NORMAL, Ill. – The Drake softball team took to the diamond on Friday afternoon for its first Missouri Valley Conference action of the season as it faced the Illinois State Redbirds in a road doubleheader. The day ultimately belonged to the Birds as they defeated the Bulldogs in both contests.
Illinois State 8, Drake 0
Following a scoreless first inning, Illinois State grabbed the lead in the second and never looked back. The Redbirds plated two runs in the frame off a home run by Hannah Meeks.
In the fourth Illinois State broke the game open and hung a five-spot on the scoreboard. The scoring started off a Bulldog fielding error, which kept the inning alive for the Redbirds. From there Illinois State took advantage of their continued opportunity with a two-RBI double and a two-RBI single.
The game ended in the sixth inning with Tatum Wolford hitting a solo home run, which pushed the score to 8-0 enacting the run-rule.
Drake managed just two hits in the game, both singles, from
Frankie Rita and
Tatum Aragon.
Illinois State 8, Drake 5
The offense for the Bulldogs showed up to start game two, however. Rita, who moved up to leadoff in the lineup, made a splash and launched her first home run of the season over the left field wall to put Drake up 1-0 in the first.
Illinois State responded over the next two innings though and jumped in front, 3-1, by the end of the third inning. Morgan Calhoun matched Rita with a solo blast of her own and a two-run double from Hannah Meshnick in the third gave the Redbirds their first lead of the game.
The fourth inning saw the Bulldogs fight back and regain the lead using some small ball tactics. Drake scored three runs in the frame, which started with a sacrifice fly from
Lili Gonzalez. A couple batters later, Rita produced again with a RBI base knock and
Kiley Kindelspire followed immediately with a two-run single.
Just like earlier, however, Illinois State countered and a Tatum Wolford home run tied the game at 4-4 in the fourth inning. The Redbirds scored again in fifth and sixth innings to separate from the Bulldogs with an RBI single and the dagger ultimately coming from a three-run home run by Taylor Liebelt.
Down to their last three outs, the Bulldogs pushed one run across the plate off a base hit from
Pearson Hall, but that was it for a final inning rally attempt.
Drake and Illinois State will close out the series tomorrow with a single game starting at 2 p.m.
