STARKVILLE, Miss. – After Saturday's games were cancelled due to rain, the Drake University softball team split a pair of games Sunday to conclude play at the February Freezer. Drake (6-3) defeated South Alabama (4-4) by a score of 4-0 before narrowly falling to Mississippi State (8-1), 1-0 in a rematch of Friday night when the Drake Bulldogs claimed a 1-0 win in eight innings.
 
Sunday, Drake earned the win over South Alabama led by the pitching combination of Nicole Newman (Madison, Wis.) and Kailee Smith (Murrieta, Calif.). Newman (4-0), who has yet to give up a run this season in four starts, allowed just two hits by the Jaguars while striking out seven with two walks. Smith held the Bulldogs' lead pitching the final two innings. She allowed just one hit with three strikeouts and one walk.
 
Tasha Alexander (Eddyville, Iowa) singled to follow a double by Mandi Roemmich (West Des Moines, Iowa) in the third inning. A groundout from Kelsey Wright (Olathe, Kan.) advanced both runners before Smith reached on a throwing error by South Alabama. The error allowed both Alexander and Roemmich to score giving Drake a 2-0 lead.
 
After a fourth-inning leadoff walk for Newman, Taryn Pena (Columbia, Ill.) blasted a home run, Drake's first home run of the season, to pad its lead at 4-0.
 
Nicole Timmons (Davenport, Iowa) pitched five innings against Mississippi State and allowed just one run on four hits with two strikeouts. Timmons (1-2) pitched four scoreless innings before giving up a two-out walk to Mississippi State in the fifth inning. The MSU Bulldogs followed with back-to-back hits scoring the only run of the game.
 
Drake threatened Mississippi State's lead in the top of the sixth as Roemmich led off the inning with a double. Following a strikeout by Macy Johnson (Winterset, Iowa), Alexander walked to put the go-ahead run on base but back-to-back outs from Smith and Pena kept the Drake Bulldogs from scoring.
 
Following the conclusion of the February Freezer, Drake will travel to the USF Tournament in Tampa, Fla., hosted by South Florida (RV), Feb. 23-25.