LAWRENCE, Kan. – The Drake University softball team dropped a pair of games Saturday at the Rock Chalk Challenge in Lawrence.
Drake (8-15) lost a high-scoring rematch against Kansas by a score of 14-8 and later in the nightcap former Missouri Valley Conference rival Wichita State rallied for a 7-3 victory.
Going into the seventh, the Bulldogs led 3-2 over the Shockers but Sydney McKinney, who started the game with a solo home run, hit a two-run home run that gave WSU a 4-2 lead. The Shockers tacked on three more insurance runs.
Earlier, Drake came back from a 2-0 deficit as
Abby Buie scored the team's first run in the third inning, coming in on a wild pitch.
Laura Anderson, who smacked two doubles in the game, led off the fifth with her first two-bagger and later moved to third after a walk and wild pitch to
Aubree Beitzinger.
Mandi Roemmich followed with a sacrifice fly that scored Anderson and
Macy Johnson then hit a double that plated Beitzinger.
Anderson led Drake with two doubles while Johnson and Roemmich each had one double. Roemmich's double is the 43
rd in her outstanding career and is a new school record. Johnson and Roemmich each had one RBI.
Timmons (5-2) took the loss after giving up seven runs on 12 hits with five walks and nine strikeouts in seven innings of work. Five of the runs came in the seventh inning.
After playing Friday night, Drake and Kansas met again Saturday afternoon. The Jayhawks took an early 2-0 lead in the first inning but the Bulldogs cut the deficit in half when Roemmich drove in
Kristen Arias with a sacrifice fly in the third. However, KU added eight more runs in the third and fourth innings. But Drake charged back into the game with a seven-run fifth-inning that saw 11 Bulldogs come to the plate. Buie,
Hannah Pals and Roemmich all had run-scoring base hits while Arias drove in a pair with a two-out double. Drake came all the way back to within two runs, 10-8, with the big fifth-inning performance.
Kansas though scored six more runs in its last two at-bats to win the rematch.
Allie Timmons (1-5) earned the loss after giving up seven runs (six earned) on six hits with seven walks and two strikeouts in three innings.
Drake closes its time at the Rock Challenge Sunday morning against Kansas City at 11 a.m. The Bulldogs defeated the Roos, 6-1, in their first game Friday in Lawrence.
