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Softball Closes Regular Season At Home

Softball Drake Athletics

Softball Closes Regular Season At Home

THIS WEEK IN DRAKE SOFTBALL
The Drake University softball team hosts a doubleheader with Kansas on Wednesday beginning at 4 p.m. The Bulldogs then host first-place Southern Illinois in a three-game Missouri Valley Conference series starting with a Friday doubleheader at noon. Drake will play the series and regular season finale at noon on Saturday.

MAY    OPPONENT                            TIME
05        KANSAS (DH)                         4:00 p.m.
07        SOUTHERN ILLINOIS (DH)       12:00 p.m.
08        SOUTHERN ILLINOIS              12:00 p.m.


WHO HAS WHOSE NUMBER
Drake is 1-3 against Kansas, but won the teams' last meeting, 7-1, on April 23, 2009 in Lawrence, Kan.
The Bulldogs are 20-41-1 all-time against Southern Illinois and went 1-2 against the Salukis a year ago.

ABOUT KANSAS
The 19-32 Jayhawks are led by Mariah Montgomery, who is batting .303 with five home runs and 24 RBI and a team-best 11 doubles. Allie Clark leads the team in home runs with six, along with Sara Ramirez and Marissa Ingle. Brittany Hile is the team leader with 25 RBI, while Alex Jones leads the Jayhawk squad with 27 runs scored.
    No KU pitcher has a winning record, with Clark's 8-10 mark, 3.96 ERA and 68 strikeouts leading the staff.
    Kansas is coached by first-year head coach Megan Smith.

ABOUT SOUTHERN ILLINOIS
The 34-17 Salukis are a Valley-best 18-4 in conference play. SIU is led by Katie Wilson, who is batting .328 with 12 homers and 48 RBI. Alicia Garza is batting a team-best .336 with 50 hits and 35 runs scored.
    Pitcher Danielle Glosson carries a 2.26 ERA and is 21-12 with 190 strikeouts in 176.2 innings of work. Alex Peters is 10-4 with a 2.23 ERA.
    The Salukis are coached by 11th-year head coach Kerri Blaylock.

HARD LUCK WOMAN – REVISITED
In Jenna DeLong's last five starts, the junior has tossed 35 innings and allowed just five earned runs to put her ERA at an even 1.00. She allowed 28 hits and 10 walks while striking out 38 batters. Despite these numbers, DeLong went 1-4 over that span. DeLong has been the hard luck loser in three 1-0 setbacks this month (April 2 vs. Wichita State, April 11 at UNI and April 24 at Indiana State) and even took a loss after holding a no-hitter through seven innings (April 21 vs. Creighton).

AS LEON GOES
Elena Leon has recorded nine multi-hit games this season. Drake is 8-1 during such games with its only loss coming to Arkansas, 5-0, on March 6. Leon also has homered in eight games this season with Drake going 6-2 in such games.

BETTER THAN LAST YEAR
Drake reached the 30-win plateau six games faster than it did a season ago and is a near lock to better its 2009 record this season. The Bulldogs went 30-23 last year. This season is the eighth 30-win season in the 32-year history of the program.

RUN LEADER
Senior Elena Leon scored the 118th run of her career in the first inning of Drake's 8-0 victory over Missouri State on April 17, passing Kris Cox (1990-93) for first place on Drake's career runs list.

WITHOUT THE RUNS
Jenna DeLong ended a 32-inning Drake scoring drought with a second-inning home run in game two at Indiana State. The streak stretched over six games between April 17 and April 24.

EARLY LEADS
Drake is 26-2 in games where it plates the first run. If the Bulldogs fail to score first they are 4-16 on the season. The Bulldogs also have a 12-3 record when they tally a run in the first inning and are 12-2 when leading after the first.

PITCHING IS KEY
Out of the 30 wins the Bulldogs have amassed this season, 12 have been shutouts. Drake is 10-3 when allowing opponents to score just one run. Drake is 2-12 when allowing three or more runs.

RISP MANAGEMENT
Senior Carrie Hatfield and freshman Macie Silliman are first and second, respectively, in batting with runners in scoring position. Hatfield is raking at a .423 clip with 11 RBI. Silliman has equaled Hatfield's 11 RBI total with a .367 average in that situation. Junior Erin Mollohan leads all Drake players with 17 RBI with runners in scoring position.

