NORMAN, Okla. - Senior Lindsey Vande Wall (Prairie City, Iowa) drove home the go ahead run on her second home run of the season as the Drake (13-8) softball team defeated Northern Colorado, 5-2, in their first game of the Oklahoma Spring Preview Tournament.

Northern Colorado (7-12-1) took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning on a solo home run by Melissa Marchovecchio.

The Bulldogs answered with a run in the top of the third inning after an RBI single by Macie Silliman (Winterset, Iowa) plated Amy Pierce (Olathe, Kan.). Vande Wall's home run in the fifth inning broke the 1-1 game open and the Bulldogs tacked on three more runs in their last at-bat.

Vande Wall and senior Sam West (Kearney, Mo.) started the top of the seventh inning off with back-to-back singles and Pierce followed with a fielder's choice. Vande Wall came home after an error by the pitcher for the Bulldogs' first run. After a pitching change by the Bears, Silliman singled through the left side to drive home Pierce. Junior Nicole Randel (Alpine, Calif.) hit a two-out sacrifice fly to plate Pierce for the final run.

Rebekah Schmidt (Cottage Grove, Minn.) pitched 3.1 innings in relief to improve to 7-3 on the season. Schmidt allowed one hit and one unearned run with three strikeouts.

Sophomore Laura Brewer (Waukee, Iowa) finished 3-for-3 at the plate, while Silliman went 2-for-3 with two RBI. Vande Wall recorded a 2-for-3 performance with a home run, one RBI and two runs scored.  Pierce finished with a double and two runs scored.

Drake plays the No. 2 Oklahoma Sooners tonight at 6 p.m. with free live stats and live video available. The start times for Drake's games scheduled for Saturday versus Northern Colorado and Oklahoma have been moved up to 9 a.m. and 1 p.m., respectively.