DES MOINES, Iowa – The Drake softball team took to the diamond on Saturday afternoon with a doubleheader against Missouri State from Ron Buel Field and suffered a pair of losses by scores of 3-1 and 6-1.
Missouri State 3, Drake 1
The Bulldogs and the Bears were deadlocked at 0-0 through the first two innings in game one of the day as offenses couldn't string anything together.
In the third, however, Missouri State grabbed hold of the lead. A leadoff double gave the Bears a runner in scoring position to begin the frame and they quickly took advantage of the situation. In the next at-bat Missouri State laid down a sacrifice bunt attempt, but the throw over to first from the Bulldogs got away and allowed the run to score all the way from second.
Missouri State added to its lead a few at-bats later in the inning following a couple of fielders choices that allowed runners to keep advancing on the base paths making the score 2-0.
The bats fell silent again over the middle innings until the seventh when Missouri State added an insurance run off the bat of Chloe Merced on a solo homer.
The Bulldogs struggled at the plate all game against Missouri State starter McKenzie Vaughan totaling just one hit through six innings, but produced a small rally in the bottom of the seventh.
Frankie Rita reached base with a base knock and eventually came around to score on a fielder's choice after the bases became loaded following back-to-back walks. It was too little too late, however, with that run being the only one Drake scored.
Rita and
Carey Koenig tallied the two hits in the contest for Drake. Koenig recorded a double in the second inning. From the pitching circle,
Emma Dighton suffered the loss for the Bulldogs.
Missouri State 6, Drake 1
Drake found itself trailing for the entire duration of game two as the Bears took the lead early scoring one run in the first, second, and third innings. A couple of errors by Drake led to Missouri State capitalizing and scoring the first two runs, while the third run came via a solo shot by Riley Baber.
The fourth inning is when Missouri State extended its lead out to 6-0 scoring three runs in the frame. Two more errors from the Bulldogs defense allowed the Bears to keep runners on the bases, eventually leading to a pair of runs followed by an RBI groundout.
Drake fared better in the hitting department this go around, totaling 10 hits in the contest, but couldn't string together any momentum down the stretch.
Molly Hoekstra in her relief appearance held the Missouri State bats in check over the final three innings of play, but similarly to game one, it was too little too late for the Drake offense.
Tatum Aragon drove in the lone run of the game for the Bulldogs off an RBI single in the bottom of the seventh. Meanwhile, Dighton went 3-for-4 at the plate with all three of her hits being singles.
The Bulldogs and the Bears will close out the series and the regular season tomorrow with a single game starting at noon. Tomorrow's game will also serve as Senior Day for Drake as six seniors will be honored in a pregame celebration.
