AMES, Iowa – On a cold, damp and windy night in Ames the Drake Bulldogs softball team beat the Iowa State Cyclones, 6-3, on Wednesday (April 8) evening at Cyclones Sports Complex.
Senior Hayley Nybo (Minnetonka, Minn.) had a pair of doubles as she finished 3-for-4 at the plate to lead Drake, who improved to 21-12 with the win. Senior Laura Brewer (Waukee, Iowa) and sophomore Megan Sowa (Gurnee, Ill.) each hit a home run as they each finished with two hits. Sowa scored two runs and had two runs batted in.
Senior Rebekah Schmidt (Cottage Grove, Minn.) pitched 4.1 innings and allowed one earned run on six hits to move to 12-8 on the year. Freshman Nicole Newman (Madison, Wis.) tossed 2.2 innings in relief and allowed zero runs while striking out four to earn her second career save. At the plate, Newman recorded her first career hit.
The Bulldogs wasted little time as they scored two runs in the opening inning. Sowa had a one-out base hit up the middle and after a walk by Brewer, Nybo blasted a double over the centerfielder's head to plate Sowa. Schmidt then drew a walk to load the bases for freshman Kailee Smith (Marietta, Calif.), who also drew a walk to bring in the second run.
Sowa added two more runs in the second inning as she launched a two-run home run over the right-center field wall, her fourth of the season to put Drake ahead 4-0.
Sophomore Kaitlyn Finneran (Morrison, Ill.), who drew a walk to lead off the third frame, came around to score on a wild pitch to extend the lead to 5-0.
Brewer blasted a deep home run over the left field wall with one out in the sixth inning to give Drake a 6-3 lead.
The Cyclones were only able to score one run in the third, fourth and fifth innings. Schmidt and Newman consistently limited the damage with timely outs and their teammates had some excellent defense to help out.
Drake and Iowa State will play once more in 2015 with the Cyclones scheduled to visit Ron Buel Field on April 21 for a 5 p.m. contest.
Drake returns to Missouri Valley Conference play with a road trip to Southern Illinois this weekend, April 11-12. The Bulldogs and Salukis will play three games, starting with a doubleheader Saturday at noon before closing out the series with a single game Sunday at noon.
