FAYETTEVILLE, ARK -
The Drake softball team earned a pair of wins to open the Razorback
Invitational, Friday. The Bulldogs topped Southern Miss. 8-2 behind another
solid outing by junior pitcher Jenna DeLong, then earned a 2-1 victory over No.
22 Louisiana-Lafayette with a sixth-inning suicide squeeze executed perfectly
by Molly McClelland.
DeLong (Dalton Gardens, Idaho) opened Drake's 8-2 victory
over Southern Miss. with two scoreless innings, running her total to 21
straight, before allowing a third inning home run to end the streak. The junior
allowed just two hits and an unearned, sixth-inning run the rest of the way. DeLong
threw seven innings while allowing one earned run on three hits while striking
out eight for her fourth win of the season.
The Drake offense scored eight runs on a season-high 14
hits, including a sixth-inning home run by junior Erin Bly (Frankfort, Ill.)
that stretched Drake's 2-1 lead to a 4-1 advantage. The Bulldogs batted around
in the seventh and added four more runs to their total after a one-out error by
the Golden Eagles allowed Leon (West Des Moines, Iowa) to reach for senior
Bridget Shields (Iowa City, Iowa), who singled through the right side to score
two.
The Bulldogs closed their Friday slate with a 2-1 pitchers'
duel victory over No. 22 Louisiana-Lafayette. Pitcher Brynne Dordel (Chanhassen, Minn.)
tossed five strong innings for Drake, allowing one run on five hits and leaving
with the game tied 1-1 after the bottom of the fifth. Sophomore Torey Craddock
(Tucson, Ariz.) slapped a double to left after Bly was retired to begin the
Drake sixth, then crossed the plate two batters later on McClelland's (West Des
Moines, Iowa) suicide squeeze to give the Bulldogs a 2-1 advantage with two
innings to play.
DeLong entered in the sixth and orchestrated a two-inning
save. The junior retired the side after allowing a leadoff walk in the sixth,
then struck out the side after allowing a leadoff double in the seventh. The
save was her since closing out a 4-2 victory over Creighton, April 15, 2009.
Dordel earned the win to improve to 4-1 on the season.
Drake's win over No. 22 Louisiana Lafayette was its first
win over a ranked team since a 1-0 victory over No. 25 Iowa on April 29, 2009.
The two wins improved Drake's record to 8-3 overall. The
Bulldogs continue the Razorback Invitational tomorrow with a 1:30 p.m. matchup
against Iowa State and a 7:30 p.m. game against Arkansas.
