The Upper Iowa softball team ended up on the wrong side of a pair of four-run decisions against the Minot State University Beavers on Friday afternoon's Strikeout Cancer Day. The Beavers scored five runs in the fourth inning of both games to pull away from the home team and outlasted two late-inning comebacks from the Peacocks to win 8-4 and 12-8. Minot State improved to 26-19 (15-13 NSIC) with the sweep while Upper Iowa fell to 21-22 (13-15 NSIC).

UIU and MiSU came into the doubleheader in a three-way tie for seventh place in NSIC standings along with the University of Sioux Falls. With Friday's victories, Minot State now sits alone in seventh place while Upper Iowa and Sioux Falls, who was swept by St. Cloud State University on Friday, are tied for eighth place ahead of Southwest Minnesota State University and the University of Mary with 12 wins apiece. Upper Iowa will face UMary on Sunday while USF takes on the University of Minnesota Duluth and SMSU challenges two of the NSIC's top-four teams over the weekend.

On the afternoon, Upper Iowa was led by Ali Green with four hits and a pair of RBI. Jenny Budds and Sami Kay Shafranski each had a hit and drove in three and two runs, respectively. Four other Peacocks finished with multiple hits highlighted by Katie Crogan with three. Erin Drahozal finished with one hit and an RBI while extending her reached base streak to 22 games, the longest streak since Jacqueline Flood reached in 23 straight games during the 2016 season.

The Peacocks are currently scheduled to host the UMary Marauders in the regular season finale on Sunday at noon. Upper Iowa will recognize the group of five seniors in between the two games. 

Game One: Minot State 8, Upper Iowa 4
After giving up an early run to the Beavers in the opening frame, the Peacocks took the lead with two runs in the bottom of the second. Green drove in UIU's first run of the day with a double to the gap in right center, and later rounded home on a fielding error by the Beavers. 

Minot State responded with a two-run homer in the third to regain the lead before putting up a big number in the fourth inning that proved to be too much for the Peacocks to overcome; the Beavers tallied up five runs that all went down unearned as a result of two errors by Upper Iowa to give the away team an 8-2 advantage.

The Peacocks trimmed the deficit to four in the bottom of the seventh with Budd's first home run of the season that scored herself and pinch runner Kennedy Newell, who came in for Green following a lead-off single by the junior. Back-to-back outs ended the rally soon after with the Beavers holding on for an 8-4 victory.

Emily Kisch (11-9) suffered the loss despite only being responsible for two of the eight runs scored by the opponents. Erin Drahozal pitched the final 3.1 innings and scattered three hits.

Laura Mendez (12-9) went the distance for Minot State to receive the win, allowing four runs, three earned, on seven hits. 

Game Two: Minot State 12, Upper Iowa 8
The Peacocks got things going early in the second game by capturing a 3-1 lead after two innings played. Kaylee Frenette and Julia Buffington each scored in the first inning after reaching on walks; Frenette came home to score on a fielding error in the outfield and Buffington returned to the dugout on Drahozal's perfectly placed sacrifice bunt. Jordyn Brennan scored in the second inning when the Beavers' right fielder dropped a fly-ball in the outfield.

Following a scoreless third, Minot State went to work once more in the fourth by plating five runs on three hits and an infield error by the Peacocks. The visitors continued to pull away over the next two innings with two and three runs, respectively, to eventually make the score 11-3 going into the bottom of the sixth. 

The Peacocks needed just one run to keep themselves alive, but the home team cashed in on more than that with four runs on three hits and a pair of errors. Budds, Shafranski and Buffington all drove in runs during the rally. Unfortunately for the home team, there weren't enough outs left in the game to complete the full comeback. The Beavers pushed one final insurance tally across in the top of the seventh and UIU was only able to score one off a rbi-single from Green in the home half to fall 12-8 in the nightcap. 

Jaclyn Thompson (4-8), Drahozal, and Sydney Wilcox all saw action in the circle for the Peacocks with Thompson receiving the loss as the starter. The trio allowed 12 runs, 11 earned, on 13 total hits while striking out four batters and walking three. 

The Beavers also turned to three pitchers with Zoya Robbins (9-6) picking up the win after tossing 5.2 innings. Robbins, Kylie Patrick, and Mendez surrendered eight runs, two earned, on 10 hits, walked four and struck out three.