The University of Iowa’s softball team concluded its weekend with a 3-1 record at the Miken Invitational in College Park, Md. Iowa, which improved to 17-6 to start the season, ended its trip with two-straight shutouts—a 10-0 win over Radford and an 8-0 victory over Ohio State.

Starting pitchers Chelsea Lyon and Kayla Massey combined for 11 scoreless innings in on the circle while the Iowa offense exploded for 18 runs.

“We came out ready to play today,” Iowa head coach Marla Looper said in a release. “It was nice seeing those goose eggs left up there. We have been working towards that all year long — limiting walks.”

Iowa jumped on Ohio State early. Johnnie Dowling reached on an error, then Bradi Wall singled to put two on. On the first pitch, Megan Blank left the yard to give Iowa a 3-0 lead.

After getting up early and surviving a Buckeye sixth-inning threat, redshirt freshman Holly Hoffman finished off the game with a walk-off grand slam that sealed the Iowa victory in six innings.

“I had been fouling a lot of pitches off,” Hoffman said in a release. “I knew going into that at-bat she was going to throw me that pitch, so I decided early on I was going to attack it and commit to it. The swing followed and it worked out perfectly.

In addition the two victories on Sunday, Iowa also took care of business against the host team, Maryland, on March 9. Dowling and Massey registered multi-hit games. Dowling finished 2-for-3 with 2 runs and 2 RBIs, and Massey went 2-for-4 with 3 RBIs. Blank also contributed 3 RBIs in the Hawkeyes 9-4 victory.

Iowa’s next games will be March 17-18 in Louisville, Ky. The Hawkeyes will play No. 25 North Carolina and Ball State on March 17 to open play. Iowa will continue action on March 18, facing Ball State a second time and No. 13 Louisville. The Hawkeyes will then travel to Lexington, Ky., to face No. 15 Kentucky on March 20.