March 24, 2008
Box Score
The Peacock softball team traveled to St. Joseph, Missouri this past weekend to compete in the Missouri Western State Tournament. Upper Iowa played five games against teams from the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletic Association. The Peacocks held leads or were tied in four of the five games, but came out on the short end of the score in all five contests.
Upper Iowa scratched out a run early in the first game of the tournament against Missouri Southern State. Jessie Gress singled and then stole second base. The Peacock senior advanced to third on a ground out and scored later in the inning on a wild pitch. Missouri Southern State stormed back with two runs in their half of the first and three more in the second to take a commanding 5-1 lead. UIU trailed 6-4 after notching runs in third, fourth, and fifth innings. Erin Bennek drove in Stephany Daubenspeck in the third with a single. Nikki Davis pushed Danielle DeSerano across the plate in the fourth on a sacrifice fly, while Gress forced Bennek home with a walk in the fifth. The Peacocks could not complete the comeback as Missouri Southern State exploded for five runs in the sixth to win 11-4.
In game two, the Peacocks jumped out to a 3-0 lead through three innings against Emporia State. UIU picked up a pair of runs in the first inning when a Schulte single drove Davis and Daubenspeck across the plate. The Peacocks added the third run in the second when a Gress single drove home Meredith Ang. The Peacock bats would not keep up though. Emporia State shutdown the Peacock offense over the final four innings while racking up 10 runs of their own to take the victory 10-3.
Upper Iowa and Washburn decided to play late Friday night with an impending cold front forcasted for Saturday. The teams took the field at 9:50 PM. Both offenses were held in check by the pitchers over the first three innings as the game moved to the fourth scoreless. Washburn was first to put a mark on the board in the fourth, but Upper Iowa answered in their half of the inning. DeSerano singled and moved around the bases scoring on an error to tie the game at 1-1.
The Lady Blues took the lead 5-1 heading into the bottom of the seventh thanks to a run in the sixth and three in the seventh. The Peacocks had runners on second and third with two outs in the final inning when Julie Woolf scored on a wild pitch and DeSerano scored on an Ang single to cut the deficit to 5-3, but UIU wouldn't score again as they took the loss.
On Saturday, the Peacocks continued play in the tournament and faced the host school Missouri Western State. The Griffons beat the Peacocks 9-0 in five innings as the game was shortened due to the run rule. Upper Iowa only managed one hit against MWSU's starter Jonnelle Belger.
Upper Iowa closed their time at the tournament on Saturday evening with a final game against Central Missouri. The Peacocks gave up a run in the first, but rallied back with five runs of their own in the bottom of the first. A DeSerano walk with the bases loaded pushed the first run across. Schulte stepped to the plate with the bases loaded and two outs. The sophomore put UIU ahead 5-1 with a grand slam homerun. Upper Iowa added another run in the second when Kami Appelt drove Gress across the plate with a double. The Peacocks and pitcher Christy Loan cruised through the middle innings and held their 6-1 lead into the sixth inning. The Jennie bats broke loose in the sixth inning and after a single and two walks to open the inning, the floodgates opened and Central Missouri tallied 10 hits including one homerun in the inning as they scored 9 runs and took the lead 10-6. The Peacocks were unable to recover and lost the game 11-6.
For the weekend, DeSerano led the team at the plate with a .429 (6-14) average with four runs scored and an rbi. The junior was also 3 for 3 in stolen base attempts. Other Peacocks that hit well were Ang (4 hits, 1 rbi), Schulte (4 hits, 5 rbi), Gress (4 hits, 2 rbi, 2-2 sb), and Bennek (4 hits, 1 rbi). On the mound, Loan took three losses in her appearances allowing eleven earned runs in fifteen innings, while Davis went 0-2 allowing ten earned runs in thirteen innings.
The Peacocks will travel to St. Cloud, Minnesota on Wednesday, Mar. 26, to battle the Huskies of St. Cloud State, a future NSIC-foe. The games are scheduled for a 2 p.m. start.
