University of Northern Iowa
Evansville
Panther softball eyes MVC Tournament title in Normal
5/7/2024 11:38:00 AM | Softball
UNI to take on Drake or Evansville in Thursday’s quarterfinal round. Panthers seek first MVC Tournament championship since 2013.
UNI softball (31-16 / 18-6 MVC) at 2024 MVC Tournament
- May 8-11, 2024
- Marian Kneer Stadium | Normal, Ill.
- Quarterfinals - May 9 | 4 p.m. CT
- Semifinals - May 10 | 4 p.m. CT
- Championship - May 11 | 1 p.m. CT
- ESPN+
- MVC Championship Hub
CEDAR FALLS, Iowa --- Postseason play takes center stage in Normal, Illinois this week as the UNI softball team opens the 2024 Missouri Valley Conference (MVC) Tournament in the quarterfinal round on Thursday at Illinois State University's Marian Kneer Stadium.
The Panthers, runners-up in the MVC regular season race and the two-seed in the 12-team field, will play the winner of Wednesday's first-round tilt between seventh-seeded Drake and tenth-seeed Evansville at 4 p.m. CT. UNI swept all three regular season matchups from the Bulldogs this year and have won 12 in a row against its in-state rival. The Panthers did not play the Purple Aces this season, but hold a 51-28 all-time record against Evansville.
A UNI victory would put the purple and gold into the second semifinal on Friday at 4 p.m. CT against Belmont, Missouri State or Indiana State with the championship game scheduled for 1 p.m. CT on Saturday. All tournament games will be broadcast on ESPN+.
Northern Iowa heads to Normal winners of 12 of its last 13 games, including four straight MVC series wins over UIC, Drake, Illinois State and Valparaiso to close the regular season. In the final week of the regular season, UNI rallied from down 5-0 to stun Iowa in a 6-5 come-from-behind win in its home finale before taking two of three games at Valparaiso over the weekend.
The winner of the MVC Tournament will receive the league's automatic qualifying berth to the NCAA Tournament. UNI, a three-time NCAA qualifier (1990, 2013, 2021), will look to capture its first MVC Tournament crown since 2013 and return to the big dance three years after qualifying as an at-large bid.
In the batter's box, sophomore Alexis Pupillo leads the league with 50 runs batted in (RBI), the fifth-most in a single UNI season and top-45 in the nation. She also leads the MVC in sacrifice hits (5) and RBIs per game (1.06), and is second in total home runs (16) and slugging percentage (.715). Currently the holder of UNI's second-best career batting average (.367), Pupillo's next RBI will also be the 100th of her career.
Outfielder Madison Parks meanwhile continues to thrive for the Panthers in the leadoff role, having broken the program's single-season and career walks record this year, ranking second nationally and first in the MVC with 0.98 walks per game. Ranking third in school history in stolen bases (54) and fifth in runs scored (138), Parks closed the regular season with four extra base hits in the leadoff spot in the lineup with three doubles and a triple against Valparaiso, as well as three stolen bases.
Daryn Lamprecht also has helped boost the Panther lineup as one of three Panthers to notch a batting average over .300 and to start all 47 regular season games. Lamprecht is second to Pupillo with eight home runs on the year and leads Northern Iowa with ten doubles.
In the pitching circle, 2023 MVC Pitcher of the Year Samantha Heyer has put together another solid season with a 16-6 record with the league's fourth-lowest earned run average (ERA) of 2.02, while holding opposing batters to a .202 average. Heyer ranks fourth in the conference with 190 strikeouts on the year and is 11th in Division I in strikeouts per seven innings (9.3). Anna Wischnowski meanwhile has posted a career-high 14 wins in 120 and two-thirds innings of work this year and 88 strikeouts with the MVC's fifth-best strikeout-to-walk ratio (4.0).
Head coach Ryan Jacobs also seeks a major milestone as he sits five wins shy of his 500th career victory. The eighth-winningest coach in MVC history, Jacobs has also recorded 258 wins in league play, sixth all-time in conference history.
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2024 MVC TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE
- Game 1 (Wednesday) - #8 UIC vs. #9 Murray State - 10 a.m. CT (First Round)
- Game 2 (Wednesday) - #5 Bradley vs. #12 Valparaiso - 1 p.m. CT (First Round)
- Game 3 (Wednesday) - #7 Drake vs. #10 Evansville - 4 p.m. CT (First Round)
- Game 4 (Wednesday) - #6 Missouri State vs. #11 Indiana State - 7 p.m. CT (First Round)
- Game 5 (Thursday) - #1 Southern Illinois vs. Game 1 Winner - 10 a.m. CT (Quarterfinal #1)
- Game 6 (Thursday) - #4 Illinois State vs. Game 2 Winner - 1 p.m. CT (Quarterfinal #2)
- Game 7 (Thursday) - #2 UNI vs. Game 3 Winner - 4 p.m. CT (Quarterfinal #3)
- Game 8 (Thursday) - #3 Belmont vs. Game 4 Winner - 7 p.m. CT (Quarterfinal #4)
- Game 9 (Friday) - Game 5 Winner vs. Game 6 Winner - 1 p.m. CT (Semifinal #1)
- Game 10 (Friday) - Game 7 Winner vs. Game 8 Winner - 4 p.m. CT (Semifinal #2)
- Game 11 (Saturday) - Game 9 Winner vs. Game 10 Winner - 1 p.m. CT (Championship)
