DES MOINES, Iowa – A pair of home runs in the seventh inning pushed Illinois State past the Drake University softball team, 6-5, Sunday at Ron Buel Field.
Junior Nicole Randel (Alpine, Calif.) continued to lead the Drake (23-16, 9-4 MVC) offense and finished her weekend against the Redbirds (21-17, 6-5 MVC) perfect at the plate. Today, she was 2-for-2, with a home run and an RBI and drew two walks. Randel was 8-for-8, scored three runs and had four RBI in the weekend series.
Sophomore Rebekah Schmidt (Cottage Grove, Minn.) entered the game in the first inning after junior starter Jordan Gronewold (Carlisle, Iowa) failed to record an out, while allowing the first four batters to record hits and scoring two runs. In 6 2/3 innings of work, Schmidt allowed eight hits and four runs as her record falls to 10-9 on the year. The sophomore struck out two, while walking two. Gronewold returned in the seventh inning, retiring one batter.
Four straight hits to leadoff the game put the Redbirds on top early. With runners at the corners, Laura Canopy singled to left field to score the first run of the game. Elizabeth Kay followed with a RBI single, increasing Illinois State's lead to 2-0, before Schmidt took the reigns in the circle and closed out the inning by retiring three consecutive batters.
Sophomore Hayley Nybo (Minnetonka, Minn.) tied the game at 3-3 with one swing in the bottom of the third inning, hitting her team-leading eighth home run of the season. With her blast over the left-center field fence, the sophomore moves to eighth all-time in career home runs with 17. Randel followed Nybo with a solo home run, to give the Bulldogs a 4-3 lead.
The Redbirds tied the game at 4-4, in the top of the fifth inning as a slow roller off the bat of Shelby Music found its way through the infield, scoring Kay from second base.
Illinois State used a pair of home runs in the top of the seventh inning to put Drake on the ropes, trailing 6-4, heading to the bottom of the frame. Kay and Brittney Dish each took pitches from Schmidt over the left field wall for the Redbirds. Kay finished the day 3-for-4 with two runs scored and two RBI.
The Bulldogs managed to get runners in scoring position in the bottom of the seventh, but only got one run across on Gronewold's two-out double off the centerfield wall.
Drake hits the road this week, with a pair of road series at Creighton and Bradley. Wednesday's doubleheader with the Bluejays features the top two teams in the Missouri Valley Conference, with game times scheduled for 4 and 6 p.m. in Omaha.
