Softball Concludes California Tournament on a high note
by ERIN O’BOYLE
The Drake Women’s Softball team traveled to Palo Alto, California this past weekend for the Stanford Tournament. Over the course of the weekend, the Bulldogs faced Hofstra State three times and Stanford twice. The weekend began with a late afternoon game on Friday, February 14th against Hofstra State. The women’s softball team came out swinging, literally, in the bottom of the first inning with eight players to the plate and four runs. Neither team saw any more action until the bottom of the fourth inning when the Bulldogs scored another two runs. The fifth inning was quiet, but the sixth added another run to the Bulldogs total. With a lead of 7-0 the Bulldogs entered the seventh inning. Hofstra was able to score one run at the top of the 7th inning to get on the board, but ultimately fell to the Bulldogs in the end.
After an impressive start to the weekend, the Bulldogs headed into Saturday ready to play two games back to back. At noon, they faced Hofstra State again. In the same fashion as the night before, the Bulldogs began the 1st inning with two runs on the board. It wasn’t until the 4th inning that the Hofstra Lions were able to score two runs as well. Tied 2-2 going into the 5th inning, the Bulldogs were able to secure another run, but Hofstra replied with three runs themselves leaving the score 3-5 leaving the 5th inning. No runs were scored after the 5th inning by either team, thus leaving the Bulldogs with a loss of 3-5 at the beginning of their second day of play.
After their loss to Hofstra, the women’s softball team jumped right into their next game against Stanford at 5 PM. Right off the bat, Stanford scored five runs in the bottom of the 1st inning leaving the Bulldogs eager to score as well. Drake was able to get on the board at the top of the 3rd inning with a run, and then another on at the top of the 5th inning and two at the top of the 6th inning. However, Stanford, who was still leading 5-4 at time, was able to score an additional three runs at the bottom of the 6th inning. With a final score of 4-8, the Bulldogs finished Saturday with a 1-2 record for the Stanford tournament.
Despite the disappointing losses of the previous day, the women’s softball team stepped up to the plate on Sunday. Facing Hofstra for the third and final time of this tournament, the Bulldogs were ready to redeem themselves after the loss to the Lions the day before. In a truly impressive show of strength, Drake shut out Hofstra State 8-0. With runs in every inning besides the second, the game ended after the 5th inning with a Bulldog win.
Immediately after their win against Hofstra State, the Bulldogs faced Stanford for the second time that weekend. Similar to their game on Saturday against Stanford, the Bulldogs gave up five runs early on. Unable to get on the board after those five runs, the Bulldogs dropped another two runs to Stanford in the bottom of the 4th quarter and another two runs at the bottom of the 6th inning. The seventh inning was not played, thus leaving the Bulldogs on the other side of a shutout with a score of 0-9.
The Bulldogs left the Stanford Tournament with an overall record of 2-3. The team will travel to Phoenix, Arizona next weekend for the Grand Canyon Purple Classic. They will face California State University-Northbridge, Grand Canyon University, and Utah State over the course of their time in Arizona