CARBONDALE, Ill. - The Drake University softball team starts its Missouri Valley Conference schedule at SIU Saturday. The three game series features a doubleheader Saturday at 1 p.m. followed by a single game Sunday at 12 p.m. All three games will be streamed on ESPN+.
 
Drake (12-12) finished its challenging tournament schedule with a .500 record. All but two of the Bulldogs losses occurred against ranked teams or teams that received in the latest USA Today/NFCA Coaches Poll. Drake enters MVC play on a three game losing streak, but lost those games by a combined five runs, including a 5-2 defeat at hands of No. 3 Oklahoma.
 
Junior Mandi Roemmich (West Des Moines, Iowa) is batting a team-leading .355 followed by sophomores Macy Johnson (Winterset, Iowa) and Libby Ryan (Mount Vernon, Iowa) at .323 and .293, respectively.
 
SIU (13-7, 1-1 MVC) opened conference play at home Tuesday against Missouri State and earned a split with the Bears. In the second game, four different Salukis launched home runs as they beat MSU, 11-2, in five innings for the split. Drake and SIU last met in the 2018 MVC Championship game at Buel Field as the Bulldogs won 4-1 to complete the 2018 MVC regular season and tournament sweep.
 
Following this weekend, Drake continues league play at Bradley, March 23-24.