DES MOINES, Iowa – The Drake University softball team started its final homestand of 2021 with a Missouri Valley Conference doubleheader sweep of Loyola on Saturday afternoon at Buel Field.
 
Drake (16-27, 10-12 MVC) took game one over Loyola (10-26, 6-14 MVC) by a score of 5-1 and then rallied for a 5-2 victory over the Ramblers.
 
In the first game, Skylar Rigby, who went 2-for-3 in the game, cleared the bases with a two-out double that plated Libby Ryan and Macy Johnson for the Bulldogs.
 
Loyola scratched together one run in the top of third to cut its deficit to 2-1. The Bulldogs quickly answered though in the bottom of the frame. Again, with two outs, Rigby singled to center to score Ryan and MaKayla Rice followed with her own RBI single to bring in Emily Valtman. In the sixth, Valtman added an insurance run with her two-out, RBI-single that scored Ryan.
 
Ryan scored three runs in the win while Rigby and Valtman each had two hits. Rigby drove in three and Valtman one.
 
Nicole Timmons pitched a complete game to earn the win and improve to 8-10. Timmons allowed just one earned run on three hits with two walks, eight strikeouts and worked around four hit batters.
 
Loyola struck first in the second game capitalizing on three walks issued by Mackenzie Hupke and two Drake errors in the opening inning.
 
The Bulldogs took the lead back for good in the third as Johnson's RBI fielder's choice scored Haylee Lehman and later Ryan, who cranked a two-out double to the right center field fence, scored on the Ramblers' miscue on a ball hit by Valtman.
 
Drake added two more runs in the fourth with a clutch two-out, two-RBI single by pinch hitter Kristen Arias that brought in Hupke and Rice.
 
Hupke settled in after the eventful first inning, retiring 13-straight Ramblers and didn't allow a hit until Nova Sinskul led off the sixth with a single to left field. Loyola added a run as Ryan's error on an in-between hop on a grounder hit her foot and rolled into shallow left allowing Sinskul to score. But Hupke escaped further damage by inducing a pop up for the final out.
 
Abbey Jacobsen had just Loyola's second hit with one out in the seventh but Hupke got her 10^th strikeout of the game for out two and then Rice threw out Jacobsen, who tried stealing second, for the final out that sealed the sweep.
 
Hupke pitched a complete game and allowed two unearned runs on two hits with 10 strikeouts and issued just the three first-inning walks. Her record moved to 7-6 on the season.
 
The teams close the series Sunday with a single game at 11 a.m. on ESPN3. Prior to the game, the Bulldogs will honor their lone senior, Laura Anderson, with a senior day ceremony.