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FULLERTON, Calif. — The University of Iowa softball team dropped a 5-4, ten-inning decision to No. 20 Arizona State and a 1-0 decision to No. 23 California on Saturday night in games four and five of the Judi Garman Classic at Anderson Family Field.
“We had a lot of energy coming into today,” said UI head coach Marla Looper. “The team did a nice job of re-grouping from the two previous days. They came out and controlled what they could, which was their attitude and their effort. That’s what we talk about every day. The fight they showed tonight is the fight that I know this team has all the time.”
Game One
Angela Schmiederer went 2-for-3 with one RBI, while Brooke Rozier was 1-for-3 with two RBIs against the Sun Devils (15-5). Shayla Starkenburg suffered the loss, throwing four strikeouts in 9.0 innings pitched.
“We gave ourselves a chance,” said Looper. “We got up early and added another run a little bit later. Unfortunately, we couldn’t hold on to that lead, but we kept battling and got another run in the ninth. We just have to take care of the ball, take care of the little things, make adjustments in the box, and move forward from here.”
With the score knotted at three in the top of the ninth and the international tiebreaker rule in place, Iowa re-gained the lead. Allie Wood began the inning on second and advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt by Rozier, scoring as Schmiederer doubled to center field.
The Sun Devils evened the score in the bottom of the inning as Sashel Palacios hit an RBI single before Taylor Becerra hit an RBI single in the 10th inning for the final score.
The Hawkeyes took an early lead in the first inning as Kaitlyn Mullarkey walked and Wood reached on an error before Rozier plated a two-RBI triple to center field.
After three scoreless innings, Iowa increased its lead in the top of the fifth. Cheyenne Pratt singled to the shortstop and advanced to second on an ASU error. She moved to third on an Alex Rath sacrifice bunt and scored on a sacrifice bunt from Lea Thompson.
Arizona State evened the score in the bottom of the seventh as Palacios hit a solo home before the Sun Devils took advantage of a Hawkeye error to score two uneven runs, drawing even with Iowa to send the game to extra innings.
Game Two
Wood was 1-for-3 against California. Allison Doocy took the loss, throwing four strikeouts in 6.0 innings.
After six scoreless innings, the Golden Bears scored off a Kobie Pettis one-RBI single through the right side.
“I’m proud of this team and how they re-grouped for the last day of the tournament,” said Looper. “Again, when you go down fighting like that it hurts a lot, but it’s a good hurt versus losses when you didn’t give your best. I tell them to leave it on the field and they did exactly that today. I’m looking forward to getting back to campus and really practicing with that fight in our hearts and in our guts, and we will see what happens next weekend.”
The Hawkeyes (2-12) face Drake on Saturday at 9 a.m. (CT) in game one of the Jayhawk Invitational.