DES MOINES, Iowa – The Drake softball team had a quick turnaround to start its week as it was back on the diamond at Buel Field on Monday for a doubleheader against the Bradley Braves. The doubleheader was originally scheduled for Tuesday this week, but was moved up a day with forecasted rain showers in the Des Moines area for the next few days. When all was said and done after nearly six hours of softball, the day was split with the Bulldogs winning game one, 10-7, and the Braves taking game two, 5-2.
 
Drake 10, Bradley 7
The offense was alive and well in game one of the day between Drake and Bradley with the two sides totaling eight runs over the first three innings. The Braves were the first on the board scoring a pair of runs in the top of the first from a base knock and an RBI fielder's choice, giving them an early 2-0 advantage.
 
The Bulldogs fought right back in the bottom of the first, however, and quickly snatched the lead from the Braves getting production from its first three hitters in the lineup. Frankie Rita started off the game for Drake reaching on an error making way for Kiley Kindelspire to bring her home with a two-run home run. Pearson Hall was next to bat and followed Kindelspire's power with a homer of her own for back-to-back long balls by the Bulldogs.
 
Bradley then tied the game at 3-3 in the following inning after loading the bases with three walks and scored off another fielder's choice. In Drake's half of the frame, the homers continued to fly over the fence when Natalee Watts got hold of one to lead off the inning and gave the Bulldogs their lead back, 4-3.
 
A quick retaliation from the Braves in the third saw the game get knotted up at 4-4 following a leadoff double and a RBI base hit signaling the end of the day for Drake's starting pitcher Peyton Driscoll. Ashlynn Sheets replaced Driscoll in the circle and proceeded to get Drake out of the inning.

After the fourth inning went scoreless, the Braves jumped in front in the fifth. A Drake fielding error to start the inning turned costly for the Bulldogs with the next at-bat resulting in an RBI double off the bat of Olivia Turner, but that was the only damage done.
 
Drake was back to scoring when the contest flipped to the home half of the fifth and was also back in front scoring a pair of runs in a rather unconventional sense.
 
The Bulldogs placed two runners on due to a pair of walks as Haley Schroeder stepped up to the plate. The sophomore went on to hit a grounder out to second base with the Bradley infielder charging in to make a play on the ball. Ava Husak, who was on first, and the Bradley infielder met almost simultaneously on the base path and the ball rolled on through to the outfield. Hall continued to race around the bases from being on second and scored, while Husak advanced to third.
 
After some discussion from the umpire crew and a Bradley challenge for runner interference, it was deemed that no interference occurred and the ruling stood. When play resumed, Tatum Aragon recorded a sacrifice fly for the second run of the inning, but Schroeder was caught between second and third and was promptly tagged to end the Bulldog opportunity.
 
The sixth inning was arguably the biggest inning of the contest as Bradley threatened with the bases loaded and nobody out. Sheets, however, collected herself and came back to retire the next three Braves batters and got out of the jam without any harm done.
 
In the bottom of the sixth, it was Drake's turn to load the bases, and, unlike Bradley, the Bulldogs capitalized off the chance. Kindelspire delivered the big blow with her second home run of the game, this time a grand slam, which provided Drake with some key insurance runs and made it a 10-5 ballgame.
 
The Braves weren't done yet, though, and pushed to make a rally in the seventh. In a pinch-hit spot, Emily Organ came off the bench, wasted no time and took the first pitch she saw over the right field wall to cut Drake's lead down to 10-7 on a two-run shot.
 
With zero outs, it was up to Sheets to shake off the homer and get the next three outs to secure Drake's first victory at home. The junior transfer did just that producing a double play and a fly out to end the game.
 
Bradley 5, Drake 2
The second game, which featured a one hour and fifteen minute lightning delay after the first inning, was controlled mostly by Bradley and its starting pitcher Abby Rusher, a Des Moines native.
 
Rusher held the Bulldog bats to just two hits through six innings of play, both being singles – a chopper up the middle from Rita and a bunt by Kindelspire.
 
Meanwhile, Rusher received run support from her offense with Bradley striking big in the third inning with four runs scored. The Braves made good on a bases loaded opportunity this time around with back-to-back base knocks up the middle driving in two runs apiece.
 
The deficit grew to 5-0 for Drake in the fifth as Organ went yard again collecting a solo shot to center field.
 
Down to their last chance in the seventh, the Bulldogs began to make a rally getting their first two base runners on due to an error and a pinch-hit single by Lydia Olejniczak. Following a walk drawn by Hall, the bases were juiced and Aragon came through with a two-run single in a pinch-hit spot with one out. But that was all that Drake could take out of Rusher with the sophomore slinger retiring the next two Bulldog batters.
 
Drake will hit the road this weekend for a three-game series starting on Friday, April 3 against the Belmont Bruins from Nashville, Tennessee. The series against Belmont will begin with a doubleheader on Friday with game one's first pitch slated for 1:00 p.m.