Jim Leising (Photo Courtesy of Evansville Athletics)
BIRMINGHAM, AL – The University of Evansville Purple Aces softball team won its first game of the season today as the Aces took on Eastern Kentucky in day one of the Samford Tournament. UE won the game by a final score of 4-3.
Evansville put on a very strong performance against EKU on Friday afternoon, showing that they are not a team to be overlooked.
Senior pitcher Emily Morris, who was used mostly as a utility player last year, started and finished the day on the mound, pitching 7.0 innings with 5 strikeouts and 2 walks on the day. Morris put on a dominant performance as she faced 29 batters on the day.
The offense did their part as well, with freshman Susan Norris leading the way. Norris, who had a huge homerun in the top of the second inning to put the Aces ahead 2-0, had a great premier to her collegiate career, including the homer and 2 RBI.
EKU battled back to put the Colonels within one during the bottom of the second and in the bottom of the third EKU took the lead 3-2.
After a scoreless fourth inning the Aces Kayla Fortner hit a monster homerun to leftfield, driving in Chandra Parr in the process and putting the Aces ahead for good 4-3. The 2014 MVC Pre-Season All-Conference team member also had a strong stat line on the day, with 2 RBI, a homerun and one walk during two at-bats.
Evansville will look to continue its success tomorrow morning against Belmont at 11:30 a.m. and then later on in the day against host Samford at 1:00 p.m.
