Valpo (18-24, 7-13 MVC)
April 23 - at Notre Dame (21-26-1, 7-14 ACC) - 4 p.m. CT
April 25-27 - Drake (20-25, 11-10 MVC) - 3 p.m., 2 p.m., noon

Next Up in Valpo Softball: The regular season starts to wind down for the Valpo softball team with four games this week. The Beacons step away from conference play for the final time with a Wednesday matchup at Notre Dame before returning home for their final home series of the season against Drake. Valpo will celebrate Senior Day following Saturday's game.

Previously: The Beacons went 1-3 last week, dropping a nonconference matchup at Illinois before winning one of three in their MVC series at Belmont. Valpo took the middle game of that series, 3-1, while the Bruins claimed 4-2 and 2-1 wins in the other two matchups.

Looking Ahead: The regular season ends next week on the road with a three-game series at UNI.

Following Valpo Softball: Wednesday's game at Notre Dame will be broadcast on ACC Network Extra, while all three games of the Drake series will be broadcast 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 (87-91) 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: Notre Dame - The Fighting Irish hold a 37-11 advantage in the all-time series, with Valpo's last victory coming in 1989. The two squads last met up in March of 2021, a no-hitter for Notre Dame which finished 8-0 in its favor.

Drake - The Bulldogs own a 19-1 advantage in the all-time series and are a perfect 14-0 since Valpo joined the MVC. Last year's series in Des Moines got completely wiped out due to weather, meaning the last meetings came back in April 2023 at the Valpo Softball Complex - victories for Drake by finals of 4-1, 8-4 and 8-0.

Scouting the Opposition: Notre Dame - The Fighting Irish enter the week with a 21-26-1 overall record and a 7-14 mark in ACC play, most recently winning one of three last weekend at #17 Duke. Notre Dame takes on Central Michigan Tuesday prior to Valpo's visit Wednesday. Addison Amaral leads the Irish at the plate, hitting .387 with nine homers, 28 runs scored and 43 RBIs. It's been pitching by committee in the circle, with Micaela Kaster pitching a team-high 101.1 innings and owning a 9-6 record with a 4.70 ERA.

Drake - The Bulldogs enter the week with a 20-25 overall record and sit in the middle of the MVC pack with an 11-10 record in Valley play. Drake, which won two of three last weekend against UIC, plays at Iowa Wednesday before traveling to Valpo. Ava Curry hits a team-best .388 and leads the Bulldogs with 30 runs scored. In the circle, Paige Bedsworth has stood out despite throwing just 66.1 innings, as she is 9-1 with a 2.01 ERA and a .206 batting average against.

Celebrating the Seniors: Three members of the Valpo softball program are playing their final home games this weekend. Over their four years, Kaiah Fenters has appeared in 121 games, making 47 starts, while Lauren Sena has appeared in 123 games, making 18 starts. While she's only in her third season, this is Lexi Szostak's final year playing softball as well as she heads to graduate school - she has appeared in 107 games, making 74 starts.

Checking Out the Standings: With just two weekends of regular season play left, eyes start to turn to the conference tournament bracket and where teams will slot in. Valpo enters the week in 10th place in the standings, three wins clear of UIC and Evansville below it. The Beacons are just one game back of ninth-place Bradley and just two wins behind Indiana State and Murray State.

This Season's Improvement: Last weekend's win over second-place Belmont gave the Beacons their 18th win of the season, already doubling last season's win total. In fact, the 18 wins this year are the program's most in a season since going 27-24 in 2018 in its first year in the MVC. In addition, Valpo has seven MVC wins to its name this year, also the most since the 2018 team (12-13).

Looking at the Record Book: As the season winds down, a number of Beacons are starting to impact the program's single-season record book. Azalya Lopez and Erin Metz each have four saves, tied for sixth in a single season in program history - as a team, Valpo's eight saves are just one away from matching the program team single-season record. Metz has also racked up 39 pitching appearances, tied for sixth and one shy of fifth, while Lopez's current opponent's batting average of .220 would be 10th in program history and the third lowest in the last quarter century. At the plate, Mack Gallagher has drawn 30 walks (a mark which ranks second in the MVC) - tied for fifth and one shy of fourth. In the field, Madison Vrastil's current fielding percentage of .994 would be tied for eighth.

Tight Ballgames: Valpo played yet another one-run game last week, falling in its series finale at Belmont, 2-1. The Beacons have played 15 one-run contests this year out of their 42 games and own a 9-6 record in such games.

Dual Threat: Junior Azalya Lopez excelled last week in the circle and at the plate, continuing her strong first season as a Beacon. Offensively, Lopez hit .333 with two runs scored and a pair of RBIs, reaching base in all four games - including a multi-hit game in the Beacons' win at Belmont. In the circle, Lopez tossed 11.1 innings over three appearances, posting a 1.85 ERA and a .135 batting average against. She went 6.1 innings and earnd the win in the victory over the Bruins, her second-longest outing of the season. Lopez ranks among the MVC's top pitchers in saves (t-1st, 4), strikeouts (5th, 88), opponents' batting average (5th, .220), ERA (6th, 2.72) and wins (t-7th, 8).

