Valparaiso (10-21, 1-11 MVC)
April 15 - UNI (18-11, 9-1 MVC) - noon DH
April 16 - UNI - noon

Next Up in Valpo Softball: Coming off a win in non-conference action over Purdue Fort Wayne on Tuesday, the Valpo softball team returns to MVC play to open Easter weekend, welcoming UNI to the Valpo Softball Complex for a doubleheader on Friday and a single game on Saturday.

Previously: Valpo dropped a three-game MVC series to Southern Illinois at home last weekend, but rebounded on Tuesday with a victory in non-conference play over Purdue Fort Wayne. The Beacons overcame a two-run deficit entering the bottom of the sixth to earn a 5-4 win over the Mastodons.

Looking Ahead: Valpo’s lengthy homestand comes to a conclusion next Wednesday with a mid-week conference twinbill against Loyola, before the Beacons return to the road for the first time in four weekends to travel to Drake.

Following Valpo Softball: All three games of this weekend’s series will be broadcast live on ESPN3. Brian Jennings and Jamie Stangel will be on the call Friday, while Todd Ickow and Kathy Levandoski will bring you Saturday’s action. Live stats for all three games this weekend will be available via ValpoAthletics.com.

Head Coach Amanda Eberhart: Amanda Eberhart was hired as head coach of the Valpo softball program in July of 2021. She brings seven years of head coaching experience at the Division I level, most recently spending the last three years as the head coach at Omaha and previously leading the IUPUI program for four seasons. Eberhart, who owns 141 career victories as a head coach, also has eight seasons of experience on staffs at Big Ten programs.

Series History: Valpo is just 1-14 all-time against UNI and is 1-8 versus the Panthers since joining the Valley. That win came in the series opener in UNI’s lone previous visit to the Valpo Softball Complex in 2018, a 2-0 win for Valpo before the Panthers claimed 5-0 and 7-3 wins. Last season, UNI swept the series in Cedar Falls by scores of 9-0, 9-3 and 10-5. Jaina Westphal went 5-for-7 over the course of the series and hit a homer, as did Lauren Kehlenbrink and Ryan Milkowski.

Scouting the Opposition: The Panthers enter the Valpo Softball Complex with an 18-11 overall record on the year and are atop the MVC standings with a 9-1 mark in conference. UNI most recently swept a three-game series from Loyola in Cedar Falls last weekend. Junior Kailyn Packard, the reigning MVC Pitcher of the Year, boasts a 12-4 record and a 1.67 ERA with 112 strikeouts in 104.2 innings of work, while at the plate, freshman Mya Dodge is hitting a team-best .374 with nine home runs and 14 steals, while sophomore Emmy Wells has connected on an MVC-high 11 homers.

What’s Back: Valpo returns 14 of 19 letterwinners from last season’s squad for the 2022 campaign. In all, 77.6% of Valpo’s plate appearances are back for this season and 89.8% of last season’s inning pitched return as well.

Homestand Continues: After 24 games over a span of 47 days in eight different locations, Valpo finally opened its home slate at the Valpo Softball Complex when the calendar turned to April. The April 2 home opener matched last year for the latest home opener since the 2003 campaign. The Beacons are in the midst of a stretch in which they were slated to play 13 consecutive home games over nine dates in a 19-day stretch. While they lost one game versus NIU due to weather, a 12-game homestand would still be the longest homestand by number of games since the 2014 team played 14 straight at home.

The Late Rally: Valpo found itself down 4-2 entering the bottom of the sixth against Purdue Fort Wayne on Tuesday, but a Jaina Westphal homer and a Regi Hecker two-run single put the Beacons on top 5-4, an advantage they would maintain through the final out. It was Valpo’s third win of the season when trailing through four innings, but the first time the team won after trailing through five since scoring a run apiece in the sixth and seventh to overcome a 4-3 deficit for a 5-4 win against Marshall on March 7, 2021.

Double the Boom: Senior Jaina Westphal had a key home run to start the sixth-inning rally versus Purdue Fort Wayne, her second round-tripper of the game, as she had previously gone deep in the second inning. It was the first two-homer game of her career and tied a Valpo program record, accomplished on many occasions previously - most recently by Jaymee Lawton at Bradley on March 16, 2019. Westphal also added a single in a 3-for-3 performance, with her nine total bases tied for third in a single game in program history. She now owns 10 home runs for her career, the most of any active Beacon.

Regi Racks Up the Hits: Sophomore Regi Hecker capped a 3-for-4 afternoon in the win over Purdue Fort Wayne with the most impressive of at-bats, getting down in the count 0-2 and fouling off two more pitches before delivering a two-out, two-run single in the bottom of the sixth to turn a 4-3 deficit into a 5-4 lead. It was her second three-hit game of the season. Over her last three games, Hecker is 5-for-8 at the plate.

Going Yard: Junior Lauren Kehlenbrink entered the weekend series against Bradley April 2-3 with three home runs in the first 65 games of her career, and had not homered since April 11, 2021. She then proceeded to go deep in each of the three games against the Braves, doubling her career home run total. Kehlenbrink became the first Valpo player since 2012 to homer in three consecutive games - Jessie Marinec was the last Valpo player to accomplish the feat, going deep in back-to-back games against New Mexico State and then at Arizona State in March of that season. Kehlenbrink is just the fourth player in program history to hit a homer in three straight games.

Strong Relief Efforts: Freshman Cheyenne Nietz was called upon out of the bullpen on back-to-back days Monday and Tuesday, and delivered a pair of strong performances. In the series finale against Southern Illinois on Monday, Nietz dished out three innings of shutout relief - her second-longest scoreless outing of the season. Then on Tuesday versus Purdue Fort Wayne, Nietz entered to start off the fourth inning and surrendered a home run to the first batter she faced, but that would be the sole run she allowed as she kept the Mastodons at bay to give Valpo an opportunity to rally for the win. Nietz finished with five strikeouts in four innings of work against Purdue Fort Wayne to earn her second win of the season.

Thieves in the Night: It’s a race between Westphal and senior Peyton Moeder to see who will end up with more career stolen bases at the end of the season. This season, Moeder has a team-best nine steals, while Westphal has swiped six bags, leaving them at 30 stolen bases apiece for their respective careers with a month to go in the season. The pair are both tied with Jamie Weinburger for seventh-most in a career in program history.