Valparaiso (12-13, 1-4 MVC)
March 26 - at DePaul (12-16, 1-8 Big East) - 3 p.m.
March 28-30 - Evansville (14-17, 0-6 MVC) - 3 p.m., 2 p.m., noon

Next Up in Valpo Softball: Valpo takes a brief step away from conference play on Wednesday afternoon, making the short trip to the Windy City to take on DePaul. The Beacons then return home to the Valpo Softball Complex this weekend to host Evansville in a three-game series.

Previously: The Beacons opened their 2025 home campaign last weekend against defending MVC champion Southern Illinois, falling to the Salukis 10-4, 18-3 and 6-3.

Looking Ahead: Valpo hits the road for a stretch of MVC play next week, playing a Tuesday doubleheader at UIC before heading to Bradley for a three-game series next weekend.

Following Valpo Softball: Wednesday's game at DePaul will be broadcast live on the Marquee Sports Network, while the entirety of the Evansville series is scheduled to be broadcast live on ESPN+. All home games and most MVC road games will be broadcast on ESPN+, while select nonconference games will have video streams depending on the host.

Head Coach Mike Armitage: Mike Armitage (81-80) is in his first season as head coach of the Valpo softball program after being hired as head coach on June 6, 2024. Armitage came to Valpo following a successful stretch as head coach at Minnesota State University Moorhead, turning around the Dragons' program, and brings familiarity with the Missouri Valley Conference with a stint on staff at Illinois State. Armitage spent the last three seasons as head coach at MSUM, posting the first back-to-back 30-win seasons in MSUM program history in 2023 and 2024 after inheriting a Dragons program which had not finished above .500 since 2007.

Series Notes: DePaul - Valpo is just 1-47-1 all-time against DePaul in a series which dates back to 1986. Earlier this season at the DePaul Dome Tournament, the Blue Demons earned a 2-0 victory despite a strong performance in the circle from Azalya Lopez. Valpo's one win in the series came in 2016 at UNLV's Rebel Classic - a 5-1 win for a Valpo team which went on to go to the NCAA Tournament that season.

Evansville - Valpo owns a 7-24 record in the all-time series with the Purple Aces, including a 4-12 mark since joining the MVC. Last season, UE swept the three-game series in Evansville to open Valley play by scores of 8-0, 9-7 and 2-1.

Scouting the Opposition: DePaul - DePaul enters the week with a 12-16 record, including a 1-8 mark in Big East play - the Blue Demons host Loyola Tuesday afternoon before taking on the Beacons Wednesday. Addison Talbot boasts a team-best .340 batting average, while Morgan Rogers has scored a team-high 18 runs and Lydia Ettema leads the Blue Demons with 16 RBIs. In the circle, Bella Nigey has stood out - she is 6-3 with a 1.84 ERA and 47 strikeouts in 53.2 innings of work.

Evansville - The Purple Aces come into the weekend series at 14-17 overall, but sit at 0-6 in MVC play after most recently dropping all three games at Missouri State. Evansville leads the Valley with 34 home runs this year, paced by 10 off the bat of Morgan Adams. Niki Bode paces the Purple Aces with a .408 batting average.

Long Time, No See: It will be 46 days between the season's two matchups between Valpo and DePaul, as the teams faced off back on Feb. 8. This is just the second time in the last 10 seasons Valpo has faced a nonconference opponent in early-season tournament play and then later in the midst of conference action (2022, Western Michigan).

Familiar Opponent, Unfamiliar Surroundings: The Beacons have played the Blue Demons in four of the last five seasons, but all of those meetings have come at the Rosemont Dome as part of the DePaul Dome Tournament. Notably, Valpo's last visit to Cacciatore Stadium was not to face DePaul - the 2014 Valpo squad played a Horizon League doubleheader against UIC there, a twinbill most notable for Kaitlyn Ranieri launching a home run off the mural of St. Vincent de Paul beyond the wall in right-center. Valpo 's last visit to Cacciatore to face the Blue Demons was for a 2008 doubleheader against a top-25 DePaul squad.

Seeing Purple at Home: Despite Valpo being in its eighth season in the MVC, this weekend marks just the third time the Beacons have welcomed Evansville to the Valpo Softball Complex. The Purple Aces took two of three games in 2018 - Valpo's first season in the Valley - and Valpo won two of three games to cap the 2022 regular season. The two teams played series at Evansville in 2019, 2021 and 2024 - the 2020 season was canceled due to COVID, while Evansville was one of two teams Valpo didn't play against in 2023.

A Premature End: Combine playing a doubleheader on Saturday due to an inclement Sunday forecast, and not being able to start playing Saturday until 2 p.m. due to the conference's temperature threshold, and you have the perfect formula for a truncated second game. Valpo's series finale with SIU was cut short after six innings at 7:01 p.m. due to darkness, just two minutes prior to sunset. It was the the first time Valpo has played into the 7:00 hour at home since April 9, 2013 — that day saw game two of a doubleheader against Bowling Green halted mid-7th inning due to darkness at 7:18 p.m.

Going Deep: Valpo hit a trio of home runs in last weekend's series with SIU, most notably a two-run blast from sophomore Kayden Krug in the series finale - the first homer of her collegiate career. Krug became the second Valpo player to hit her first collegiate home run this season, joining Lexi Szostak. Azalya Lopez hit a three-run homer in the series opener, her first at Valpo and the third of her collegiate career, while Mack Gallagher hit a solo shot for her team-best fourth of the season and 21st of her collegiate career in the middle game. After not recording a home run in the season's first 13 games, the Beacons have gone deep seven times in the last 12 games.