Loving the Music City: Junior Kim Rodas had some magic in her bat in the Music City last week. In 10 plate appearances over the three-game series at Belmont, Rodas went 4-8 with a pair of walks. She had back-to-back multi-hit games in the first two games of the series, her fourth and fifth multi-hit games of the year. Her seventh-inning walk in the series finale put the potential go-ahead run on base as well.

Continued Success: Freshman Madison Vrastil has ranked among the MVC's best rookies this season. Owner of a 13-game hitting streak and a 22-game on-base streak earlier this year, both the longest by a Valpo player since 2017, Vrastil ranks among the MVC's best in hits (t-2nd, 52), stolen bases (2nd, 14), batting average (8th, .364) and on-base percentage (9th, .442). The freshman is a perfect 14-for-14 in stolen bases, which would set a new program standard for most steals in a season without being caught.

Winning Series: While the Beacons dropped their series finale to UIC, they had already secured the season series thanks to a doubleheader sweep in Chicago - just the second doubleheader sweep of UIC in program history. Valpo also earned a 2-1 series win at Bradley as well.

Putting Together Wins: While Valpo dropped its series finale at Bradley April 6, the Beacons had won five in a row prior to that point - their second five-game winning streak of the season. Prior to this year, the program had put together just one five-game winning streak in the last six seasons.

Conference Streak: Notably, all five of the most recent streak's wins came in MVC play. It was Valpo's longest conference winning streak since stringing together six MVC wins late in the 2018 campaign - also the last time before this last week that the program had won consecutive MVC series. Before the series finale loss at Bradley, Valpo had won four straight road games overall and five straight MVC road contests — both streaks the longest since the 2017 squad won six consecutive Horizon League road games.

Earning the WWWWins: Freshman Erin Metz did something no Valpo pitcher had accomplished since 2008 - earning the win in four straight Valpo victories. Metz picked up the win in both halves of the doubleheader sweep at UIC, and turned around and recorded both wins as the Beacons swept a series-opening twinbill at Bradley. For the week, Metz went 4-0 with a 1.34 ERA in her five appearances, surrendering just three runs in 15.2 innings of work as she earned MVC Pitcher of the Week recognition April 7. The last Valpo pitcher to score the win in four straight victories was Andrea Zappia, who accomplished the feat in April 2008.

That's All You Got, One Hit: Metz tossed the first four innings of Valpo's opener at Bradley, giving up just one hit before turning the ball over to junior Azalya Lopez, who finished things out with three hitless innings in the 1-0 win. The one-hitter was the Beacons' best effort of the season and was the fewest hits allowed by Valpo since its last trip to Bradley in 2023, when Caitlyn Kowalski no-hit the Braves.

Closing the Door: Lopez picked up the save with her three innings of hitless work in the opener against the Braves, one of three saves she picked up on the week, as she also earned saves with three innings of work to close things out in the UIC opener April 1 and the middle game of the Bradley series April 5. For the week, Lopez posted a 2.10 ERA and a .216 batting average against along with 10 strikeouts in 13.1 innings of work and was named MVC Newcomer of the Week - her second weekly award this season.

Coming Home: While the walks dominated the box score in the UIC nightcap April 1, the record the Beacons matched that day was in the runs department. Batting in the nine spot in the lineup, Carson Kuhlmann scored four runs to tie a Valpo single-game record, previously accomplished 10 times - most recently by Alexis Johnson last season. Valpo scored 15 runs as a team in that win over the Flames, its largest output ever against UIC and the program's highest single-game run total since plating 24 against Seton Hall in February 2014.

Walk It Off: Valpo closed its three-game series with Evansville with a bang, scoring four runs over the final two innings to walk off with an 8-7 win over the Purple Aces on March 29. It was the team's first walk-off win of the season and its third in Valley play over the last two years, as the Beacons walked off Bradley and UNI last season. Prior to that Bradley game last season, it had been over four years since the program's last walk-off win. It was also Valpo's first walk-off win with two outs since a two-out, two-run single lifted Valpo over Western Michigan on April 17, 2019. The win was also notable for how the Beacons had to battle back to even get in a position to win the game, as they faced an early 5-0 deficit after surrendering five runs in the first inning. Valpo had not won a game after trailing by five or more runs since a Feb. 19, 2022 win over Lipscomb, when a 5-0 deficit after the top of the third inning turned into a 7-6 victory. It was the first time Valpo surrendered five or more runs in the opening inning and won since perhaps the craziest game in program history — April 14, 2012 against Youngstown State, when YSU scored 11 first-inning runs and Valpo fought all the way back to win 13-12.

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. The Beacons' pitching staff has just two complete games this season, 42 games into the campaign - Valpo is one of just six teams nationally with just two complete games to its name this year.

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.

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.