Valpo (13-16, 2-6 MVC)
March 25 - at RV Purdue (23-8, 4-2 B1G) - 4 p.m. CT
March 27 - Indiana State (15-15, 4-4 MVC) - noon DH
March 28 - Indiana State - 2 p.m.

Next Up in Valpo Softball: A four-game week awaits the Valpo softball team this week, as the Beacons make the short trip to West Lafayette for a Wednesday afternoon game against a Purdue squad receiving votes in the NFCA and ESPN.com/USA Softball top-25 polls before returning home to the Valpo Softball Complex for a weekend series against Indiana State.

Previously: Valpo limited the MVC's top offense in its home opener last Saturday to earn a 4-3 win over UNI, which was picked second in the MVC preseason poll, but the Panthers' bats awoke as they claimed the series victory with 13-0 and 11-6 wins.

Looking Ahead: It's a light week next week for the Beacons, as only a Friday afternoon doubleheader at Illinois State is on the docket.

Following Valpo Softball: Wednesday's game at Purdue is scheduled for broadcast on BTN+, while all three games of the Indiana State series are slated for broadcast on ESPN+. All games will have live stats available via ValpoAthletics.com. Most 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 (33-46 [.418] at Valpo, 2nd season; 102-113 [.474] overall, 5th season): Mike Armitage is in his second season as head coach of the Valpo softball program after being hired as head coach on June 6, 2024. In his first year at Valpo, Armitage guided the Beacons to 20 wins - the program's winningest season since 2018 and an 11-win improvement over the previous season. Valpo posted a six-win improvement within MVC play, finishing with its highest total of Valley wins, its most MVC series wins and its best Valley regular season finish since 2018 as well. Prior to Valpo, Armitage spent three seasons as head coach at Minnesota State Moorhead, 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 Records: Purdue - Valpo owns an 8-26-2 record all-time against the Boilermakers, but the two programs have not matched up since April 24, 2013 - a 4-2 Purdue win in West Lafayette. Valpo's last victory in the series was a 3-2 win in Valparaiso on April 16, 2009.

Indiana State - Valpo is 7-24 in program history versus the Sycamores, including a 5-16 mark since joining the MVC prior to the 2018 season. Last season, the teams split two games - Indiana State winning 6-2 and Valpo prevailing 3-2 in 11 innings - before the finale was canceled due to weather. Kayden Krug and Madison Vrastil each had three hits over the two games, while Azalya Lopez earned the win in the circle with nine innings of relief work and drove in the game-winning run at the plate.

Scouting the Opposition: Purdue - The Boilermakers enter the week with a 23-8 overall record and are 4-2 in Big Ten play, most recently dropping two of three last weekend against Oregon. Moriah Polar leads the Purdue offense with a .584 batting average - which ranks third nationally - and 35 RBIs. In the circle, Julia Gossett has seen the most action, tossing 83.1 innings with a 9-5 record, a 2.02 ERA and 108 strikeouts.

Indiana State - The Sycamores enter the week with a 15-15 record and are also .500 in MVC play at 4-4. For the second straight week, Valpo is taking on a team which had their bye in the Valley schedule the previous weekend, as Indiana State dropped two games to Ohio State and one game to Louisville last weekend. Morgan Goodrich has a team-best .392 batting average, while Mallory Chavez has a team-high 24 RBIs. Caylee Gaytan and Lauren Sackett have split the vast majority of innings in the circle - Gaytan is 5-5 with a 2.94 ERA and 77 strikeouts in 81 innings, while Sackett is 9-8 with a 3.56 ERA and 72 strikeouts in 82.2 innings.

Power-ing Up the Schedule: Since head coach Mike Armitage's arrival prior to last season, Valpo has had a marked increase in challenging higher-level opposition in midweek competition. This year's slate features five scheduled midweek games against Power Four and Big East competition (although the DePaul game was rained out), while last year's schedule had three such games. In the four years prior to Armitage taking over the program, Valpo had a combined two midweek games against such competition.

