MOREHEAD, Ky. – For the third straight set of games, the Morehead State softball team had its upcoming softball series adjusted due to the weather. The Eagles will play SIU Edwardsville on Friday and Saturday at the Cougar Field in Edwardsville, Ill., after the two were originally scheduled to meet on Saturday and Sunday, with a doubleheader on the first day. The new game times are 6:30 p.m. ET on Friday and 1 p.m. ET and 3:30 p.m. ET on Saturday. It will be MSU's first road Ohio Valley Conference series this season and the first three outings of a six-game road trip.
Last weekend, the Morehead State-Eastern Illinois three-game set was changed from Saturday-Sunday to Sunday-Monday. In addition, the Eagles had their Wednesday doubleheader at Northern Kentucky postponed. The two teams will now meet on April 22.
The Eagles are making just their second trip to SIUE since 2019. The only other series occurred in 2024.
The Blue and Gold have dropped seven straight since defeating Lamar on February 27th at the Eagle Hub City Classic in Hattiesburg, Miss. Morehead State (1-16/0-3) enters the weekend with a 1-13 mark away from home and an 0-2 true road record. This past week, MSU fell to Eastern Illinois 9-5, 10-2 in six innings and 8-4.
"For SIUE, we will work to keep their hitters off balance and play strong defense behind our pitchers," MSU Coach
Megan Griffith said. "We're looking to continue to be strong offensively and produce runs."
In spite of its record, MSU continues to hit the ball well. It has at least six hits in 11 of its 15 games. Last year, entering the SIUE series, the Eagles had at least six hits in 11 of 19 games.
Junior shortstop/third baseman
Sela Pickford owns a 10-game hitting streak, the third such stretch of at last 10 outings in her career. Pickford is also riding a 10-game streak of reaching base safely. Junior outfielder
Maddy Christopher has reached base safely 11 times. Over the weekend, Christopher had a seven-game hitting streak snapped and redshirt sophomore outfielder
Marie Perdew had a 10-game streak of reaching base safely come to an end. Senior outfielder
Taikibrea Campbell currently has a six-game streak of reaching base safely.
As a team, the Eagles are batting .267, while averaging 4.76 runs per game, with 10 home runs, seven stolen bases, an 8.17 ERA and a .953 fielding percentage. Their opponents are hitting .373, with 8.76 rpg, 12 home runs, 23 stolen bases, a 3.69 ERA and a .944 fielding percentage.
Christopher continues to lead the club with a .381 batting average, 14 runs, two doubles, six RBI, a .413 slugging percentage and a .412 on-base percentage. Junior infielder
Sage VanDemark adds a .321 batting average, eight runs, three doubles, two homers, 11 RBI, a .482 slugging percentage, seven walks and a .397 on-base percentage. Junior catcher
Sydney Farmer has a .309 batting average, with 16 runs, six doubles, three homers, 13 RBI, a .618 slugging percentage and a .333 on-base percentage. Pickford follows with a .288 batting average, 14 runs, five doubles, five RBI, a .373 slugging percentage and a .333 on-base percentage. Campbell is tied for the team lead in RBI with 13. She also has a team-high four home runs.
Freshman
Allicen Harris has a 0-6 record in the circle, with a 5.50 ERA, 14 strikeouts and six walks in 35 and two-thirds innings. Junior
Ainsley Stubbs has a 1-5 record, with an 8.30 ERA, with 39 strikeouts and 28 walks in 43 innings. Senior
Rylie Burney has an 0-5 record, with a 10.95 ERA, with 21 strikeouts and 22 walks in 31 and one-third innings.
SIUE (10-134/3-0) played in four tournaments to start the season, then opened OVC play by sweeping Tennessee Tech on the road last weekend. The Cougars won 3-1, 8-1 and 6-4. Then they hosted Minnesota on Tuesday and fell 5-0. SIU Edwardsville had its greatest success in the Lion Classic at East Texas A&M, where the team went 4-1 from February 20-22. It is 0-1 at home.
SIUE and MSU do not have any similar opponents to date.
Last spring, the Cougars finished 32-22 overall and 19-6 in conference play. This season, they were picked to finish second.
As a team, it is hitting .231, with 3.09 rpg, five home runs, 17 stolen bases, a 4.46 ERA and a .961 fielding percentage. Its opponents are averaging .304 at the plate, with 4.96 rpg, 16 home runs, 18 stolen bases, a 3.10 ERA and a .984 fielding percentage.
Junior outfielder Abby Harvell leads the team with a .328 batting average, 12 runs, six doubles, six stolen bases, a .469 slugging percentage and a .386 on-base percentage. Sophomore infielder Raegan Duncan bats .306, with seven runs, six doubles, seven RBI, eight walks, a .429 slugging percentage and a .397 on-base percentage. Senior outfielder Kaylin Fahy and sophomore infielder Juztyne Torres each are batting .227. Fahy adds 10 runs, four doubles, 12 RBI, a .333 slugging percentage and a .311 on-base percentage. Torres has scored 11 times and has a .311 on-base percentage.
Freshman Mia Volpert has a 4-4 record, with a 3.29 ERA, one save, 19 strikeouts and 12 walks in 51 innings of work. Sophomore Avery Arwood is 2-3, with a 3.62 ERA, one save, 30 strikeouts and 10 walks in 38 and two-thirds innings. Freshman Haley Strain is 0-5, with an 8.73 ERA, 20 strikeouts and 10 walks in 25 and two-thirds innings.
Ben Sorden is in his fourth season at the helm of the program. He currently owns a 91-96 record.
SIUE holds a 33-7 series advantage, including 11-2 at home. Last year, the Cougars swept the series at MSU, winning 9-5, 12-8 and 10-3. The last time the two met in Edwardsville (2024), the hosts came away with two 8-0 five-inning victories, before the Eagles pulled out a 3-1 win in 10 innings. Prior to that, the two last met in Edwardsville in 2018, when the Cougars claiming 1-0 and 5-2 victories. MSU and SIUE first met in 2009 and have played every year except the 2020 Covid-19 season. During that time, a sweep took place in 12 of the 15 series. Morehead State won all three meetings at home in 2022, otherwise the Cougars have had the edge, sweeping every game between 2011-15 and 2017-21, as well as in 2023 and 2025. MSU's only other victory in Edwardsville came in 2016, when the Eagles came out on top by a 6-2 score.
Live stats will be available in each game. The link for game one is:
https://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=646648, game two is:
https://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=646646 and game three is:
https://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=646647. ESPN+ will broadcast each contest. Friday's game can be viewed at the link:
https://www.espn.com/watch/player/_/id/5c5670af-2598-48fa-a5a0-bdff3370d91c?om-navmethod=espn:globalsearch:results. Game one on Saturday is available at the link:
https://www.espn.com/watch/player/_/id/3ef5139a-d0b3-413b-8e8b-6cb344b39088?om-navmethod=espn:globalsearch:results, with game two available at the link:
https://www.espn.com/watch/player/_/id/dc43c42c-cfa8-47a7-8e6c-906f4fa7f6df?om-navmethod=espn:globalsearch:results.
Morehead State will return to Illinois for its next set of contests, a three-game series at Western Illinois on Saturday, Mar. 21 and Sunday, Mar. 22. A doubleheader is scheduled for Saturday, beginning at 1 p.m. ET, with the second contest at 3:30 p.m. ET. Sunday's start time is 1 p.m. ET. The Blue and Gold returns home to face Tennessee Tech in a three-game series on March 28-29.
