The Drake softball team signed two recruits for next season, adding catcher Hayley Nybo and pitcher Rebekah Schmidt. Both will come to Des Moines in the fall of 2011.

Nybo hails from Minnetonka, Minn., and was named to the 2010 Louisville Slugger/NFCA High School First Team All- North Region at Hopkins High School. Schmidt is a three-sport athlete from New Life Academy in Cottage Grove, Minn., and will play her fifth varsity season next spring.

“The most important aspect in the recruiting process is finding quality student-athletes that represent Drake softball both on and off the field,” Head Coach Rich Calvert said in a Drake athletics press release. “We feel we have found that in Hayley and Rebekah.

“Both come from highly successful high school programs in Minnesota. Also, they play on the same club team that has had a great program over the last couple of years. We are eager to see what they can do in a Bulldog uniform.”

Schmidt will join freshman Jordan Gronewold on the pitching staff, as both have the tough task of replacing seniors Brynne Dordel and Jenna DeLong in 2012. Nybo will join junior Rose Magaddino behind the plate, replacing the void left by senior Erin Mollohan, who is expected to start at catcher next spring.

The Bulldogs open next season on Feb. 11, 2011, at the Ramada Inn UNI-Dome Invitational.