Iowa hitting comes alive, still downed by Purdue
By Courtney Baumann
Down by just one run, Iowa was unable to convert with runners on first and third in the bottom of the seventh inning.
The Hawkeye softball team, which struggled offensively in their Friday game against Purdue, came alive on Saturday afternoon. Iowa compiled 10 hits, three of which landed on the other side of the fence. It wasn’t enough, however, as Iowa fell to the Boilermakers 8-7.
Redshirt junior Sammi Gyerman had two of the homers, one for three runs in the bottom of the third and another in the bottom of the seventh. Holly Hoffman, a redshirt senior added a two-run homer of her own during the fifth inning.
“It felt good knowing I made the adjustments I needed to make,” Gyerman said. “We definitely were struggling in the first two innings. We needed to bear down and hit the ball or else we were going to keep losing.”
Iowa started to get hot in the third inning. The Hawkeyes tallied nine hits over the course of the last five innings, and worried Purdue head coach Kim Schuette enough to send in a new pitcher in the bottom of the seventh.
The pitching change occurred after Hoffman registered her second hit of the game – a triple to right-center. Gina Snyder took over for the last two outs of the inning and earned the save for the Boilermakers.
The Hawkeyes sent three pitchers to the circle this afternoon. Shayla Starkenburg got the start, but was taken out in the fourth inning. The redshirt junior gave up 10 hits and five earned runs in the first half of the game.
Sophomore Ashley Yoways came in for relief, but was quickly removed after giving up two runs in just .1 innings. Erin Riding finished out the game. The freshman put out the first five batters she faced and allowed one run in the top of the seventh.
“She did a good job,” Iowa head coach Marla Looper said about the relief pitcher. “Today she came in with a lot different mindset and a little more attack and we needed that out of her.”