Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2 The Upper Iowa University softball team picked up their first win of the 2021 season in their opening game of the Drury Invitational. The Peacocks struck early in game one as they scored their leadoff batter to take a 1-0 lead after the first inning and would build up a 5-0 lead before beating the University of Illinois Springfield by a score of 8-4. UIU scored in the top of the first against their tournament hosts, Drury University, in their second game of the day, and was tied 2-2 through four innings before the Panthers won 13-5 in a game that went six innings due to run rule.
Upper Iowa 8, Illinois Springfield 4
The Peacocks got on the board early against the Prairie Stars following a leadoff triple by
Kaylee Frenette in the bottom of the first inning. Frenette was pushed across by an
Alli Schaffer RBI just two batters later. In the third inning, Upper Iowa put their first three runners on with Frenette leading off with a single to start the ensuing UIU parade around the bases.
Katie Crogan hit a 2 RBI double from the cleanup spot before reaching home plate thanks to a 2 RBI appearance from
Sadie Carpenter to give the Peacocks a 5-0 lead.
Illinois Springfield scored in the top of the fourth to cut into their deficit, but Upper Iowa matched the score with another two of their own thanks to a
Sydney Wilcox double, a walk from Frenette, and a 2 RBI double from
Kaitlyn Carlson. The Prairie Stars made their best comeback push with a two-run homerun in the fifth, but the Peacocks had an answer yet again as Carpenter hit a solo shot in the UIU half of the fifth to secure an 8-4 lead. Upper Iowa would go on to win the game 8-5 to secure their first victory of the season.
Drury 13, Upper Iowa 5
The Peacock matchup against Drury, the tournament hosts, was seemingly played in two uneven phases. The game was knotted at two runs apiece through four innings and looked like it was going to be a close contest throughout. Upper Iowa scored the first run of the game as
Kaylee Frenette reached on a leadoff walk and was pushed across the home plate by a
Katie Crogan RBI. The Panthers would answer with runs in the first and second innings to take a 2-1 lead, but Crogan tied the score with a solo homerun in the top of the fourth.
The second phase of the game came in the fifth inning as Drury pushed across 5 runs in the bottom of the frame to go up 7-2. The Peacocks answered with a 4-run top of the sixth to cut their deficit to 7-6, but the Panthers poured it on in the bottom of the sixth as they scored 6 runs to close out a 13-5 victory in six innings after run rule.
UP NEXT... The Peacocks take the field again for another two-game set as part of the Drury Invitational on Feb. 27. Upper Iowa will face off against the Cardinals of William Jewell College (Mo.) at 10 a.m. and the Southwest Baptist University Bearcats at 2 p.m. in their second of three double-header gamedays in Springfield, Mo.
