PEORIA, Ill. (March 20, 2022) – The Loyola University Chicago softball team was back in action today after grabbing a win over the Bradley Braves in the first Missouri Valley Conference series of the season. After these three games, the Ramblers came out of the series with a 2-1 record, going 1-1 today after a big win yesterday, March 19. 
 
GAME 1
These two teams are so evenly matched, and it showed from the start of the game. No one was able to score a run until the third inning when Haley Wallace singled to left field to get Nova Sinskul over home plate. 
 
From there, the Ramblers defense was on point, preventing the Braves from making it home, and not for a lack of trying. But in the sixth inning, a Bradley player slipped past Loyola to even up the score heading into the seventh. 
 
This is when the game took a turn. The Ramblers were unable to score a run in the top of the seventh, which meant the Braves had a chance to finish the game, which they took advantage of. Bradley scored a run during the bottom of this final inning, giving them the 2-1 win over Loyola in this first game of the day. 
 
Five Ramblers registered hits in this game, and they were Sinskul, Wallace, Madison Ebeling, Amelia Thomas and Ava Bieneman. With her hit in the third inning, Wallace recorded the team's only RBI of the game. 
 
Andie Broniewicz pitched the whole game for the Maroon and Gold. She faced 29 batters in this game, striking out five of them. 
 
In the field, the Ramblers had one of their best days. They had 19 overall putouts with three players earning five or more. Thomas led all players on the field with seven while Bieneman and Abbey Jacobsen each had five of their own. Helping out on the most plays was Sinskul, who ended the game with three assists. 

GAME 2
The momentum changed in the Ramblers' favor. Loyola scored a run in the first inning from Ebeling to get them on the board. From there, the Maroon and Gold kept that same momentum. They added two runs to the board from Sinskul and Wallace in the third inning to extend their lead to three. Sinskul brought one more run home when she stole home in the fourth inning to make the score 4-0, which ended up being the final score of the game. 
 
Sinskul led all the scoring with two runs in this game while stealing one base. Wallace was also one of the biggest contributors to the team's offense as she earned a run and brought two people home to lead all players in RBI's. Hannah Nalley also pushed the team ahead on offense with her RBI. 
 
Peyton Pepkowski does it again for the Ramblers as she had another impressive game on the mound. She struck out five batters out of 25 faced, only allowing two hits. The defense behind her was also impressive as the team made plays on 11 fly outs and five groundouts. 
 
UP NEXT
It's a very quick turnaround for Loyola as they make the trip up Sheridan Road to take on the No. 14 Wildcats of Northwestern University. First pitch is scheduled for 3 p.m. that day.