Frigid bats sink softball
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The Iowa softball team’s bats went cold on Hawaii Night.
Although the 727 fans in attendance at Pearl Field received leis, pineapples, and coupons from area businesses as part of the luau-theme game, Iowa fans were left disappointed after a dismal night for the No. 25 Hawkeyes (38-12, 9-5) at the plate. The end result was a head-scratching 1-0 loss to Drake (29-20).
“I don’t take a whole lot of positives away from today,” Iowa head coach Gayle Blevins said. “We didn’t take care of the ball. [The runner] that got on for them that scored was on an error. We put a pitchout on at that time, and we had a wild throw … then a dropped ball on a suicide squeeze. That’s three mistakes on one play, and you can’t give that many opportunities to the other team.”
If there was a silver lining to the Hawkeyes’ disheartening outing, it could be found in several key defensive plays early on to preserve a scoreless tie. In the top of the first inning, Iowa second baseman Chelsey Carmody made a tough stop on a grounder up the middle and threw a bullet to home to throw out Drake’s Elena Leon by 3 feet. In the top of the fourth, Hawkeye senior Sam Heinzman made an impressive over-the-shoulder catch on the run in deep center field to rob the Bulldogs’ Bridget Shields of a double to lead off the inning.
Aside from two hits by Drake in the top of the first inning, there was little offense from either side early on. Senior Brittany Weil retired 12-straight batters after the first inning before the Bulldogs used some timely hitting in the top of sixth to take a 1-0 lead.
“Obviously, there was a letdown,” Weil said. “We didn’t produce.”
Drake’s Carrie Hatfield started the inning by reaching base on a throwing error by Weil that sailed over Katie Brown’s head at first. Kelsey Kahler laid down a sacrifice bunt to advance Hatfield into scoring position. Hatfield advanced to third on a passed ball, and Leon drove her in on a dropped suicide squeeze by Iowa freshman Liz Watkins.
“I think that’s what’s disappointing today,” Blevins said. “I just felt like we weren’t sharp. You have to be able to come out every day, which is the big problem of playing a 56-game schedule. You have to come out every day and respect the game.”
Iowa’s first baserunner did not come until freshman Katie Keim reached on a fielding error by first baseman Molly McClelland with one out in the bottom of the third. Keim was thrown out several pitches later, and Heinzman followed with a groundout to third to end the inning.
Drake pitcher Jenna DeLong took a no-hitter into the fourth inning before surrendering a two-out hit to Watkins. The Hawkeye catcher was stranded one batter later when DeLong got Brown to pop up and end the inning.
The Hawkeyes had a chance to square things at 1 in the bottom of the sixth after a one-out triple by Heinzman. Carmody drew a walk, bringing senior Colleen McGlaughlin to the plate with runners at the corners. McGlaughlin hit a sharp ball on the ground to Leon at shortstop, allowing Leon to throw Heinzman out at home and preserve the Bulldogs’ one-run lead. Watkins then struck out to end the inning, stranding Carmody and effectively ending the Hawkeyes’ last serious scoring threat.
“It was a situation where we were going to [run] on anything on the ground,” Heinzman said. “It’s hard to make those decisions in the moment, but I probably should have gotten a rundown.”
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