CEDAR
FALLS, Iowa - The Drake softball team swept its two
games on the final day of the UNI Dome Classic beating Green Bay, 5-1 and
shutting out Northern Iowa, 6-0 to improve its record to 4-1 on the young
season.
In game one, junior Jordan
Gronewold (Carlisle, Iowa) pitched five innings and allowed just one run on
six hits and struck out six Phoenix batters to earn the win. Sophomore Rebekah Schmidt (Cottage Grove, Minn.)
pitched two scoreless innings with three strikeouts to pick up her first save.
At the plate junior Amy
Pierce (Overland Park, Kan.) paced the Bulldogs offensive attack finishing
3-for-5. Senior Macie Silliman
(Winterset, Iowa) went 2-for-4 with two runs scored and an RBI. The Bulldogs
scored two in the first, one in the second and two in the sixth to get the win.
Against Northern Iowa, Gronewold (3-0) had another stellar
performance on the mound. She pitched five scoreless innings and allowed no
hits with four strikeouts and four walks for the win. Schmidt came on in relief
and allowed just one hit to pick up her second save.
Silliman added two more hits and scored a run while
sophomore Laura Brewer (Waukee,
Iowa) went 2-for-2 with two RBIs. Brewer drove home the Bulldogs first run in
the opening frame and drove home another run in the third.
Drake added two more runs in the fifth on a UNI throwing
error that scored Silliman and Pierce. The Bulldogs added two more in the
seventh. Junior Nicole Randel
(Alpine, Calif.) blasted a pinch-hit RBI double and Liz Buck (Olathe, Kan.) followed with an RBI single to put the game
away.
The Bulldogs will travel west for their next action at
the Hillenbrand Invitational hosted by the University of Arizona. Drake will
open the tournament Friday night (Feb. 15) at 7 p.m. against the No. 13 Wildcats
before ending the evening against the Purdue Boilermakers at 9 p.m.