AMES, Iowa – The Drake softball team made the trip up Interstate 35 on Wednesday evening for an in-state battle with Iowa State and suffered a tough loss in extra innings, 6-5.
 
The scoring between the Bulldogs and Cyclones started in the first inning and it was Drake who grabbed the early lead off the bat of freshman Pearson Hall. With two outs in the frame, Hall stepped into the batter's box and got a hold of one sending it out over the fence in left center field. The solo shot marked Hall's fourth homer of the season.
 
Iowa State responded in the home half of the first, however, and took the lead from the Bulldogs putting up a pair of runs. Drake and starting pitcher Jayme Scheck found themselves in a bases loaded jam, which the Cyclones capitalized on with a base knock back up the middle from Karlee Ford.
 
In the second inning the lead switched back over to Drake with the Bulldogs capitalizing on their own bases loaded opportunity. Following a walk, an error, and a base hit, Emily Veschak took one for the team and was hit by a pitch to bring in the first run. In the next at-bat Frankie Rita picked up an RBI off a fielder's choice as the Cyclone elected to take the out at second base with a play at home unlikely to produce an out. Kiley Kindelspire then made it a 4-2 ballgame as her single brought in Natalee Watts.
 
Peyton Driscoll was brought into relieve Scheck in the pitcher's circle for the Bulldogs and the junior held the Iowa State offense in check posting scoreless frames in the second, third, and fourth innings. It wasn't until the fifth inning when ISU eventually got to Driscoll.
 
The Cyclones led off the frame with a double to put a runner in scoring position and one batter later a single drove in that runner. Iowa State's second double of the inning then tied the game at 4-4, but after a pitching change to Ashlynn Sheets, the Bulldogs limited the damage to just those two runs.
 
The game eventually went to extras as the score remained tied with neither side scoring over the final two innings of play. Drake had a chance to score in the sixth, but left a runner stranded at third.
 
Drake started the eighth inning in a big way as Tatum Aragon put the Bulldogs in a good spot with a leadoff double, but after she was pinch ran for the Bulldogs lost the runner in scoring position when Husak reached on a fielder's choice and the pinch runner was tagged out trying to advance to third. Husak, however, gave Drake another opportunity with a runner in scoring position as she was moved up to second following a base knock by Watts.
 
Following Watts' single, Cassidy Gall was called in to pinch hit. With two outs, Gall worked the count to 2-2 and got just enough of the next pitch to hit a slow rolling grounder to second base making it a tough play for the ISU infielder. Gall raced down the base path and just beat out the throw to first and with some heads-up base running from Husak the freshman scored all the way from second with the focus on the play at first, which would have ended the inning.
 
Iowa State challenged the ruling on Gall's play at first, but the call was upheld and the Bulldogs were back in front, 5-4. The inning then ended on the following at-bat with a force out at second base.
 
In the bottom of the eighth, Drake found itself in another tight spot with Iowa State producing a pair of runners in scoring position with no outs following a walk, a single, and a wild pitch. Sheets did her best to bounce back with a strikeout, but another walk loaded the bases.
 
Iowa State then tied the game on a sacrifice fly in foul territory, which made way for Ford, who already drove in two runs earlier, to end the game with a base hit as the runners advanced to second and third on the sac fly. Two pitches later, the game was over as Ford smacked a hit off the wall in deep left center that Watts couldn't quite catch up to despite her best efforts charging from her center field position.
 
Drake and Iowa State produced nearly identical stat lines with both teams recording nine hits in the contest. The Cyclones made one error to none for Drake and ISU left 10 runners stranded, while Drake left eight.
 
Aragon, Kindelspire, and Watts led the Bulldogs each with two-hit outings as the trio all went 2-for-4 at the plate on the day. Aragon, Hall, and Husak all recorded extra-base hits with doubles from Aragon and Husak and a homer from Hall. Sheets suffered the loss following her three innings of work with two runs allowed off three hits and one strikeout. Meanwhile, Driscoll tallied four innings in the circle with two runs allowed on four hits and one strikeout.

The Bulldogs will look forward to their home opener on Friday as they welcome the Evansville Purple Aces to town for a three-game conference series. First pitch from Buel Field on Friday is scheduled for 2:30 p.m.