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Duhawks Split with Cross-Town Rivals

By Jacob Hanselman, SID Assistant

Box Scores

The Loras College softball team split their conference games on Tuesday night at the University of Dubuque. The Duhawks won the first game 2-0, but lost the nightcap 9-6, to fall to 2-4 in the conference and 8-8 overall.

The first game was relatively quiet going into the sixth inning tied 0-0. The first two Loras batters in the inning, grounded out to second, and Chrissy Reed struck out on a pitch in the dirt. Reed was able to reach base after the catcher committed an error by failing to throw down to first in time to get Reed out on the dropped third strike rule.

The Duhawks would make the Spartans pay for failing to get out of the inning. Michelle Bahl and Tracy Sullivan would hit back-to-back singles to load the bases up for freshman Katie Sharp. Sharp hit a high fly ball deep into the left field corner that barely got over the outstretched arm of the Spartan left fielder. Reed and Bahl both scored on the RBI double to give the Duhawks a 2-0 lead.

The Duhawks avoided a 7^th inning rally by the Spartans. After two straight singles to start the inning, Sabatini got Evans to strike out on a check swing, and got Lionhood to groundout right back to the mound. With two outs, and runners on second and third, Sabatini struck out the last batter of the game looking.

The Duhawks scored two runs on four hits and had no errors in the game. Michelle Sabatini pitched seven scoreless, scattering eight hits, while walking none and striking out nine to pick up the win and go to 8-7 on the season.

The second game of the double-header yielded much more offense. Loras took a 2-1 lead in the top of the third on an RBI single by Tracy Sullivan, a second run was scored on the play as the result of an error by the left fielder. Loras would add to their lead in the top of the 4^th, Sara Palczynski double to center field to bring home Crystal Strauch, to make it 3-1. The Duhawks would pick up their fourth run on a Christiana Schmidt single.

After yielding three runs in the bottom of the 5^th, the Loras bats responded quickly. Schmidt and Techlin lead off the inning with singles, and would move up to second and third base after a wild pitch. Chrissy Reed grounded out to 2^nd bringing home Schmidt to tie the game. Michelle Bahl would then groundout to the first baseman, allowing Techlin to come in from third putting the Duhawks up 6-5.

Loras would hold the lead until the bottom of the seventh when heartbreak would strike. Sabatini walked the first three batters in the inning, and Rachel Gratz hit a walk-off Grand Slam to end the game and give the Spartan a 9-6 win.

The Duhawks put up six runs on nine hits, but also committed two errors in the loss. With the loss the Duhawks fell to 2-4 in the Iowa Conference and 8-8 on the season. They will play a non-conference doubleheader on Thursday, April 9^th, at Edgewood in Madison, Wisconsin. The games begin at 4:00pm.