CEDAR FALLS, Iowa - After securing its third 30-plus win season in four years, the Drake University softball team is set for five road games this week. The Bulldogs will take on in-state rival UNI Tuesday in a doubleheader at the UNI Dome before traveling to Normal, Ill. for a three-game series, April 21-22, against Illinois State.
 
Due to inclement weather this past weekend, Drake (30-9, 13-0 MVC) defeated Valparaiso in two games that were moved to the UNI Dome. The Bulldogs won game one over Valpo, 4-0 and rallied for a 2-1 victory in game two.
 
Dominant pitching from Nicole Newman (Madison, Wis.) and Nicole Timmons (Davenport, Iowa) in the Valpo sweep earned the pair MVC Pitcher and Newcomer of the Week honors, respectively. Newman has claimed the honor a league-high six times in 2018, including four consecutive weeks. In the first victory over Valpo, Newman tossed her second career no-hitter just a week after her first no-hitter against SIU. She improved to 13-3 on the season and recorded a career-high 18 strikeouts for her sixth double-digit strikeout game of the season. In game two, Timmons pitched a complete game to move to 10-4 on the season, and finished with a career-high 12 strikeouts. She allowed one run on three hits.
 
Newman helped herself with a deep three-run home run in the second inning to put the Bulldogs up 3-0 and later Kailee Smith (Murrieta, Calif.) added a solo home run. Junior Taryn Pena (Columbia, Ill.) continues her strong play in the conference season as Pena hit a two-run single in the second win to put Drake up 2-1. In MVC play, Pena is batting .333 with a team-leading 11 runs batted in.
 
UNI (21-18, 6-7 MVC) enters Tuesday with a league-best .297 batting average with hopes of besting the league's top pitching staff in Drake, which has held opponents to only a .189 batting average. The Panthers are coming off a home series loss to Loyola over the weekend. They took the opening game of the series, 8-0 but were shut out of the next two matchups, 5-0 and 2-0. The Panthers are led by Brittney Roby who ranks third in the Valley with a .410 batting average and leads the league with 55 hits.
 
Following the midweek doubleheader, Drake will travel to face Illinois State (17-23, 8-5 MVC). Despite a 1-4 start to the Valley season, the Redbirds have won seven of their past eight MVC games and sit in third place in the conference standings. Illinois State will take on Bradley in its midweek matchup Wednesday before welcoming Drake. Morgan Day is coming off a career weekend for the Redbirds in their sweep over Evansville. Day picked up a win and a save in 7.2 innings pitched where she allowed two earned runs on three hits and struck out 10.