WICHITA, KAN. - Sophomore Erin Bly (Frankfort, Ill./Lincoln Way East) and junior Carrie Hatfield (Des Moines, Iowa/East)
each hit a home run in the fourth inning en route to the Bulldogs 5-1 win in
the first game of a doubleheader at Wichita State Saturday. The Shockers took the
second game, 3-2, in nine innings.
Sophomore
Jenna DeLong
(Dalton Gardens, Idaho/Coeur d'Alene) pitched her 17th complete game
of the season, allowing five hits and striking out 12 over seven innings.
Freshman Torey Craddock (Tucson, Ariz./Salpointe Catholic) led the Bulldogs with two hits
while Bly and Hatfield had three and two RBI, respectively.
Wichita State took a 1-0 lead in the second inning off
Jessica Spencer's home run.
Drake answered with five runs in the fourth inning on five
hits that started with junior Bridget Shields' (Iowa City, Iowa/West) double to left center field. Craddock
followed with a single through the left side, advancing Shields to third. Bly
put Drake on the board with a three-run home run to center field that scored Shields
and Craddock.
Molly McClelland (West
Des Moines, Iowa/Valley) singled to center field and Hatfield hit her first
home run of the season, giving the Bulldogs a 5-1 lead they would hold for the
rest of the game.
In game two of the doubleheader, Wichita State took an early
2-0 lead after one inning.
McClelland hit her first career home run in the second
inning, bringing the Bulldogs within one run at 2-1.
Drake tied the game in the sixth inning on Bly's RBI single
to center field that scored Shields, who reached base on a hit by pitch to
start the inning.
Wichita State scored the winning run in the ninth inning off
two hits and one Drake error.
The Bulldogs had four hits in the game with singles from Bly, DeLong and McClelland and a double from junior Kelsey Kahler (North Liberty, Iowa/Clear Creek-Amana).
DeLong collected the loss, allowing four hits and one run and striking out eight over 5.1 innings.
The Bulldogs face the Shockers in the final game of the series
Sunday (April 26) at noon.
