Game Notes
The UMBC Softball team will travel down south to Nashville for its second tournament of the season, facing Indiana State, SIUE and host Lipscomb in the Purple/Gold Challenge. UMBC will start the tournament on Friday against Indiana State (1:00 PM), and SIUE (6:00) (all times listed in Eastern Standard Time). On Saturday the Retrievers have a rematch with Indiana State (11:00 AM), followed by a big matchup with Lipscomb (2:30 PM). Tournament play comes to a close on Sunday with another game against SIUE (1:00 PM). e
UMBC's Opening Weekend:
The Dawgs have started the season with a 2-2 record, winning their first two matchups and then losing the next two in Conway, South Carolina in the Ripley's Chanticleer Showdown.
UMBC began the weekend with a 5-4 win over Iona. Junior outfielder Julia Keffler (Huntingtown, MD) capped a four-run fourth inning with a two-RBI triple, which ultimately turned into the game winning hit. Freshman pitcher Madie Leach (Erie, CO) picked up her first career win, and sophomore pitcher Courtney Coppersmith (York, PA) picked up her second career save, pitching a hitless final three innings and striking out eight of the ten batters she faced.
UMBC would then shut out Big East member Seton Hall, 6-0, on Saturday morning. Coppersmith pitched a hitless 4.1 innings, striking out eight batters. In relief, Leach only gave up one hit in 2.2 innings. During the bottom of the first inning, Anna Lonchar (Bristow, VA) hit the first Retriever homer of the season for the Dawgs, a two-run bomb to center field.
To cap Saturday, the Retrievers would play a back-and-forth game against the Iona Gaels, ultimately losing by a score of 12-10. Six Retrievers would have multiple hits, tallying up fifteen total. Freshman Meghan Dempsey (Collegeville, PA) had a big bases clearing triple in the top of the sixth. Host Coastal Carolina would defeat UMBC, 4-0, on Sunday. Keffler picked up two hits, including a triple, in the loss.
Scouting Indiana State (5-9)
Indiana State finished 2019 with a 19-35 record, and in 2020, the Sycamores were tabbed to finish seventh in the ten team Missouri Valley Conference. They are returning five key position players, including All-MVC infielder Leslie Sims. She started all 54 games a season ago, leading the team with a .400 batting average and completing the most hits in a single season for ISU with 72. She is also the wheels of the team, stealing 34 bases which is good for second in school history.
ISU began the season with a 2-1 upset of #25 Wisconsin. The Badgers were held to four hits, as Becky Gibbs hit the game winning double in the top of the Seventh. The Sycamores only gave up a total of 23 (5.75 per game) hits through the first four games of the season. The following weekend they went 1-4 in Chattanooga, with the win being against Bowling Green. They would then respond with a 2-3 weekend in Bowling Green, Kentucky beating the likes of Green Bay and hosts Western Kentucky. Sims is batting a stellar .490 heading into this weekend.
This will be the first ever meeting between UMBC and Indiana State.
Scouting SIUE (7-1)
Southern Illinois-Edwardsville is coming off of a 16-28 season in 2019, losing in the first round of the OVC Tournament. The Cougars did have two players recognized by the league at the end of the season though, and they both return. Redshirt Senior Zoe Schafer made All-OVC Second Team, finishing the season on a seven-game hit streak and leading the team in both multi RBI games and home runs. Kylie Lane was named to the OVC's All-Newcomer team. She hit .346 on the season and stole eight bases in 36 games. This season the Cougars were picked to finish seventh in the eleven team Ohio Valley Conference.
The Cougars have begun the season 7-1, sweeping a trio of SWAC teams down in Vicksburg, Mississippi and taking three of four in Chattanooga. They only gave up five runs in four games during the Alcorn State tournament in Vicksburg. Emily Ingles shined, pitching a perfect game against Jackson State in the tournament finale. She would later on give up no runs in a complete game against Southern. The Cougars started 6-0 before a 9-4 loss to UNLV. Zoe Schafer leads SIUE with four home runs and eleven RBI. Junior Alana-Cobb Adams has the most at-bats on the team, and also has the highest batting average at .464.
This will be the first ever meeting between UMBC and SIUE.
Scouting Lipscomb (7-6)
Lipscomb is coming off a 42-15-1 season, which included a 14-0 victory over Alabama State in the NCAA Tournament. The Bisons return Hannah DeVault, the 2019 Atlantic Sun Player of the year and two-time Defensive Player of the Year. She ranked in the top two of the conference in ten offensive categories, including first in RBI, doubles, slugging percentage and extra base hits. DeVault also hit a total of 105 bases and 10 home runs. She was one of three Bisons to make All-Atlantic Sun. The four other players who made first or second team graduated. Both Pitcher/Infielder Katie Turner and utility player Amy Vetula made All-Freshman team.
The Bisons have begun the season 7-6 which included shutout victories against Charleston, Bowling Green, and Duke, as well as losing in fifteen innings against Ohio. Lipscomb's most impressive loss might be the one against No.4 Texas which they lost via a walkoff hit in the bottom of the 7th, 12-11. Megan Gray pitched a one-hitter in that Charleston victory and Turner pitched a two-hitter in the Bowling Green one. Gray is 5-0 on the season, with a stellar 1.71 ERA.
UMBC and Lipscomb have never faced each other. This will be Lipscomb's first matchup against an America East opponent since a 7-1 victory over Stony Brook in 2017 during the same tournament.
INFORMATION FOR THIS WEEKEND
None of the games will be video streamed, but you can follow Live Stats by clicking the links here
Schedule:
Friday:
Noon Indiana State vs UMBC
2:30 SIUE vs Lipscomb
5:00 SIUE vs UMBC
Saturday:
10 AM UMBC vs Indiana State
12:30 UMBC vs Lipscomb
3:00 SIUE vs Lipscomb
5:30 SIUE vs Indiana State
Sunday:
Noon UMBC vs SIUE
2:30 Indiana State vs Lipscomb