DORDEL NAMED MVC PITCHER OF THE WEEK
Junior Brynne Dordel was named State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Pitcher of the Week for April 5-11.
    Dordel was fantastic in the circle during Drake's 4-1 week, earning two wins and registering a sub-one earned run average. Dordel began the week with a seven inning battle against Iowa State, earning a win with a complete-game effort.
    She started game one of the Bulldogs' three-game series at UNI, earning her second win of the week with a complete-game, four-hit showing and striking out seven in the process. Finally, Dordel threw eight shutout innings the next day against the Panthers, allowing just four hits while striking out six. On the week, Dordel went 2-0 with an 0.95 ERA and 16 strikeouts in 22 innings of work.

DELONG EARNS SECOND MVC PITCHER OF THE WEEK HONOR
Junior Jenna DeLong was named Missouri Valley Conference Pitcher of the Week for March 8-14. DeLong dominated in the circle for Drake, picking up two wins and compiling a perfect 0.00 ERA while allowing just seven hits in 15 innings of work. She struck out 19 on the week, including 10 in a complete game, three-hit shutout against Boston College.
    The junior pitched a single inning against Pittsburgh, entering in the sixth and striking out the side to give the Bulldogs a chance for a seventh-inning rally. Finally, DeLong sat down six on strikes in a complete game, 6-1, victory over New Mexico State in her final appearance of the week.

DELONG, VANDE WALL NAMED ALL-TOURNAMENT
Pitcher Jenna DeLong and freshman outfielder Lindsey Vande Wall were named to the Sleep Inn Classic All-Tournament Team, as voted by participating coaches. DeLong earned  her first MVC Player of the Week Honor of the season for her efforts. Vande Wall hit .444 (4-9) on the weekend with three runs scored and a fourth-inning grand slam against Colorado State that transformed Drake's slim 2-1 lead into a comfortable 6-1 advantage. The freshman also was three-for-three on the basepaths and played mistake-free defense in centerfield.

ONE MORE ON DELONG
Jenna DeLong threw 21 straight scoreless innings over five games. DeLong closed the Iowa game with two scoreless innings before tossing seven against Buffalo for a complete game shutout. The junior entered in relief to log three shutout innings against North Texas before tossing her second straight complete-game shutout against Sam Houston State DeLong opened the Southern Mississippi contests with two scoreless innings before allowing a third-inning home run to end the streak.

FREQUENT FLIERS
Drake traveled 5,508 miles and played 22 games before playing in front of a home crowd at Buel Field this season. The Bulldogs made stops in Minnesota, Arkansas, Texas and Florida before opening their home schedule last weekend.

FAMILIAR FOES
Drake met six familiar non-conference opponents in 2010, having played Arkansas, Minnesota, Iowa State, Iowa, Eastern Illinois and Kansas in 2009. The Bulldogs earned victories over each of the above teams last season and went 6-2 overall. Drake's two losses were to Arkansas March 3 and Eastern Illinois March 17. Iowa was ranked No. 25 when the Bulldogs earned a 1-0 win in Iowa City on April 29 of last year.

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Players Mentioned

Jenna DeLong

#33 Jenna DeLong

P/OF
5' 10"
Junior
Brynne Dordel

#23 Brynne Dordel

P
5' 7"
Junior
Carrie Hatfield

#20 Carrie Hatfield

IF
5' 4"
Senior
Elena Leon

#21 Elena Leon

IF
5' 8"
Senior
Erin Mollohan

#55 Erin Mollohan

C
5' 7"
Junior
Macie Silliman

#1 Macie Silliman

IF
5' 6"
Freshman
Lindsey Vande Wall

#22 Lindsey Vande Wall

UT
5' 8"
Freshman

Players Mentioned

Jenna DeLong

#33 Jenna DeLong

5' 10"
Junior
P/OF
Brynne Dordel

#23 Brynne Dordel

5' 7"
Junior
P
Carrie Hatfield

#20 Carrie Hatfield

5' 4"
Senior
IF
Elena Leon

#21 Elena Leon

5' 8"
Senior
IF
Erin Mollohan

#55 Erin Mollohan

5' 7"
Junior
C
Macie Silliman

#1 Macie Silliman

5' 6"
Freshman
IF
Lindsey Vande Wall

#22 Lindsey Vande Wall

5' 8"
Freshman
UT