PHOENIX – After a trip to California for the Stanford Invitational last week, the Drake University softball team travels west again this time to Phoenix for the Grand Canyon Purple Classic held Feb. 21-23.
 
Drake (5-5) is scheduled to play five games in the Valley of the Sun, starting Friday afternoon against CSUN (7-3) at 1 p.m. CST before it faces Grand Canyon (2-9) at 6 p.m. The Bulldogs will play the Matadors again Saturday morning at 11 a.m. and the Lopes in the afternoon at 4 p.m. Drake closes its first-ever tournament at GCU with a Sunday morning game against Utah State (6-4) at 10 a.m. The games against the host school will be streamed here while the others each will have live stats.
 
The Bulldogs earned a pair of wins over Hofstra and lost once to the Pride, and dropped both contests to host Stanford in Palo Alto.
 
Junior Libby Ryan batted a scorching .417 and reached base nine times in 16 trips to the plate in the five games. Ryan was one of five Bulldogs to finish with five hits. Senior Sarah Maddox was another with five hits, including her first home run this year, a two-run shot that scored Ryan who reached on a triple. Maddox has 17 career home runs and is just outside the top 10 all-time at Drake. She drove in six runs and now has 98 career RBI, which is tied for sixth all-time in program history.
 
Freshman pitcher Mackenize Hupke closed the trip with a strong performance in the win over Hofstra. Hupke allowed just two hits and worked around three walks while striking out three. She earned her first career victory in the five-inning shutout.
 
Drake has played each of the three other teams in the field just once. CSUN defeated Drake, 7-3, in 2003 while the Bulldogs beat the Lopes, 3-1, last season and edged the Aggies, 5-0, in 2013.
 
Following this weekend, Drake goes to the Oklahoma State/Tulsa Invitational where it opens against No. 17 Oregon Feb. 28 at 12 p.m.