More BBs Than Ks: As we've moved past the halfway mark of the season, it's time to start looking at season-long trends, and one thing which jumps out immediately is this year's team has more walks (119) than strikeouts (104). Five regulars in the starting lineup have struck out six or fewer times, while five players have walked at least ten times. No team in program history has ever finished a season with more walks than strikeouts - the 2012 team owns the best single-season ratio (191 BB/251 K; .761), while last year's team was close behind (170 BB/224 K; .759).

Nice Round Numbers: Only three players in program history have hit at least .400 in a season, only four have gotten on base at a .500 clip and only five have slugged at a .600 clip. But this year's team has players threatening to add to those ranks. Entering this week, Madison Vrastil is hitting .402 - good for fifth in the MVC. Meanwhile, Mack Gallagher owns a .510 on-base percentage - sixth in the Valley - and a .618 slugging percentage.

Peeking at the Record Book: While there's still 24 scheduled games left in the regular season, the program's single-season record book is already being impacted. Vrastil has swiped 20 bases this year, good for second in the MVC and already tied for eighth in a single season in program history - with 37 career steals, she ranks seventh in program history on that chart as well. She has also been errorless in the field, looking to join just three players in program history with a 1.000 season fielding percentage with at least 100 chances. Gallagher has drawn 25 walks this year, tied for the most by any Valley player and just two shy of the program's single-season top-10 - with 61 career walks, she is also just two away from the career top-10 as well. As a team, Valpo's on-base percentage of .397 is on pace to break the single-season record in that category, currently held by the 2015 team at .381.

Marked Improvement: Take a look at Valpo's top six hitters, and you see notable year-over-year improvement from 2025 to 2026. All six - Madison Vrastil, Marissa Jackson, Kim Rodas, Mack Gallagher, Kayden Krug and Kaia Garnica - have seen their batting average go up at least 26 points, with Jackson, Rodas and Gallagher boasting batting averages at least 100 points higher than 2025. That translates to OPS as well, as the sextet has an average 211 point increase in their OPS from 2025 to 2026.

V on Fire: Madison Vrastil has been on a roll at the plate recently. On an eight-game hitting streak dating back to the series opener at Murray State, Vrastil has tallied multiple hits in six of those games - including her first career four-hit game at IU Indy. Over that stretch, Vrastil is 16-for-31, raising her season batting average 54 points in the process. Last weekend against a UNI team picked to finish second in the Valley this year, Vrastil went 5-for-9 with two walks.

Single-Game Records: Vrastil has impacted Valpo's single-game record book on a pair of occasions this season. The sophomore stole four bases on the season's opening day against Green Bay, establishing a new program single-game record, as the previous mark of three had been accomplished 14 times. More recently, Vrastil twice in a three-day span (March 13 nightcap at Murray State; March 15 opener at IU Indy) scored four runs in a single game, the 12th and 13th times in program history a player scored four runs in a game. Vrastil joins former Valpo greats Sara Strickland and Sam Stewart as the only players in program history to twice score four runs in a game.

Streak Comes to a Close: Senior Mack Gallagher made it a 27-game on-base streak to open the season with a key two-run double in the series-opening win Saturday against UNI, but saw that streak come to an end in the nightcap that day as she went 0-for-2 in the run-rule loss. Maybe Gallagher started a new streak in the series finale, though, as she went 2-for-3 on Sunday, her sixth multi-hit game of the year and the 13th time she has reached base multiple times - she has reached twice in six games, three times in three games and four times in four games.

Helping Hand From the Outfield: Outfield assists are not an everyday occurrence in softball - Valpo entered its series finale with UNI Sunday with seven outfield assists in its first 28 games this year. So when 
center fielder Marissa Jackson doubled up a baserunner in the fifth inning of the finale against the Panthers, and then Jackson and left fielder Kayden Krug were part of back-to-back putouts on the basepaths in the seventh inning, it was a rare sight indeed. It was the first time Valpo tallied three outfield assists in a single game since its Horizon League Tournament opener against Butler on May 10, 2012, while Jackson became the first Valpo outfielder with multiple assists in the same game since Taylor Lawson had a pair at Northern Illinois on April 14, 2015.

