ROSEMONT, Ill. – The Drake softball team continued its opening weekend of the season with another doubleheader on Saturday at the Rosemont Dome Tournament. The Bulldogs defeated Green Bay for the second straight day, this time by a score of 8-2, and took home a victory over Western Illinois, 11-7.
Drake 8, Green Bay 2
Drake's offense got it going in its first at-bats of the game and it wasn't before long that the Bulldogs were out in front. Senior
Tatum Aragon started the scoring for Drake as she laced a double to the left center field gap which scored
Pearson Hall. Soon after, Aragon came around to score with
Malea Yoxsimer delivering a base knock.
Green Bay was able to get a run back in its half of the first inning, but Drake responded quickly to regain its two-run lead. In the top of the second,
Kiley Kindelspire followed Aragon's lead from the first inning and roped a double to left center, which drove in
Ava Husak.
Once again, the Phoenix answered plating a run in their half of the second, but from that point on it was all Bulldogs.
Following a scoreless third frame, Husak stepped up to the plate and added to Drake's lead by sending her first-career home run, a two-run blast, over the right center field wall. Later in the sixth, Kindelspire and Aragon added to their good days at the plate and provided some insurance runs for the Bulldogs with more RBI base knocks.
Meanwhile,
Jayme Scheck, who came on in relief in the pitchers circle, stifled the Phoenix offense to help secure the win. She went 5.0 innings in her outing, allowed just two hits, and picked up a pair of strikeouts.
Drake 11, Western Illinois 7
Drake was down early against Western Illinois after the Leathernecks scored a pair of runs in the first inning off two RBI singles, but it eventually knotted the score at 2-2. In the third inning, the Bulldogs used a sacrifice fly and an RBI groundout to get on the board.
WIU regained its lead in its half of the third inning with two more runs, but Drake countered with a five-run fourth inning to vault ahead.
Frankie Rita plated the first run off a sac fly, but
Natalee Watts had the highlight hit with a two-run inside the park homer a couple batters later. With runners still on, Aragon kept the hot hitting going on a single back up the middle which scored two more.
Drake's small ball offense continued to produce runs as the game moved to the fifth. Watts drove in her third run of the game with Drakes third sac fly of the game and another single back up the middle, this time off the bat of Kindelspire, upped the Bulldog lead to 9-4.
The Bulldogs run total pushed into double-digits in the sixth inning with back-to-back bases loaded walks, which proved to be some important insurance as the Leathernecks rallied for a couple of runs in the bottom of the seventh.
Five different Bulldogs had multiple hits in the game, but Watts and Aragon led the way offensively with three RBI each.
Drake closes out its weekend with a single game on Sunday against Oakland with first pitch slated for 9 a.m.
