Softball Game Preview: Evansville Mater Dei Wildcats vs. Boonville Pioneers

The Evansville Mater Dei Wildcats will face off against the Boonville Pioneers at 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday. Evansville Mater Dei is strutting in with some hitting muscle as they've averaged 6.9 runs per game this season.

Evansville Mater Dei's pitching crew heads into the match hoping to repeat the dominance they displayed on Tuesday. Everything went their way against Evansville Bosse as they made off with a 23-0 victory. The high-flying hitting performance was a huge turnaround for the Wildcats considering their one-run performance the contest before.

Chelsea Merkley

Batters Struck Out (Career)

05/13/25 @ Evansville Bosse	12
04/23/25 vs Apollo	4
04/30/25 vs Tecumseh	2
04/11/25 @ Gibson Southern	2
05/11/24 vs Cascade	2

Chelsea Merkley made a splash while hitting and pitching. She kept things locked down with no earned runs or hits while striking out 12 over five innings pitched. Those 12 strikeouts gave her a new career-high. She was also big at the plate, going 2-for-4 with two RBI and one run.

In other batting news, Ingrid Damm was a standout: she went 2-for-3 with one home run, five RBI, and two runs. Those two runs gave her a new career-high. Another player making a difference was Addison Collins, who went a perfect 2-for-2 with one home run, four RBI, and two runs.

Evansville Mater Dei was getting hits left and right and finished the game having posted a batting average of .605. That's the best batting average they've posted all season.

Meanwhile, Boonville suffered their closest defeat since April 12th on Tuesday. They fell just short of Castle by a score of 3-1. The Pioneers have struggled against the Knights recently, as the game was their ninth consecutive lost meeting.

Evansville Mater Dei is on a roll lately: they've won four of their last five games. That's provided a massive bump to their 9-8 record this season. Those wins came thanks in part to their hitting performance across that stretch, as they averaged 8.2 runs over those games. As for Boonville, their loss dropped their record down to 10-8.

Evansville Mater Dei couldn't quite finish off Boonville in their previous matchup back in May of 2024 and fell 7-5. Will the Wildcats have more luck at home instead of on the road? Check MaxPreps after the match for a full breakdown of the game, commentary, and other softball content.