FORT COLLINS, Colo. – The Drake softball team knocked off the Omaha Mavericks, 5-1, before falling to the Colorado State Rams, 6-4, on the final day of action on Sunday at the CSU Classic.
Drake (9-10) blitzed the Omaha pitching staff by pounding out 13 hits. Sophomore Megan Sowa (Gurnee, Ill.) drove in freshman Kelsey Wright (Olathe, Kan.) with a double for the games first run. Later Sowa came around to score off a RBI single by fellow sophomore Ashlie Chambers (Ankeny, Iowa) to give Drake a 2-0 lead.
In the next inning, Wright had an RBI triple that plated senior Sarah Ryan (Mount Vernon, Iowa), who started off the frame with a single. Omaha brought in a new pitcher, Abbie Clanton, who had an illegal pitch that scored Wright. Sowa followed with her own triple and she later scored off a RBI single by senior Laura Brewer (Waukee, Iowa) as the Bulldogs led 5-0 after their first two at-bats.
Omaha managed one run in the bottom half of the second, off of Drake freshman pitcher Nicole Newman (Madison, Wis.). Newman locked in after the lone run, allowing just three more hits. She pitched seven innings and gave up five hits as she earned the win to improve to 5-3.
Sowa finished just a home run shy of the cycle going 3-for-4 with two runs scored and one run batted in. Brewer, sophomore Kaitlyn Finneran (Trenton, Mo.) and Wright each had two hits for the Bulldogs.
Senior Rebekah Schmidt (Cottage Grove, Minn.) started in the circle against Colorado State. Schmidt helped her cause with a two-run double in the first inning that scored Sowa and Wright.
Schmidt allowed two runs by the Rams in the bottom of the frame, but Drake answered with two more runs in the second. Sowa had a sacrifice fly that scored freshman Tasha Alexander (Eddyville, Iowa) and Brewer added a RBI single that scored Wright. However, Colorado State again scored two runs in its next at-bat, as the score was 4-4 after two innings of play.
Drake had a tough break in the fourth inning as Wright was thrown out trying to stretch a double to a triple to lead off the frame and the next two hitters were retired. Colorado State scored the deciding runs of the game in its next at-bat as the Rams scratched out two runs on three hits. The runs were scored with two outs off a RBI single by Shae Rodriguez.
The Bulldogs were so close to grabbing the lead back as they put runners in scoring position in each of their next three at-bats. Their best opportunities came in the sixth and the seventh innings as they stranded runners on second and third in the sixth, and had the bases loaded in the seventh. The timely hit didn't materialize as Schmidt grounded out to close the sixth and Wright struck out to end the game.
Schmidt led Drake with three hits, including two doubles while Sowa had another strong game going 2-for-3.
Schmidt dropped to 4-6 on the season with the loss as she allowed six runs on seven hits with five walks and three strikeouts.
Drake opens its MVC slate at Missouri State on March 14-15 with three games scheduled against the Bears. On the way back from Springfield, Mo., the Bulldogs will stop in Lawrence, Kan. on March 16 to play Kansas in one game set for 1 p.m. Drake hosts Evansville, March 21-22, in its home opener at Ron Buel Field.
