The Basics 
The Drake softball team is set to close out the regular season with a four-game homestand this week. Drake will first host Iowa State in the final non-conference game of the year on Wednesday (April 29) followed by a conference series from Buel Field with Murray State on Friday and Saturday (May 1-2).
  
Bulldogs by the Numbers 
Drake is coming off a 1-3 road trip where it took on South Dakota and Indiana State. All three of the Bulldog losses last week came via walk-off. Drake will look to end the season on a high note and add some wins to its record, which currently sits at 13-34 overall and 7-18 in league play.

In the conference series against Indiana State, there were only a total of five runs scored over the three games with pitching taking center stage. The Bulldogs took game one of the series, 2-1, but lost 1-0 in both of the final two contests.

Senior Jayme Scheck had an impressive performance from the pitching circle this past weekend against Indiana State. The Palo, Iowa native went 1-1 on the weekend tossing 17.1 innings including a complete game victory in game one of the series. Scheck's ERA from this past weekend was a staggering 0.53 allowing just one earned run over her two outings. She allowed 11 hits and picked up 10 strikeouts compared to just three walks as well. She set a season-high with six strikeouts in the series finale against the Sycamores on Sunday.

Scouting Iowa State
Iowa State will look to push toward eclipsing the 30 regular season win mark as it closes out its regular season. The Cyclones currently have an overall record of 28-21 and have gone 8-13 in Big 12 play. Iowa State will play a doubleheader on Tuesday from Ames against St. Thomas before it makes the short trip down to Des Moines.
 
Iowa State is led by senior Reagan Bartholomew at the plate. She leads the team in batting average (.414), runs (49), hits (63), homers (13) and walks (28). Bartholomew is eighth in the Big 12 in batting average and sixth in hits.
 
In the circle, the Cyclones have some depths mainly using four different arms on the season. Lauren Schurman leads with a team-low ERA of 4.32 and has hurled 131.1 innings, a team-high, and owns 72 punchouts, also a team-high. Freshman Liv Palumbo (6-3), senior Jaiden Ralston (3-6), and Michigan State transfer Ava Mullen (4-5) round out the staff for ISU.

The all-time series between Drake and Iowa State sees the Cyclones hold the lead, 83-33. The Bulldogs and Cyclones already met once this year up in Ames where Iowa State came away with a 6-5 win in eight innings.
 
Scouting Murray State
The Racers will make their trip up to Des Moines riding a four-game win streak and have won seven of their last 10 contests. With its recent stretch of winning, Murray State has vaulted themselves into third place in the current MVC Standings. The Racers are 14-9 in league play after sweeping Illinois State this past weekend and are 23-21 overall on the season.
 
The Racers lineup features four players hitting above .300 on the season as the team has a collective batting average of .281. Kynadee Warner is the leader of the bunch hitting at a clip of .349 and when she gets on base she will look to run with 13 stolen bases.
 
Murray State's pitching staff features a trio of arms led by Bre Haislip with a team-leading ERA of 2.90 over 29 appearances (19 starts). In 125.2 innings of work, Haislip has a record of 10-8 and has tallied 79 strikeouts compared to 42 walks. Raylee Roby and Karlye Graber complete the main staff for Murray with both players appearing in over 20 games.
 
The all-time series between the Bulldogs and Racers sees Murray have the slight edge at 5-4. Drake and Murray State did not meet in the regular season last year, but did face off in the MVC tournament, where the Bulldogs won a first-round matchup, 8-2.
 
Up Next
With only six teams making the conference tournament, this will mark the end of the 2026 season for the Bulldogs.