The Basics
The Drake softball team is slated for a week full of road games as the squad heads out east to face in-state foe Iowa and Missouri Valley Conference counterpart Valparaiso. The Bulldogs will first battle the Hawkeyes from Iowa City in a midweek contest on Wednesday, April 23, and continue its road trip to Indiana to take on the Beacons in a weekend series, April 25-27.
Bulldogs by the Numbers
With just eight games remaining in the regular season, Drake comes into the week with an overall record of 20-25 and is 11-10 in conference play. Drake went 3-2 in their five games played last week splitting with the UNI Panthers and taking the series against the UIC Flames, two games to one. The Bulldogs having been playing well in the back half of the season winning seven of their last 10 games. During this recent 10 game stretch, Drake has been averaging over six runs per contest.
A key player in the recent offensive scoring surge has been
Sami Miller. The Mason City, Iowa, native was on a tear last week going 11-for-17 (.750) with three homers, three doubles, and 12 RBI. Miller has now upped her batting average to .404 on the season.
Paige Bedsworth has been leading the charge from the pitching circle for Drake despite mainly being used as a reliever. She leads the team with nine wins and also tops the Bulldog pitching staff with an ERA of 2.01.
Scouting Iowa
The Hawkeyes are coming off a series sweep over the Penn State Nittany Lions and have won seven of their last 10 games. Iowa owns an overall record of 28-16 on the year highlighted by a pair of ranked wins over UCLA and Nebraska.
Iowa has three players in its lineup hitting above the .300 mark with Jean Young leading the way. Young is currently slashing .368/.544/.463 with eight doubles, five triples, two home runs, and 26 RBI. Soo-Jin Berry also provides a dangerous bat with a team leading nine doubles, nine homers, and 27 RBI.
In the pitching circle, Jalen Adams has proven to be the ace arm for the Iowa pitching staff appearing in 30 games with 24 starts. She leads the team in ERA (2.08), wins (20), innings pitched (158.0), and strikeouts (109).
Scouting Valparaiso
Valpo begins its week with an overall record of 18-24 and sits in 10th place in the MVC standings with a conference mark of 7-13. The Beacons went 1-3 last week, dropping a nonconference matchup at Illinois before winning one of three in their MVC series at Belmont. This week, Valpo challenges Notre Dame in a midweek contest before hosting the Bulldogs over the weekend.
Madison Vrastil boasts the best batting average in the Beacons lineup hitting at a clip of .364 this season. She also leads the team in runs scored with 26 and slugging percentage at .455.
The Valparaiso pitching staff has been mainly comprised of the three arms of Azalya Lopez, Erin Metz, and Sydney McDermott with all three players making over 25 appearances on the year. Lopez tops the team with an ERA of 2.72 and has eight wins to go along with 88 strikeouts over 110.2 innings. Meanwhile, Metz is 6-4 with a 3.26 ERA and McDermott owns a 4-8 record with a 4.98 ERA.
Up Next
The Bulldogs will close out its regular season with a final non-conference midweek game at Iowa State on Wednesday, April 30 followed by a home series against Missouri State, May 2-4.
