Iowa Takes Series From Nebraska

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April 15, 2012

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IOWA CITY, Iowa — Two runs in the bottom of the sixth inning broke a four all tie and lifted the University of Iowa softball team to a 6-4 victory over Nebraska in the Sunday series finale at Pearl Field. The Hawkeyes won two of the three games in the series.

The Hawkeyes sixth inning began with a one-out single by junior Johnnie Dowling up the middle. With two outs, freshman Megan Blank singled to right field and advanced to second on the throw, putting runners at second and third.

Dowling scored Iowa’s go-ahead run when Nebraska third baseman Gabby Banda couldn’t come up with a hard grounder off the bat of senior Katie Keim. Senior Liz Watkins followed with an RBI single to left centerfield, giving the Hawkeyes a 6-4 advantage.

Junior Chelsea Lyon pitched around a pair of Husker singles in the top of the seventh inning before getting Tatum Edwards to line out to second base to end the game.

The win improves Iowa’s record to 17-21 overall and 7-5 in the Big Ten, while Nebraska falls to 26-16 overall and 8-4 in league play.

Lyon picked up the victory, allowing four runs on six hits in the complete game. The junior had four strikeouts to four walks in improving to 9-12 on the year.

Junior Ashley Akers and Blank had both tallied multi-hit games. Akers went 2-for-3 with an RBI, while Blank went 2-for-3 with an RBI and run scored.

The Hawkeyes put the game’s first run on the scoreboard in the bottom of the first inning, but it could have been more. Dowling drew a leadoff walk before advancing to second base on Akers’ sacrifice bunt. Blank then hit an RBI double off the left field wall to make the score 1-0. The Hawkeyes proceeded to load the bases on a pair of walks, but sophomore Brianna Luna grounded out to end the threat.

Iowa pushed its lead to 4-0, pushing three across the plate in the fourth. Junior Bradi Wall drew a one-out walk before Luna reached on a hit by pitch to put two runners on. After a Melanie Gladden groundout moved both runners up a base, pinch hitter Michelle Zoeller reached on an error by Nebraska shortstop Mattie Fowler allowing both runners to score.

Dowling was Iowa’s second hit batsman of the inning before she and Zoeller moved up a base on a Tatum Edwards’ wild pitch. Akers followed with an RBI single to left field, giving the Hawkeyes the 4-0 lead.

After not recording a hit over the first four innings against Lyon, the Huskers erupted for four runs in the top of the fifth to tie the game. Nikki Hagut and Banda had Nebraska’s first two RBI of the inning. Taylor Edwards then laced a double to left center that squirted under a diving Akers to the wall, allowing two runners to score and evening the game at four.

Iowa returns to action Wednesday, playing at Iowa State at 4:30 p.m. in the Iowa Corn Cy-Hawk Series.