Drake Sneaks Past Iowa

Stats

April 4, 2012

Box Score

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IOWA CITY, Iowa — A fifth inning run held as Drake downed the University of Iowa softball team, 1-0, Wednesday night at Pearl Field.

“It is pretty frustrating, we handed them a run, they pretty much got to walk in and score,” said UI head coach Marla Looper. “We weren’t able to bounce back, fight and score. We didn’t do the little things right tonight, or even well, and because of that, we didn’t come out with the victory.”

The win evens Drake’s record at 16-16 on the year, while Iowa falls to 14-18.

The Bulldogs scored the game’s lone run in the fifth using aggressive base-running. Pitcher Jordan Gronewold started the Drake rally with a double to right center to lead off the inning before pinch hitter Nicole Randel had a one-out single to left field on the first pitch she saw.

With runners on first and third and two outs, Randel took off to second base to garner a throw. Senior Liz Watkins threw down to freshman Megan Blank and she scurried Randel back to first, but Gronewold took off and scored in the process to give the Bulldogs the 1-0 advantage.

The Hawkeyes threatened in both the sixth and seventh innings, but couldn’t score the equalizer. In the sixth, Blank drew a one-out walk before senior Katie Keim followed with a single to left field to put two runners on. The Bulldogs got out of the jam after bringing in Rebekah Schmidt in relief. Schmidt struck out Watkins on three pitchers before getting Bradi Wall on a comebacker to end the inning.

Sophomore Michelle Zoeller had a pinch hit, bunt single to lead off the seventh, and she advanced to second on the play on a throwing error. After freshman Melanie Gladden couldn’t put down a sacrifice bunt, sophomore Malloree Grove sacrificed Zoeller to third for the second out. Junior Johnnie Dowling then grounded out to second base to end the game.

Gronewold scattered three hits in 5.1 innings of work to pick up her 12th victory of the season. Schmidt pitched the final 1.2 innings to notch her sixth save of the season.

Iowa starter Kayla Massey was the tough luck loser, allowing one run on six hits in the complete game. She had seven strikeouts to two walks to fall to 7-8 on the year.

Iowa (14-18) returns to action Saturday afternoon in a doubleheader at Northwestern. Both games will be televised live on the BTN.

“We have some things to work on,” said Looper. “We have two days of practice. We have to get better and make adjustments. We need to learn from this and move on because we have to go to Northwestern and take a couple, or all three, this weekend.”