Turning the Lineup Over: Krug might be batting in the nine-hole in the Beacons' batting order, but it's not because she's the team's ninth-best batter. Krug has excelled at the bottom of the lineup, slashing .478/.538/.696 in nine appearances out of the nine spot. In those games, she is 11-for-23 with two doubles, a homer, five runs scored and seven RBIs.

Streaks Come To An End: Freshman Madison Vrastil had a pair of streaks end in the series opener against SIU as she went 0-for-4 at the plate, snapping a 13-game hitting streak and a 22-game on-base streak. The 13-game hitting streak was the longest by a Valpo player since Carly Trepanier's 16-game hitting streak in 2017. Meanwhile, the 22-game on-base streak - which opened her collegiate career - was the longest on-base streak by a Valpo player since Sam Stewart reached in 29 consecutive contests in 2017 and is tied for the fourth-longest on-base streak by a Valpo player since 1999. 

Among the Best: Even with a rough weekend against SIU at the plate, Vrastil still ranks among the MVC's best in numerous categories. She leads all Valley players in hits (37), ranks second in batting average (.430) and stolen bases (10), ranks third in on-base percentage (.490), ranks fourth in doubles (8) and triples (2) and is seventh in OPS (1.060).

Going to the Pen: Valpo has leaned on a trio of pitchers - junior Azalya Lopez, sophomore Sydney McDermott and freshman Erin Metz for the vast majority of innings in the circle and hasn't hesitated to use multiple arms in the same game, even when things are going well. In fact, when Lopez went the distance in the circle in the series finale against SIU on Saturday, it was just the second complete game for the Beacons through 25 games this season.

K Zone: The Valpo pitching staff has taken care of business itself quite often through the season's first 25 games. The Beacons rank 25th nationally in strikeouts per seven innings (6.77) and 53rd in strikeout/walk ratio (2.19). All three primary pitchers are among the top-10 in the MVC in strikeouts (Lopez, 5th, 62; McDermott and Metz, t-9th, 47. In the extra-inning win at Indiana State, Metz and Lopez combined for 12 strikeouts - the most for Valpo pitchers in a game since tallying 12 strikeouts against Saint Louis March 6, 2020.

Pulling Out the Close Ones: Valpo's 11-inning win at Indiana State - its longest game since joining the MVC - improved the Beacons' record this year to 6-2 in one-run contests. Valpo was just 8-11 in one-run games over the last two seasons. Notably, three of those wins came in one weekend, as all three of the Beacons' wins at the Marshall tournament came by a single tally.

Winning Record Into Conference: The Beacons entered MVC play this season with an 11-9 overall record. It was the program's best record at the start of conference play since 2018, when Valpo entered its first season of MVC play with a 12-8 mark.

W5: While Valpo saw a winning streak came to an end at the hands of Cleveland State to close the Scotsman Invitational, the Beacons did reel off five consecutive victories dating back to opening weekend. It was the program's first five-game winning streak since the 2022 team won five in a row in early-season action.

Snowmen: Valpo posted eight runs in each of its two games in Saturday action at Presbyterian, the first time the program has scored eight or more runs in consecutive games since plating nine and 10 runs in back-to-back outings against Detroit in April 2017.

A Big Sunday: It was a noteworthy day on many fronts on Sunday, Feb. 9 as the Beacons run-ruled Green Bay, 12-1, and followed with a 7-2 win over Detroit Mercy:
- Valpo won two games on the same day for the first time since March 4, 2023, when the Beacons defeated Bellarmine and Eastern Illinois. 
- The Beacons' 19 runs were the program's highest single-day output since plating 22 runs in a doubleheader split at Northern Kentucky March 25, 2017. 
- The 11-run win over the Phoenix in the opener was Valpo's largest win since an identical 12-1 score in a victory at Stetson March 1, 2020.
- The Beacons racked up 16 hits in the win over Green Bay, their highest single-game hit total since a 16-hit effort against Holy Cross Feb. 19, 2022.
- Valpo's win in the nightcap was its 36th win all-time against Detroit Mercy, the most in program history against a single opponent.

Four For 44: Sophomore Kayden Krug was locked in at the plate in the win over Green Bay on opening weekend, picking up base hits in four consecutive innings from the second through the fifth as she went 4-for-4 with two RBIs. It was the first four-hit game by a Valpo player since Feb. 19, 2022, when Ryan Milkowski tallied four base hits against Holy Cross. It also was the first time a Valpo player has recorded a base hit in four consecutive innings since April 2, 2010, when KC Boldt did so at Detroit.

Who's Back: Valpo returns 13 of 21 letterwinners from its 2024 squad for the 2025 campaign. The returnees accounted for 51.7% of the team's plate appearances and 46.3% of the Beacons' innings pitched last season.

Who's New: Coach Armitage brought a pair of transfers with him from MSU Moorhead - junior infielder Mack Gallagher and junior pitcher/infielder Azalya Lopez, both of whom were All-Conference honorees. In addition, the program welcomes nine freshmen this season as well.

A Large Roster: Do the math from the above two notes, and you find that this year's Valpo softball roster is comprised of 24 players. That is the largest roster in program history, topping the previous high of 21 players. Even more notable is that only two of this year's 24 players are seniors.

Taking Advantage of the Numbers: Coach Armitage has shown a willingness to utilize his large roster as much as possible. 20 players saw action against Butler and Cleveland State, while 19 players apiece appeared in the wins over Green Bay and Detroit Mercy opening weekend and in the second game against Loyola at Marshall.