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

PEORIA, Ill. (Feb. 25, 2022) - After posting their first no-hitter since 2012 on Thursday, the Loras College softball team (4-0, 0-0 CCIW) continued play in the Blue Angels Invite in Peoria, Ill. on Friday, taking on the Lawrence University Vikings (0-4, 0-0 Midwest) and the Elmhurst University Blue Jays (1-1, 0-0 CCIW). The Duhawks breezed past the Vikings in the first game of the day, earning a 16-0 win before taking down the Blue Jays 3-1, marking the team's best start since the 2017 season. 

Freshman pitcher Ashlyn Hemm continued to dominate in the circle in the second day of action, striking out the side in the top half of the first inning before the Duhawks piled on six runs in the bottom half of the inning. The first run of the inning came as Taylor Donnell grounded out to third base with Ellie Schill and Abby Jones in scoring position on second and third, scoring Schill on the play. Jones went on to score a batter later as Jadyn Anderson hit an RBI single to left field before Clare Murphy tacked on another two runs on an RBI single that scored Nicole Bendig and Anderson. The final two runs of the inning came on an RBI double off of the bat of Emily Monahan that saw Murphy and Claire Peachey come home to bring the score to 6-0 after the first inning. 

Another three up, three down top of the second inning, all on strikeouts, saw Hemm make quick work of the Vikings before Loras contined to widen their lead with the first run of the inning coming on a Murphy infield single with the bases loaded that scored Donnell from third. With two outs in the inning, Peachey scored the last two runs of the inning on an RBI single that brought as the Duhawks gained a 9-0 lead after just two innings of action. 

The final seven runs of the game all came in the bottom of the third inning with the first coming on a Mallery Pearson triple to left field that scored Schill from first before Pearson was knocked in on a left field single from Payton Meier. Morgan Machovec helped the Duhawks score another later in the inning on a right field single that scored Olivia Martinelli before a Whitney Liepold 2 RBI double, followed by an RBI triple from Monahan and a Schill RBI single sealed the deal on the 16-0 victory for the Duhawks in five innings. 

The Duhawks recorded 13 hits at the plate offensively, led by Murphy and Monahan who had two hits each, both driving in three runs in the game. Hemm threw 3.0 innings on the mound and struck out all nine batters she faced before Murphy made an appearance, throwing an inning and retiring the side without allowing a hit before Kayla Stich closed out the game, allowing no runs on two hits. 

In the second game of the day, the Duhawks went toe-to-toe with the Blue Jays from Elmhurst University and got to work immediately in the top of the first inning, on a Jadyn Anderson RBI double that scored Jones to go ahead 1-0 early. 

After three scoreless innings, the Blue Jays got on the board on a solo homerun off the bat of Alana Batista to tie the game at 1-1, but the tie didn't last long as Schill hit an RBI triple in the top half of the fifth inning to take the lead once more. A batter later, Jones knocked in Schill from third on an infield ground out to bring the score to its final at 3-1. 

Hemm pitched a complete 7.0 inning game, tying a 14 year old record for the most strikeouts in a game with 15, set by Kate Earlywire in 2008. At the plate, Schill and Anderson tallied two hits apiece, accounting for four of the Duhawks' five hits in the game. 

Loras is back in action on Mar. 14 as they travel to Leesburg, Fla. to compete in THE Spring Games. The Duhawks' trip kicks off against the Augsburg University Auggies at 10:00 AM (ET).