Contact: Nathan Cameron, Assistant Director of Athletic Communications, 563-588-7243

STORM LAKE, Iowa (Mar. 25, 2021) - The Loras College softball team (0-9, 0-5) traveled to Storm Lake, Iowa Thursday afternoon for an American Rivers Conference (A-R-C) matchup against the Buena Vista University Beavers (10-7, 2-3 A-R-C). The Duhawks made a late game push in the second game, putting a combined five runs on the board in the last three innings but were edged in both games on the day. 

The first game of the afternoon saw the Beavers get a jump in the bottom of the first inning, taking a three run lead with the first run coming from a sacrifice fly out to right field that scored Carlee Guyett from third. Another run went on to score on a wild pitch and the final run of the inning scored on an RBI double to left field. 

The score remained 3-0 in favor of Buena Vista until the fifth inning as the Duhawks' offense sparked with Ellie Schill reaching first on a one-out bunt to bring Hadalyn Anderson to the plate. Anderson sent a home run over the left field fence to add two runs to the board for Loras and cut the Beavers' lead to just one. With two outs in the inning, Gabriella Garcia drew a walk to reach first, followed by Abigail Bergholz who did the same thing to put two runners on base for Grace Houghton. A single from Houghton scored Garcia to bring the tying run across the plate but Bergholz found herself caught in the base path, getting thrown out advancing to third to close the side and bring the score to an even 3-3 after five innings of play. 

The game stayed tied for the next two innings until the bottom of the seventh inning when the Beavers put three runners on base, going on to score the runner from third on a wild pitch to end the game with a 4-3 final score. 

Taylor Donnell took the mound for the Duhawks and threw the full game, recording 6.1 innings pitched with four runs on seven hits. The Duhawks were led at the plate by H. Anderson with one home run and two RBIs while Jadyn Anderson posted a double. 

Game two saw Buena Vista get off to an early lead on a first inning homerun by Guyett and put two more up on an infield error that scored two. The Beavers extended their lead in the second inning on another fielding error that scored two and an RBI double that put the Beavers at a seven run advantage. 

In the top of the third inning, H. Anderson drew a walk to lead-off the inning that was followed by a Donnell walk that put two runners on the bases for Garcia, who drove in H. Anderson on an infield single to third base to bring the score to 7-1 after the top half of the third. 

Two innings later Loras added another run to their total after Abigail Bergholz reached first after being hit by a pitch, seeing Hannah Wubben get called in as a pinch runner. Wubben went on to steal second and score after Houghton reached base on an infield error that scored Wubben from second to cut the deficit to five runs after five innings of play. Buena Vista pulled ahead by six again in the bottom half of the inning as they scored on an RBI single from Guyett. 

The Duhawks sparked a comeback in the top of the sixth inning looking to make a rally late in the game after Jessica Bulanda led off the side with a single to center field that was followed by a single to right field from Sara Vander Mause that advanced Bulanda to third, putting runners on the corners for Schill. The Beavers made a call to the bullpen to face Schill, but it worked out in favor of the Duhawks as Schill drilled a double to center field to clear the bases, scoring Bulanda and Alexus Jensen who was called in to pinch run for Vander Mause. Donnell added another run for the Duhawks, bringing the score to 8-5 on a fielding error that scored Schill. 

After holding off the Beavers in the bottom of the sixth, the Duhawks went into the top of the seventh inning looking to build off of the previous inning's momentum. Houghton led off by reaching on a fielding error that was followed by J. Anderson hitting an infield single to put two runners on base with Bulanda coming to the plate. Bulanda singled up the middle to load the bases, forcing Buena Vista to again make a pitching change. Again, the pitching change seized to phase the Duhawks as Alyssa Hughes drew a walk to score Houghton from third to bring the score to 8-6 where it stayed through the remainder of the game, seeing Buena Vista take the second game of the day. 

Schill hit a double for the Duhawks, going 1-4 in the game with two RBIs and scoring two runs. Wubben made her presence known on the base path as a pinch runner, recording her fifth stolen base of the season. 

The Duhawks utilized three pitchers in the game, with Nicole Bendig making the start on the mound, pitching in 2.0 innings, allowing seven runs on six hits before Kayla Stich made an appearance for 3.0 innings, recording one strikeout, allowing one run on six hits. Hughes saw action in the last inning of the game and struck out one of the three batters she faced. 

Loras is back in action on Saturday, Mar. 27 as they face the Beavers in the final game of the series. The game is scheduled to begin at 1:00 PM in Storm Lake, Iowa.