Walk This Way: Valpo's collective discerning eye at the plate has led to plenty of free bases. The Beacons have drawn five or more walks 10 times this season, highlighted by a 10-walk performance in the opening-weekend win over Oakland - tied for fifth-most in a single game in program history. With 119 walks on the season, Valpo is easily more than halfway to the program single-season record. 

Nonconference Success: Valpo hit MVC play with a winning record, as the Beacons sat at 9-8 through four weekends of play. This is the second straight season the Beacons have carried a winning record into Valley action, as they were 11-9 going into their MVC opener in 2025. Prior to last year, it had been since 2018 (12-8) that Valpo opened conference play with a winning record.

A Perfect Start: Valpo swept its four games on opening weekend at the DePaul Dome Tournament, starting 4-0 for the fifth time in program history and just the second time against all D-I opponents. The 2017 squad started 5-0 for the best start by a Valpo team, while the 1986, 2000 and 2002 teams all faced at least two non D-I opponents en route to a 4-0 start.

Who's Back: Valpo returns 15 letterwinners from last year's squad for the 2026 campaign, a group which accounted for 85.3% of the team's at-bats and 100% of the innings pitched last season. The Beacons also return two pitchers - Mia Carroll-Greeves and Kayla Purdy - who sat out the entirety of their first season on campus in 2025.

Who's New: Valpo welcomes six newcomers to the program this season. Transfers Grace Hollopeter and Cadan Brinkman join from Purdue Fort Wayne and Campbell, respectively, while Addie Young, Jenna Flessner, Lillian Martinez and Ava Goodman come in as true freshmen.

A Large Roster: Do the math from the above two notes, and you find that this year's Valpo softball roster is comprised of 23 players. While that is one shy of last year's team, which featured a program-record 24 players, it is still the second-largest roster in program history.

Looking Back at 2025: Valpo won 20 games in 2025, more wins than the previous two seasons combined and its highest win total since the 2018 season. The Beacons won nine MVC games, also their highest total since 2018. Offensively, Valpo scored the most runs in a season since 2017, while on the mound, the pitching staff's ERA was the program's lowest since 2018.

Lopez Earns Preseason Honor: Senior Azalya Lopez was named to the preseason All-MVC First Team for her work in the circle and at the plate. Lopez - a Second Team All-MVC choice last season in her first year at Valpo - posted 10 wins, four saves, a 2.89 ERA and 109 strikeouts in 138 innings of work in 2025 while allowing opponents to hit just .218 off of her — the tenth-best mark in a single season in program history. She tied for the MVC lead in saves, ranked fifth in strikeouts and opponents' batting average, and eighth in ERA and wins. At the plate, the two-time MVC Newcomer of the Week hit .254 with 14 runs scored and 25 RBIs. Lopez led the team with 10 doubles and ranked second in both RBIs and walks (23). She found her groove in the batter's box during conference play, hitting a team-best .307 in MVC play with an .835 OPS.

Soaring Sophomores: A pair of Beacons who had strong freshman campaigns are back for their sophomore season in 2026. Madison Vrastil hit a team-high .333 as a rookie and posted an .818 OPS. Vrastil moved into 10th on Valpo's single-season steals chart with 17, third-most among MVC players, and ranked ninth in the Valley with 57 hits. She opened her career with a 22-game on-base streak, tied for the fourth-longest by a Valpo player since 1999.

In the circle, Erin Metz appeared in 44 games as a rookie, recording six wins and tying for the MVC lead with four saves while posting a 3.35 ERA and striking out 77 batters in 92 innings of work. She was named MVC Pitcher of the Week April 7 after going 4-0 with a 1.34 ERA the previous week, becoming the first Valpo pitcher to pick up the win in four consecutive games since 2008.

Return of the Mack: In addition to Lopez, head coach Mike Armitage had senior Mack Gallagher come with him from MSU Moorhead to Valpo, and Gallagher made a big impact in her first season as a Beacon in 2025. Gallagher ranked second on the team with a .392 on-base percentage, thanks in large part to drawing 36 walks - third-most by a Valpo player in a single season in program history, tied for second among MVC players and tied for 48th nationally in walks per game. She led the Beacons with six home runs and 30 RBIs as well.