CHICAGO – Nearing the end of the Missouri Valley Conference season, the UIC softball team hosted the Evansville Purple Aces in their first two games of a three-game series. In a crucial conference series, with both teams fighting for a spot in the postseason tournament, the Flames and Aces went to battle. Game one started in favor of the Aces, who took a 2-0 lead, but a six run, six hit inning turned the game in favor of the Flames, who went on to record a 8-6 victory. Game two would go in favor of the visitors after they put up a 12 run third inning. Evansville would go on to defeat UIC 13-0 in five innings. The Flames move to 20-28-1, 9-15 in conference play while the Aces move to 21-23, 12-11 in conference play.
Prior to game one, the Flames celebrated their three seniors;
Larissa Ortiz,
Sam Tourtillott, and
Gianna Richy as well as their student manager, Nevaeh Gullette.
GAME ONE
The visiting Aces began the game with an RBI single up the middle in the first followed by RBI single down the left field line in the second to take a 2-0 early lead. The Flames responded in the bottom of the second with back-to-back bases loaded walks, tying the game at 2-2.
A quiet game followed until the fifth inning. Evansville took a 3-2 lead in the top, but UIC found their bats in the bottom of the inning. After reaching on a bunt single,
Nina Pesare made her way around the bases, advancing on back-to-back wild pitches. She then went on to score the Flames first run of the inning off a
Cameran Rios RBI single to left field. Then, with back-to-back fielder's choice situations, the Flames would find themselves with
Siena Stickney on second and
Sam Tourtillott on first.
Lariss Ortiz followed with an RBI double to left center field, advancing Tourtillott to third and scoring Stickney to give the Flames their first lead of the game.
The Flames went on to extend their lead with four more runs in the fifth.
Emily Brecht would hit an RBI single while
Grace Taylor and
Ari' O'Connell both earned an RBI on bases loaded walks. Pesare recorded the final run with a fielder's choice RBI. At the end of the fifth inning, the Flames led the Aces 8-3.
Following a scoreless sixth inning, the Aces attempted a late comeback, scoring three runs, but would come up short as the Flames secured am 8-6 victory.
The box score and play-by-play can be found
here
GAME TWO
Through the first two innings, the Flames collected three hits and the Aces collected one, but neither side brought in a run as the score remained tied at 0-0. In the third, the Aces recorded an eight hit, 12 run inning to take a 12-0 lead. They went on to add one run in the fourth.
Nina Pesare and
Cameran Rios collected hits for the Flames in the bottom of the fourth, but UIC was unable to bring in a run.
In the fifth, the Aces added three runs to their total, going on to defeat the Flames 16-0.
The box score and play-by-play can be found
here
SOCIAL MEDIA HIGHLIGHTS
UP NEXT
The Flames and Aces will close out the series tomorrow with a 1:00 p.m. CT solo contest. No livestream will be available. Live stats will be available on
UICFlames.com while a live audio broadcast will be available on the
UIC Flames Network.
FOLLOW US ON SOCIAL MEDIA
For more information, fans are encouraged to visit
UICFlames.com or follow the Flames on social media through X (
@UIC_Softball and
@UICFlames) and Instagram (
@uic_softball and
@uicflames)
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