By WJBC staff
DES MOINES, Iowa – In a matchup between the Missouri Valley Conference’s top hitting team and top pitching team, pitching won as Drake defeated Illinois State softball 1-0, and 9-0 Saturday in Des Moines, Iowa.
The Redbirds came into Saturday with the top hitting team in the conference, but the tone was set early in game one by Drake starter Rebekah Schmidt. She retired the first six ISU hitters and struck out four of them.
However, her counterpart was almost just as good as ISU starter Regan Romshek worked a perfect first inning. The only trouble she ran into was in the second inning as she allowed a leadoff double to Schmidt and then an RBI single brought her in.
The run would be the only one of the game as both pitchers cruised through complete games with little trouble. Schmidt surrendered four hits and those were the only four ISU baserunners in the game. Twice ISU left two on base, and its best chance came in the fifth inning.
Kara Repp and Payton Billups each singled to put two on with one out. Schmidt buckled down though, and recorded a strikeout and a ground out to end the inning with no damage done.
After a shaky second inning, Romshek allowed just four baserunners in the next three innings and struck out six on the day. She was the tough-luck loser, falling to 12-17 on the season. Romshek went six innings, gave up six hits and one earned run while striking out six and walking one.
Schmidt went seven innings, giving up four hits and no runs. She struck out a season-high 11 hitters and did not walk a batter.
Drake’s pitching was impressive again in game two as Nicole Newman got the ball to start. Newman struck out the side in the top of the first and then received more than enough run support in the bottom of the frame.
Sarah Finck faced five hitters and did not record an out. With the bases loaded and nobody out, McKensie Vissering entered to pitch. The first batter she faced was Schmidt who drilled a grand slam to left. In the inning Drake scored six runs on four hits, two walks and an error.
The Redbirds could never put together a rally on Newman as the freshman struck out nine batters. Her offense added one more run in the second and two in the fourth to give Drake a 9-0 run-rule victory in five innings.
ISU had just two hits in the game and Newman walked only one batter. The two hits belonged to Romshek and Jordan de los Reyes.
The losses drop ISU to 22-30 on the season and 13-12 in the MVC. The series finale is slated for Sunday at 12 p.m. A live audio broadcast will be carried on GoRedbirds.com.
