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

DECORAH, Iowa (Apr. 29, 2022) - After cold, windy conditions pushed the games back four days, the Loras College softball team (21-9, 6-8 A-R-C) went head-to-head with the Luther College Norse (19-13, 6-8 A-R-C) in an American Rivers Conference (A-R-C) tilt. The Duhawks took down the Norse in the first game of the rainy doubleheader, but the Norse bounced back to split the series with each team adding one to the win column. 

The first game of the day featured a pitchers' duel between freshman standout Ashlyn Hemm and Luther's Kendra Cooper. Neither side put a run on the scoreboard through four innings of play with only five hits in the game between the two teams before the Duhawks cracked the stalemate in the top of the fifth. Payton Meier led the inning off by drawing a base on balls, paving the way for Hannah Wubben to take over on the base path. Wubben moved up to second on a sacrifice bunt from Whitney Leipold before making her way to third on an Emily Monahan groundout to first. Alyssa Hughes drew a two-out walk to put runners on the corners for Taylor Donnell, who came in to pinch hit and knocked in the lone run of the game on an RBI single to secure the Duhawks' 1-0 victory. 

The Duhawks had four hits in the game, with Ellie Schill, Meier, Monahan and Donnell posting a hit apiece with Schill hitting the game's only extra-base hit with a lead-off double in the top of the first inning. 

Hemm did work in the circle, dishing a complete game and holding the Norse to six hits in the game while keeping them off the scoreboard and striking out seven. 

In the second game of the day, neither side put a run on the board in the first inning but the Norse jumped ahead by five shortly after, scoring a run in the second and four in the third. Luther scored three more insurance runs in the bottom half of the sixth inning to wrap the game up an inning early, winning by the eight-run rule. 

Jadyn Anderson and Meier had the Duhawks' two hits in the game while Hemm made her second start on the day, throwing 5.1 innings with one strikeout, allowing seven runs on seven hits before Reagan Spence closed the game out. Spence faced the Norse's final three batters of the game, allowing a run on one hit. 

The Duhawks return to Faber-Clark Field on Sunday, May 1 as they play host to the Nebraska Wesleyan University Prairie Wolves in their final series of the regular season. First pitch is scheduled for 12:00 PM.