CHICAGO (April 3, 2022) – For the first time this season, the Loyola University Chicago softball team hit the field at the Loyola Soccer Park to take on Evansville in their home opener. The Ramblers played the first two games of this series against the Aces.
GAME 1
When the teams stepped on the field, the Ramblers were the ones to get on the board first. But it wasn't for a lack of trying on Evansville's part. The Purple Aces had bases loaded in the first inning with only one out before Loyola's defense shut them down. From there, senior
Abbey Jacobsen hit the first home run of her career in the second inning to put the Ramblers up 2-0.
From there, the Aces started inching their way back into this game. They scored one run in the fourth to make the score 2-1 before the seventh inning. From there, Evansville found more scoring opportunities in the seventh inning as they grabbed another three runs to ultimately win this first game 4-2.
With Jacobsen's home run,
Teagan Sopczak made it around the bases. This extra run gave Jacobsen two RBI's in this game. Along with her home run, Jacobsen added another hit to the stat sheet, which was the most out of all the Ramblers in this game. Three players also stole bases during this game, and they were
Madison Ebeling,
Nova Sinskul and
Abby Brown.
On the mound,
Peyton Pepkowski pitched all seven innings. She struck out 11 Aces, which was tied with Evansville's pitcher.
In the field, Jacobsen had the most putouts in this game. She ended up with 11 in this game, which was tied for the most in this game. Contributing on the most plays was
Haley Wallace, who tallied five assists.
GAME 2
The players took a 30-minute break before getting back on the field to begin the second game of the series. Once all the players were on the field, the Ramblers could not stop the momentum the Aces gained at the end of the first game. Evansville started scoring in the second inning with a home run before they added two more runs in the third and one more in the fifth. Even with all of this scoring, Loyola was unable to score a run in this game as the final score ended up being 4-0 in favor of the Purple Aces.
Sopczak and Jacobsen were the only two to register hits in this game. They also found a lot of success in the field as
Amelia Thomas had the most putouts with seven. Jacobsen was close behind her with four putouts. Recording the most assists on the game was
Andie Broniewicz, who ended up with three. She also pitched all seven innings, striking out three batters.
UP NEXT
The Ramblers have one more game left in this series with Evansville, which will take place at Loyola Softball Park tomorrow, April 4, at noon. There will be a live stream available for the game through ESPN+.
