ROSEMONT, Ill. – The Drake softball team opened its 2026 season at the Rosemont Dome Tournament on Friday afternoon with a doubleheader against Detroit Mercy and Green Bay. The Bulldogs went even on the day with a loss to the Titans, 2-1, and a comeback walk-off victory over the Phoenix, 8-7.
Detroit 2, Drake 1
The Bulldogs were out to a fast start and scored on their very first at-bat of the game. Freshman
Kiley Kindelspire smoked a triple for her first collegiate hit and came around to score off an ensuing throwing error to give Drake the early 1-0 lead.
The bats were held relatively in check from that point on with neither offense amounting to much. Another freshman for the Bulldogs,
Ava Husak, got the starting nod in the pitchers circle and had her stuff working over five innings allowing just three hits and picking up a pair of strikeouts.
It was in the bottom of the sixth when the momentum shifted in favor of Detroit, however. With one swing of the bat the Titans tied the game due to a solo shot by Savannah Schultz and Husak's day was done.
With the Bulldogs failing to score in the top of the seventh, Detroit had its shot to end the game in regulation and complete the comeback. Jayme Sheck took over pitching duties for the Bulldogs, but that didn't phase the Titans as they started the frame with a leadoff double. In the next at-bat a single by Wendy Ketola brought in the winning run.
Drake's offense tallied just three hits in the game coming from Kindelspire,
Tatum Aragon, and
Ava Curry. Curry tallied her first extra-base hit of the season with a double. Scheck suffered the loss in her two-thirds of an inning.
Drake 8, Green Bay 7
The Bulldogs faced an early deficit in their second game of the afternoon with Green Bay going up 3-0 in the first inning. The damage came off a three-run homer from Green Bay's cleanup hitter, Brooke Schwall.
The Phoenix then took a 4-0 lead in the top of the second off an error from the Bulldogs to add to the deficit.
Drake had its opportunities to cut into the deficit a couple of different times with bases loaded chances, but the only thing to show for it came in the bottom of the third. Freshman
Malea Yoxsimer came through with her first career RBI base knock, which brought in Aragon.
However, in the bottom of the fifth the Bulldogs finally broke through with the big hit they were looking for. Yoxsimer collected her second hit of the day to start the frame and
Frankie Rita followed with a hit of her own to put two runners on for Kindelspire. The Indianola, Iowa native then delivered with her first career long ball, a three-run shot, to tie the game up at 4-4.
Despite the Bulldogs pulling even, Green Bay had a response in the top of the sixth. Sara Ebner laced a ball into the right center field gap, which brought in one run and gave the lead back to the Phoenix.
Two more runs by Green Bay in the top of the seventh added to the lead, but the Bulldogs weren't out of the fight yet.
With two runners on and one out in the bottom of the seventh, Drake rallied to score four runs and complete the comeback.
Lydia Olejniczak got things started with a pinch hit double and
Pearson Hall followed with a double of her own to score the first run. An RBI single from Aragon plated run two of the frame and Curry sealed the deal with two-RBI double in the gap to right center.
Drake's offense exploded for 15 hits in the game with six players recording multiple hits. Hall led the way in that category with three hits, two of which were doubles.
The Bulldogs will be back on the diamond tomorrow with another doubleheader. Drake will rematch with Green Bay first at 10 a.m. and then go up against Western Illinois at 12:30 p.m.
