The Purple Aces struck first in a big way, with four first-inning runs, including a leadoff home run. The Panthers cut into the deficit in the bottom of the second inning off the bat of Drew Hinrichs. With a pair of runners on the base path, Hinrichs launched a ball off the inside of the left-field foul pole for a three-run home run. The Purple Aces held the lead, 4-3, after two full innings.

A one-run single for Evansville was answered with a trio of runs from the Panthers in the bottom of the third inning to take a 6-5 lead. A two-run home run off the bat of Ava Smithson, UNI's 100th of the year, was followed by a single from Drew Hinrichs to give the Cats their first lead of the matchup.



The Panthers tacked on two more in the bottom of the fourth inning with a two-run home run from Katelyn Callahan to take an 8-5 lead after four innings. The UNI defense knocked down the Purple Aces 1-2-3 in the top of the fifth, the first three-batter inning of the game. Evansville responded in the top of the sixth with a two-run home run to cut the Panther lead to one at 8-7 before another three-run inning from UNI to push the lead out to the largest of the day at four runs. Another home run from the Panthers, a two-run shot from Sykora Smith, plated a pair before Addison Brunner came around to score on a single from Finley Netten for UNI's final runs of the opening round.

A pair of strikeouts from sophomore Morgan Vertz and a groundout to third base sealed the deal for the Panthers who advanced to the second round on Thursday.

Drew Hinrichs led UNI with three hits in four at-bats. She drove in four runs and scored one. Sykora Smith and Finley Netten were the other multi-hit performers for UNI. Kelsey Endress picked up her second win of the season in a 2.0-inning relief effort. The Panther pitching staff struck out eight batters, including a pair from Morgan Vertz in the final inning of action.