The Peacock softball team opened their play at the first day of the 2011 Teri (Mathis) Zenner Memorial Classic in Joplin, Missouri. The tournament is being hosted by Missouri Southern State. Upper Iowa lost an extra inning affair, 6-5 (8), to Drury in their morning game and was then dominated by Truman State by a 9-1 count.
Upper Iowa (3-8) will return to the fields in Joplin tomorrow for another pair of games. UIU will face Illinois-Springfield at 9 a.m. and Wisconsin-Parkside at 1 p.m.
Recaps from the two games can be found below.
Drury 6 – Upper Iowa 5 (8)
Drury outscored Upper Iowa in extra innings as both teams put runs on the board in the eighth to take a 6-5 victory.
The Panthers were first on the board with a pair of runs in the first and a pair of runs in the second off Peacock starter Sarah Dec.
In the third inning, UIU opened with a pair of singles by Adrienna Olson and Robin Schaefer. Both players scored on wild pitches as the Panthers’ pitcher struggled with her control. The Peacocks added two more runs in the fifth when Chelsey Sechrest hit a single to right field. Schaeffer scored on the hit and Hannah Jones came around when Drury made an error attempting to field the hit.
The game remained tied at 4-4 into the eighth inning when UIU broke the tie without a hit. Because of the tournament format… a runner is placed on second base to open the inning. Ashley Brown took the base and stole third. While stealing third, the throw was not caught by the basemen and Brown came home with the leading run.
Drury rallied in the bottom of the inning with two runs for the win. After the player got to second, an infield single put a pair of Panthers on the base paths. A ground out pushed the runners up a base, and a wild pitch allowed the tying run to score. The inning’s second ground out was enough to drive in the winning run from third and give DU a 6-5 extra inning win.
Ashley Brown threw well in relief of Dec. She came in with two runners on and one out in the fourth and shutout the Panthers until the final inning. Brown allowed 2 runs in 4.1 innings while striking out 3, while Dec threw 3.1 innings allowing 4 runs on 7 hits.
At the plate, Olson had a pair of hits, while Schaefer, Jones, Sechrest, Trisha Hagensick, and Laura Tackenberg all tallied one hit. The Peacocks stole four bases in five attempts for the game.
Truman State 9 – Upper Iowa 1
The Bulldogs dominated their matchup with the Peacocks scoring three runs in the second and fifth innings and adding a pair in the sixth and a single run in the third. Upper Iowa’s lone run came in the bottom of the second.
UIU’s run came after Erin Bennek led the second off with a single through the left side and moved to second when Sechrest was hit by a pitch. After a sac bunt by Hagensick, Brooklyn Koranda drove a run in with a sac fly to left to score Bennek.
Koranda struggled in the circle throwing 4.2 innings while allowing 7 runs on 6 hits. Bennek led the Peacocks at the plate with a pair of hits, while Schaefer, Hagensick and Erin Van Praag registered UIU’s only other hits.
