a team-high 28 runs scored. Junior infielder
Sydney Long has a team-best 17 RBIs. USI has seven players with 10 or more RBIs.
After last Saturday's shutout and 2.2 scoreless innings of relief in Sunday's series finale, Kemp (4-9) has a 3.87 ERA with a team-high 46 strikeouts in 72.1 innings pitched on the season. Sophomore pitcher
Kylie Witthaus (3-6) has thrown a team-high 88 innings with 44 strikeouts and a 4.61 ERA.
SIUE is coming off a non-conference midweek doubleheader sweep against the University of Missouri-Kansas City, winning 13-2 in five innings and 6-5. Going back further, SIUE has won four of its last five games after capturing two of three games last weekend in conference play against Lindenwood University.
The Cougars' offense is led by freshman catcher Ashley Duran. Duran paces the squad with a .326 batting average, four home runs, and 22 RBIs. Senior Gretchen Trello has hit .325 with 11 RBIs, and sophomore infielder Raegan Duncan is batting .293 with 15 RBIs. Sophomore pitcher Avery Arwood and freshman hurler Mia Volpert lead the pitching staff. Arwood (6-6) has a 3.83 ERA with 70 strikeouts in 84 innings of work, while Volpert (6-8) has a 3.94 ERA with 29 strikeouts in 76.1 innings pitched.
The three-game series between USI and SIUE can be seen with an ESPN+ subscription. Additional coverage and live stat links are available on the USI Softball schedule page on usiscreamingeagles.com.
