PEORIA, Ill. – The Drake Bulldogs softball team dropped a pair of one-run games to the Bradley Braves on Sunday afternoon. Bradley rallied to win game one, 3-2, and then held off Drake in the second game, 4-3.
Bradley improved to 19-31 and 12-12 in Missouri Valley Conference games with the two wins while Drake dropped to 28-18, 17-7 in the MVC with the losses.
In game one, Drake freshman Tasha Alexander's (Eddyville, Iowa) RBI-single in the fourth inning started the scoring for the Bulldogs and two batters later sophomore Megan Sowa (Gurnee, Ill.) added another run on her RBI-single that brought home Alexander as Drake led 2-0.
Bradley chipped away at the Bulldogs' lead, first with a solo home run by Caitlyn McCarron in the fifth inning. An inning later the Braves tied the contest at 2-2 as Kelly Kapp stole third and was able to score off a throwing error by Drake sophomore catcher Ashlie Chambers (Ankeny, Iowa).
The game went to extras as the Bulldogs were retired in order in the top of the eighth inning. Bradley completed the comeback win with three straight singles, the last one by Hansen, in the bottom of the eighth to win 3-2.
Back-to-back one-out doubles in third inning of game two scored the first run for the Braves in the series finale. Drake senior Rebekah Schmidt (Cottage Grove, Minn.) then retired the next batter, Shannon King and then struck out Lexi Cremeens, but the ball slipped away from Chambers and Cremeens was able to reach first on the wild pitch strikeout. The miscue was costly as the next batter, Kendall Duffy, launched a three-run home run to put Bradley up 4-0 after three innings.
Drake answered in the fourth inning as Alexander had an infield single with the bases load that scored senior Laura Brewer (Waukee, Iowa) for the Bulldogs' first run. Senior Sarah Ryan (Mount Vernon, Iowa) followed with her own run scoring single as two Bulldogs were able to score as Drake pulled within one run at 4-3.
However, it would be the final offensive threat for Drake as freshman Kelsey Wright (Olathe, Kan.) grounded out to end the inning. The Bulldogs would only get one more base hit in the final three innings as Bradley completed the doubleheader sweep.
Schmidt took both tough losses on Sunday as she falls to 17-12 on the season. Alexander led Drake with three hits in the two games while Sowa had two base hits.
Drake travels to Nebraska on Tuesday, April 28 for one game at 7 p.m. The Bulldogs then visit former MVC rival, Creighton, on Wednesday, April 29 for a doubleheader starting at 3 p.m.
