SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – The Drake University softball team split its Missouri Valley Conference doubleheader at Missouri State Saturday, April 27 afternoon.
 
The split stopped a season-long 21-game winning streak for Drake (35-14, 20-2 MVC). Missouri State (28-18, 12-9 MVC) handed the Bulldogs just their second league loss and first since March 17 at SIU when they fell 1-0.
 
In the first game, Nicole Newman (Madison, Wis.) continued her dominance in the circle as she allowed just one baserunner via a one-out hit by pitch in the fourth inning. With her second-straight no-hitter, her record improved to 22-6 as she matched her career-best single-season victory total, a feat she has done twice in her outstanding career (2016, 2018). Newman struck out 11 Bears for her 55^th career 10 or more strikeout game.
 
At the plate, Drake wasted little time as its first three batters reached base. Leadoff hitter Mandi Roemmich (West Des Moines, Iowa) singled and Macy Johnson (Winterset, Iowa) walked. Kennedy Frank (Chesterfield, Mo.) singled to right field as Roemmich scored. Taryn Pena (Columbia, Ill.) then drove in Johnson with an RBI groundout. Finally, Newman helped herself with an RBI single to left field that plated Frank and made the score 3-0.
 
Three innings later, Libby Ryan (Mount Vernon, Iowa) blasted her second career home run, a three-run blast, that pushed the score to 6-0. The Bulldogs tacked on two more runs that frame courtesy of Frank's RBI double that scored Johnson and a bases loaded walk drawn by Sarah Maddox (Henderson, Nev.). Drake added one more run in the fifth on Pena's RBI infield single that Ryan scored on.
 
Newman retired the three Bears' hitters in the fifth for the Bulldogs' 10^th run-rule victory of the season and their eighth via shutout.
 
In the second game, Drake fell behind 1-0, in the second inning as Missouri State scored on a one-out sacrifice fly. It was the first time the Bulldogs trailed in a game since their last loss to SIU when they fell behind 1-0 in the first inning of the eventual defeat.
 
Roemmich put Drake in front at 2-1 with a clutch one-out, two-run single in the third. Abby Buie (Gardner, Kan.) drew a one-out walk, moved to second with a steal and took third base on an error on Ryan's sacrifice bunt. Ryan then stole second before Roemmich singled to centerfield on a 1-2 pitch as Roemmich and Ryan raced home.
 
Madison Hunsaker hit a leadoff solo home run in the sixth that tied game at 2-2. Drake starter Nicole Timmons (Davenport, Iowa) then struck out the next batter but allowed a single that was followed with another strikeout. However, Timmons stayed in trouble with a two-out walk. Newman took over in the circle with the runners on first and second, but was hindered with a passed ball on the first pitch that moved both runners into scoring position. Alex Boze lined the next pitch just to the right of second base as both Bears scored. Newman coaxed a liner for the final out of the inning.
 
In the seventh inning, Drake's final three batters were retired as its impressive winning streak came to an end at 21 games.

Drake will attempt a new winning streak and the series Sunday when the teams close the series at 11 a.m.