By Jacob Miller
In its final three games of the Judi Garman Classic, on March 3 and 4, the Iowa softball team was unable to win a game and break its losing streak.
This is the second tournament in a row the Hawkeyes have not been able to come away with a win, and it also puts their losing streak into double digits, now 12 games in a row. The Hawkeyes’ last victory was on Feb. 10.
Their first matchup was against No. 7 Washington, and the game had a similar result as their game against Florida. Washington scored early and consistently and the Hawkeyes had no answer on defense or offense. Washington won, 8-0.
The March 4 games both resulted in losses, but it was the best performance by the Hawkeyes all weekend. Both games were competitive, and Iowa battled throughout both.
In their matchup against No. 20 Arizona State, the Hawkeyes started off hot and full of energy and scored 2 in the first inning thanks to a 2-run triple from Brooke Rozier. Iowa extended its lead to 3 in the fifth inning. Arizona State made a comeback in the seventh inning, tying the game at 3. Eventually, the Sun Devils outlasted the Hawkeyes and defeated them, 5-4, in the ninth inning.
No. 23 Cal was a low scoring, defensive battle. The game remained scoreless until the bottom of the sixth inning, when the Bears scored the deciding run on an RBI single.
“I’m proud of this team and how they regrouped for the last day of the tournament,” head coach Marla Looper said in a release. “Again, when you go down fighting like that, it hurts a lot, but it’s a good hurt versus losses when you didn’t give your best. I tell them to leave it on the field, and they did exactly that today.”
The big thing now for the Hawkeyes is finishing games. It does not matter if they out-play their opponents in the first five innings, only for them to lose it all in the sixth or seventh inning. Iowa needs someone to step up and be the clutch factor to get its first victory in March.
