Monday, March 28, 2011

PEORIA, Ill. – Seniors Brynne Dordel and Jenna DeLong helped the 2011 Drake University softball team do something no other Bulldog team had done before; start a Missouri Valley Conference season with five-straight wins. Drake downed Bradley, 3-2, on Monday to improve to a conference-best 5-0 in MVC play and move to 17-11 overall.

Dordel (Chanhassen, Minn.) earned the win, her sixth of the season, after allowing two runs (one earned) on five hits while striking out seven in 5.1 innings of work. DeLong (Dalton Gardens, Idaho) entered in the sixth and rung up five-straight outs, including three on strikeouts, to earn her fourth-career save.

Junior Torey Craddock (Tucson, Ariz.) continued her torrid pace at the plate, finishing 2-for-3 with a run scored. Craddock has gone 8-for-11 (.727) in her last three games, boosting her batting average from .291 to a team-high .344 during that span. Craddock has hit in five-straight games, tying the team's longest hitting streak of the season.

Three Bradley errors helped Drake score three unearned runs. Junior Jaimie Duffek (Brookfield, Ill.) scored on a sacrifice fly by senior Erin Mollohan (Tinley Park, Ill.) in the third, tying the game at one. Mollohan and Craddock both scored in the sixth after reaching base on Bradley errors.

Offensively, Drake totaled just four hits. Sophomores Sam West (Kearney, Mo.) and Macie Silliman (Winterset, Iowa) tallied one each to match Craddock's two.

The Bulldogs scored fewer than four runs and won for just the third time this season. A 2-1 win over North Dakota on March 4 and a 2-0 victory over Indiana State March 19 were Drake's other sub-four-run victories.

The Bulldogs return home for a doubleheader against South Dakota State Thursday. First pitch is scheduled for 2 p.m.