CEDAR FALLS, Iowa – The Drake University softball team earned wins over South Dakota State and Western Illinois on Sunday to close the 2015 UNI-Dome Classic played at the UNI Dome.
 
Drake (4-1) started the day with a 5-3 win over South Dakota State then defeated Western Illinois, 5-2, in its final tournament game.
 
In the win over the Jackrabbits, sophomore Tasha Alexander (Eddyville, Iowa) and freshman Kennedy Frank (Chesterfield, Mo.) each slugged two-run home runs and Frank finished with three hits. Freshman Taryn Pena (Columbia, Ill.) drew a bases loaded walk in the seventh inning for an insurance run.
 
Sophomore pitcher Nicole Newman (Madison, Wis.) tossed seven innings and allowed three runs on five hits while striking out eight as she improved to 3-0 on the young season. Newman has racked up 33 strikeouts in her first three starts.
 
Junior Megan Sowa (Gurnee, Ill.) led the Bulldogs in the win over the Leathernecks as she went 2-for-4 at the plate with a triple and home run and three runs batted in.
 
Pena drove in Sowa for Drake's first run of the game in the fourth inning on an RBI-double as it tied the game at 1-1.
 
In the fifth inning, Sowa broke the tie with a three-run home run, her first homer of the season. Later in the final frame, Sowa ripped a run-scoring triple for the team's final run.
 
Senior pitcher Mariah McKinnon (Oxford, Iowa) had an outstanding game in the circle. McKinnon went seven innings and allowed two runs on seven hits and struck out two as she moved to 1-1 on the season. Western Illinois scored one run in the final frame and had runners on second and third base, but McKinnon got a strikeout to end the game.
 
Drake has a long break before its next contests as the Bulldogs will play next at the Razorback Invitational on Feb. 27 & 28 with on game each day against UMKC and the hosts, Arkansas.