IOWA CITY, Iowa – The University of Iowa softball team fell to in-state foe, Drake, 3-1, Wednesday at Bob Pearl Field.
Drake grabbed an early 1-0 lead in the second, courtesy of a RBI single down the right field line by Kelsey Wright. The Bulldogs tacked on to their lead with a run in the third and another in the fourth to take a 3-0 lead.
The Hawkeyes rallied in the bottom of the season. Sophomore Lea Thompson led off the inning with a pinch-hit infield single and freshman Aralee Bogar followed with an infield single of her own. Thompson came around to score on an RBI single to second off the bat of sophomore McKenzie Schneider to pull within two, but the Iowa rally came up just short.
Sophomore pitcher Allison Doocy (9-6) collected eight strikeouts in 7.0 innings pitched.
QUOTING HEAD COACH MARLA LOOPER
“You credit the pitcher that is facing us, but we didn’t make the adjustments we needed to. We had a couple hard hits early that were right at their defenders, but we need to do a better job of making adjustments early on.
“There’s always something to learn. I think we learned a lot yesterday and we learned a lot today. Every time you step on the field, no matter who it is, you have to change your game plan. That’s the name of the game. Drake did a nice job tonight, but we just have to be better and make the adjustments sooner.”
RECORDS UPDATE
Iowa: 15-14
Drake: 22-9
UP NEXT
The Hawkeyes return to conference action Friday at Maryland at 5 p.m. (CT) in game one of the three-game series. Game two is slated for Saturday at noon with game three scheduled for Sunday at noon.