MEMPHIS, Tenn. – IUPUI softball will spend the weekend in Memphis playing five games at the University of Memphis. The Jags will begin play with two games on Friday (Mar. 8) and play one game Saturday (Mar. 9) and two on Sunday (Mar. 10).
Coming off of a 2-2 weekend at Louisville that saw the Jags beat Missouri in nine innings, IUPUI will start this weekend with a second game this season against Indiana State. The Jags will take on the Sycamores at 2:15 on Friday and will finish the day against Belmont at 6:30 p.m. On Saturday, the Jags lone game will be against the host Memphis Tigers with first pitch at 4:45 p.m. IUPUI will finish up the weekend with games against DePaul (9:30 a.m.) and Belmont (11:45 a.m.) on Sunday.
The Jags are led on offense by freshman
Jaida Speth who is hitting .378 through the first 19 games of the season.
Delainey Turner (.341) and
Sabrina Trevino (.333) are also hitting above .300.
Mandy Dallas has been the leading run producer this year having driven in 12 runs this season.
Haley Ginger is tied for the team lead with
Delaney Thompson with four doubles and Ginger has done a good job getting on base, walking a team-high 14 times.
In the circle,
Lexi Lucas continues to lead the team with a 5.83 ERA and a 4-6 record. Lucas has thrown a team-high 66.1 innings and has struck out 29 batters while only walking nine.
Amanda Melzoni had a great outing in relief in against Missouri, picking up her first win of the season and only allowed three runs in her first start of the season against Louisville in the Jags last game.
SCOUTING REPORT
Indiana State – 7-7
The Sycamores are 7-7 on the season after dropping their fifth-straight game in an 11-1 loss in five innings against Missouri. Bailey Martin is leading the team in batting average (.480), home runs (2) and RBI (13) as well as being tied for the team lead with three doubles.
IUPUI beat Indiana State 8-3 last weekend as the Jags pounded out 14 hits with six Jags finishing with two hits. The Jags scored six runs in the fourth inning and Thompson hit her first home run of the season.
Belmont – 9-5
Belmont is 9-5 on the year and won its last game 9-1 in five innings against Alabama A&M. Alicia Veltri is the most dangerous hitter for the Bruins with four home runs and 20 RBI as well as hitting .475. The Bruins scored 73 runs and only allowed 41 runs to opponents. All four pitchers on the roster for Belmont have an ERA at or below 3.23. Veltri has started the most games this season with eight starts and holds a 5-2 record with a 2.39 ERA.
The Jags are 2-2 all-time against Belmont having won the last game 3-2 in eight innings back in 2015.
Memphis – 8-99
Memphis comes in to the game with a four-game winning streak that broke a six-game skid. The Tigers last win came against Central Arkansas in a 1-0 victory. Baylee Smith is the top batter on the team with team-highs in batting average (.438), triples (3), home runs (4) and RBI (19). Mariah Nichols has logged the most innings in the circle for the Tigers, throwing 50.1 and holds a 3-4 record and a 2.64 ERA.
IUPUI will be meeting the Tigers for the first time in school history.
DePaul – 15-4
DePaul has been cruising through non-conference play with a 15-4 record but has lost its last three games against Texas State, Houston and Wichita State.
The Blue Demons are hitting .277 as a team with Jessica Cothern leading the way with a .361 average, seven doubles three home runs and 20 RBI. Natalie Halvorson leads the pitching staff with an 8-1 record and a 2.54 ERA with 38 strikeouts in 67.1 innings pitched.
The Jags have met DePaul six times in school history but only once since 1999. That meeting came last year with DePaul coming away with a 5-2 win.
