April 18, 2023 – Loras College softball put up a strong fight for a good portion of Tuesday's doubleheader against Coe College, but the 25^th-ranked Kohawks proved to be too much as they swept past the home team at Faber-Clark Field.

The Duhawks (13-10, 1-3 A-R-C) have played each of their first four American Rivers Conference (A-R-C) games against ranked opponents, and the Kohawks (26-4, 9-1 A-R-C) presented another challenge on Tuesday as they claimed wins by 4-3 and 7-1 margins.

Coe 4, Loras 3
Game one of this doubleheader changed significantly in the third inning as Coe threatened for the first time all game. The Kohawks notched just one bunt single in the inning, but an attempt at a sacrifice with two runners on base created some confusion and induced a Loras miscue that allowed the first run of the game to score.

As a result, the inning would extend and result in two more runs crossing home on a wild pitch and an RBI groundout that gave the Kohawks a 3-0 lead. An RBI double in the top of the fourth inning extended the lead to 4-0, but the Duhawks started to rally back with a run in the bottom half as sophomore Emily Monahan plated senior Abby Jones with an RBI single.

Loras plated two more in the sixth inning when Monahan's sacrifice fly cut the lead to 4-2 and a Kohawk error in the field allowed senior Grace Houghton to score and make it 4-3. The Duhawks threatened in the bottom of the seventh when Jones came to bat as the potential winning run, but she grounded out to short on a bang-bang play at first base to end the game.

Duhawk starter Ashlyn Hemm was saddled with a loss after allowing just two earned runs and holding the Kohawks to only two hits.

Coe 7, Loras 1
The box score of game two doesn't tell the full story as the first five innings looked completely different than the final two. Coe's Abbie White and Loras sophomore Shandi Rulli engaged in a pitcher's dual over the first five frames as the only run during that time came in the top of the fourth inning when three straight two-out hits gave Coe a 1-0 lead.

Loras didn't tally a hit until the fifth inning when Monahan broke the dry spell with a one-out single. Two batters later, Monahan tried to score from first on a double for sophomore Payton Meier, but a perfect relay from the Kohawks cut down Monahan at home to end the inning.

That play on the would-be tying run proved to be a pivotal moment as Coe went on to tally five hits and plate four runs in the next half inning to suddenly make it a 5-0 ballgame after the Duhawks were just a few inches from trying it up. Coe even tacked on two more in the seventh inning to put the game on ice as a solo home run for junior Alyssa Hughes in the bottom half was just too little too late.

The Duhawks begin a busy weekend on Saturday, April 22 with a doubleheader at Simpson College starting at 1 P.M.