The Iowa softball team rebounded from a tough few weeks with a impressive series victory over Northwestern this past weekend. After hitting a bit of a slide — losing seven of its past 10 — Iowa took the first two games of the weekend series before losing the sweep Sunday afternoon.

On April 12, Iowa fell behind early, trailing 4-2 midway through the fourth inning. Then, the offense came alive; the Hawkeyes sent 13 batters to the plate, tallying 9 runs on 8 hits to take an 11-4 lead. Iowa ended up winning the game 12-7.

Another offensive attack came from the Iowa Hawkeyes (24-16, 4-8 Big Ten) as it posted 15 more runs in the second game of the series and won the game 15-14. The 15 runs are the most runs scored in a Big Ten game for the Hawkeyes since May 1997. Sophomore Megan Blank hit her 8th home run of the season.

“The offense saw the pitcher really well the first time through the lineup,” said Hawkeye head coach Marla Looper in a release. “The second time through, we made adjustments and found opportunities to attack and put a lot of runners on. Our top and bottom of the lineup did a really nice job.”

In the final game of the series, with the Hawkeyes vying for the sweep, the offense went cold, and the game was over in five innings. Iowa lost the game, 11-3.

Overall, a good weekend for Iowa, which improved to 22-9 away from Pearl Field and performed well in its first Big Ten road trip. The offense got rolling just in time for a highly anticipated battle with No. 10 Missouri this week. The Tigers will visit Pearl Field on Wednesday for a double-header scheduled to begin at 3 p.m.