The Valpo softball team opened the final weekend of regular season play at the Valpo Softball Complex on Friday afternoon, falling to UNI by a 5-0 final despite limiting one of the MVC’s top offenses to just five hits.

How It Happened

• Valpo had its best chance to score in the first inning, as senior Alexis Johnson (Schererville, Ind./Lake Central) lined a one-out single and freshman Natalie Bush (Hudsonville, Mich./Unity Christian) followed by working a walk. Back-to-back strikeouts stranded the pair of runners on base.
• A two-out RBI single in the top of the second opened the scoring for the Panthers.
• Freshman Anna Wilming (Columbus, Ohio/Olentangy Orange) worked around a one-out walk in the third and a leadoff single in the fourth to keep UNI off the board in both frames, limiting the Panthers to just one run over the first four innings.
• Meanwhile, Valpo had a base hit apiece in each of the first four innings, but was unable to convert any of those opportunities into runs.
• UNI loaded the bases with one out in the fifth before a strong defensive play from Lexi Szostak (Roselle, Ill./Lake Park) to come home for a force out on a slow grounder — a play which was originally ruled safe before being overturned on review — resulted in the second out. A tough-luck hop on a sharp grounder to third pushed two runs across the plate for the Panthers, though.
• UNI capped the scoring with two unearned runs in the seventh.

Inside the Game

• Wilming did well to limit the Panthers’ offensive production, holding them to just five hits and three earned runs in a complete-game effort while striking out four.
• Johnson was productive in all three of her plate appearances, tallying a single, a walk and a sacrifice bunt.
• The senior also continued her stellar defensive campaign which has her positioned for a shot at MVC Defensive Player of the Year. She tallied four putouts and five assists on Friday, including one of each on a line-drive double play in the sixth inning, and has committed just one error on 93 chances in MVC play.
• Johnson was the only Beacon to reach base multiple times on Friday. Senior Kayla Skapyak (Macomb, Mich./Dakota) did go 1-for-3 to boost her batting average in MVC play ever closer to the .300 mark.

Next Up

Valpo (8-38, 2-19 MVC) continues the series with the Panthers on Senior Day Saturday. First pitch is slated for 2 p.m., with Senior Day ceremonies getting underway at about 1:40 p.m.