Hawkeye Fan Shop — A Black & Gold Store | 24 Hawkeyes to Watch 2017-18 | Hawk Talk Monthly – March 2018 | Box Score (Wichita State) | Box Score (Creighton) | Boxscore
OMAHA, Neb. — The University of Iowa softball team swept its doubleheader on Saturday in the Creighton Tournament, defeating Wichita State, 3-2, and topping Creighton, 4-3, at the CU Sports Complex.
The Hawkeyes jumped ahead of Wichita State in the bottom of the first inning when Allie Wood hit her first career triple, plating Mallory Kilian and giving Iowa a 1-0 advantage.
The Shockers took advantage of a Hawkeye miscue in the top of the second inning before scoring off an RBI double in the fourth to go up 2-1.
Iowa regained the lead in the bottom of the sixth inning. Taylor Libby hit the first triple of her career to score Lea Thompson. Pinch runner Alex Rath then scored as Aralee Bogar reached on a fielder’s choice to give Iowa the 3-2 victory.
Kenzie Ihle earned the win, tallying two strikeouts and allowing two hits with no walks in 2.1 innings pitched.
After five scoreless innings in game two, Creighton took a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the sixth frame. The Bluejays used an RBI single to score the first run before taking advantage of a Hawkeye miscue to add two more.
The Hawkeyes took a 4-3 advantage in the top of the seventh inning when McKenzie Schneider hit a grand slam over the right field wall.
Relief pitcher Erin Riding earned the win, allowing no hits in 1.1 innings pitched.
NOTABLES
- Wood hit her first career triple against Wichita State.
- Libby hit the first double and the first triple of her career against the Shockers. This was the first multi-hit game of her career.
- Ihle earned her first win in black and gold with the victory over Wichita State.
- Schneider hit her second home run of the season — and the first grand slam of her career — to lift Iowa to victory over CU.
QUOTING HEAD COACH MARLA LOOPER
“A couple of nice wins today. We could have made it easier on ourselves by attacking early. We had plenty of base runners on, but these two wins do show the fight they have to keep going late in the game. We continued to put base runners on all the way up to the end. In the second game, Schneider barreled down and did a nice job of executing to help us beat Creighton.”
RECORDS UPDATE
- Iowa: 12-9
- Wichita State: 14-9
- Creighton: 10-2
UP NEXT
Iowa concludes tournament play at the Creighton Tournament on Sunday against Wichita State at noon (CT). The Hawkeyes open their home slate on Wednesday with a doubleheader against South Dakota State. First pitch is slated for 2 p.m., with game two scheduled to start approximately 30 minutes following the conclusion of game one.
