WICHITA, Kan. – The Indiana State Sycamores held off the Drake Bulldogs softball team, 2-1, on Friday (May 8) in the semifinals of the 2015 Missouri Valley Conference Championship.
Drake (32-21), who claimed the regular season title, mounted a late rally attempt that fell just short, as Indiana State (25-29) won its third straight tournament game to advance to the championship game on Saturday.
Sophomore Ashlie Chambers (Ankeny, Iowa) led the Bulldogs' offense with a 2-for-3 performance at the plate, including a RBI single that scored senior Hayley Nybo (Minnetonka, Minn.) in the seventh inning trailing 2-0 that brought up the tying run. Nybo led off the frame with a single up the middle. However, pinch-hitter freshman Kailee Smith (Murieta, Calif.) struck out to end the game.
Freshman Nicole Newman (Madison, Wis.), who earlier in the week claimed the MVC Freshman of the Year Award, started in the circle for Drake and allowed two runs (one earned) on three hits in four innings. Newman struck out three and issued three intentional walks in the contest to MVC Player of the Year, Megan Stone. Newman ended her first season with a 13-5 overall record.
Senior Rebekah Schmidt (Cottage Grove, Minn.), who was named the 2015 MVC Pitcher of the Year, pitched three innings in relief and allowed just two hits while striking out four Sycamores.
Indiana State scored the deciding pair of runs in the third inning by piecing together some timely hitting and taking advantage of an error by Drake shortstop Tasha Alexander (Eddyville, Iowa). With one-out after an outstanding catch by Alexander on a ball hit off the glove of third baseman Kaitlyn Finneran (Morrison, Ill.), Indiana State's Rylee Holland hit a single and Aubre Carpenter reached on Alexander's throwing error to put runners on the corner. Drake promptly walked Stone to load the bases for Brooke Riemenschneid. Riemenschneid bounced a ball down the third base line that just stayed fair and was past the glove of a diving Finneran as two runs scored. Newman limited the damage to just the two runs by working around one more single and then retiring the next two hitters.
Drake's bats were quiet until the final inning as Indiana State starter Taylor Lockwood allowed just a second inning single to Chambers and a walk to senior Sarah Ryan (Mount Vernon, Iowa) in the third inning for the Bulldogs only base runners until the seventh.
Friday's loss marked the final games for Drake's four-member senior class of Laura Brewer (Waukee, Iowa), Nybo, Ryan and Schmidt. Brewer graduates tied for ninth all-time in career home runs with 18 while Schmidt ends her career in the top-five of many all-time pitching statistics, including appearances (164, 1st), career wins (56, 3rd), innings pitched (719.0, 3rd) and strikeouts (644, 5th). Nybo leaves as the school's career leader in home runs (34), runs batted in (140), tied for the all-time mark in career doubles with 42 and sixth in career hits with 187. Ryan was the Bulldogs' defensive anchor in center field her final two seasons. She made just one error as a junior and had zero as a senior. Ryan was honored for her great defensive efforts by being named to the inaugural MVC All-Defensive team this season. Brewer collected All-MVC second team honors as a junior while Nybo and Schmidt each earned All-MVC honors three times each in their respective careers. In their careers, the four helped Drake win 109 games and its first MVC regular season title since the 1993 season.
In 2016, Drake is expected to have a returning roster of one senior, four juniors led by Megan Sowa (Gurnee, Ill.), who earned All-MVC First team and All-MVC Second Team honors in her first two seasons, respectively along with four sophomores (Alexander, Newman, Smith, Kelsey Wright (Olathe, Kan.). Those nine returning players will be joined by four freshmen that signed back in November of 2014.
