After going 12-9 during its non-conference season, the Loyola softball team (14-12, 2-3) started conference play March 17. The Ramblers opened Missouri Valley Conference (MVC) with a 2-3 record against Southern Illinois University (SIU) and Bradley University.
After having a 14-0 record out of the gates last season, head coach Jeff Tylka realized he needed to make the team’s schedule tougher in order to give the players a challenge. Loyola’s non-conference schedule featured games against teams with a high RPI such as Lehigh University, United States Military Academy and South Florida University.
“Last year, we had so much success early that I don’t think we were quite as prepared with as tough of a schedule as we could have had,” Tylka said.