CARBONDALE, Ill. – The Drake University softball team started its Missouri Valley Conference schedule with a road sweep over Southern Illinois Saturday afternoon.
Drake (14-12) blanked SIU (13-9) 6-0 in the first game of the doubleheader and then rallied for a 6-4 win in the finale.
In the opener,
Nicole Newman (Madison, Wis.) dominated the Salukis in the circle. Newman allowed just one hit in her third shutout of the season with a season-high 15 strikeouts. She worked around four walks and two hit by pitches to improve to 6-6.
At the plate, Newman helped herself by going 2-for-3 with one home run and two runs batted in.
Kennedy Frank (Chesterfield, Mo.) and
Macy Johnson (Winterset, Iowa) each hit RBI singles in the fifth inning while
Abby Buie (Gardner, Kan.) had one in the sixth. Newman drew a bases loaded walk in the final inning for her second RBI after her second inning solo home run over the center field fence.
Johnson and
Hannah Pals (Des Moines, Iowa) each had two hits in the first game.
In the second game, Drake took an early 2-0 lead, as Johnson and
Mandi Roemmich (West Des Moines, Iowa) hit RBI singles in the second inning. However, SIU took a 3-2 lead in the bottom half of the frame, scoring three runs off
Nicole Timmons (Davenport, Iowa).
The score remained 3-2 until the fifth inning when Pals came through with a clutch two-out, two-run double that plated Frank and
Melissa Schlotzhauer (Pilot Grove, Mo.) that put Drake up 4-3. But the lead only lasted until the bottom of the inning when SIU tied it at 4-4 with a sacrifice fly.
Newman though came into the circle for Timmons after the sac fly and escaped further damage.
The Bulldogs went ahead for good in the sixth inning. Roemmich and Johnson reached on back-to-back errors to start the inning and both later scored. Roemmich scored on
Taryn Pena's (Columbia, Ill.) infield single and later Johnson and Pena executed the double steal for the team's final run.
Newman then worked around a leadoff hit in the seventh inning to give Drake the comeback win. Newman pitched 2.2 innings and allowed one hit with one walk and four strikeouts .She improved to 7-6 with her second win of the day.
Buie led the offense with three hits while Johnson and Pals each had two.
The teams close the series Sunday with a 12 p.m. game and it will be streamed on ESPN+.
