No Hawkeyes found home plate in the Sept. 29 3-0 loss to Northern Iowa.
Iowa pitcher Erin Riding started the game and gave the Hawkeyes five strong innings, holdint the Panthers scoreless through three. One run scored in the fourth when Riding walked a runner, who then stole second, and was knocked in on a double. Her fifth inning featured another goose egg on the scoreboard, and she ended her night with 1 earned run.
“I wanted to attack every batter. It helped that I had a great defense behind me,” she said. “I have to stay ahead and throw fewer balls. [I need to] avoid falling behind 3-0, 2-1.”
Senior Kenzie Ihle entered in the sixth with a strong start. In her first inning, only one runner reached base, with two ground outs and a strikeout.
However, the top of the seventh involved some chaos for the Hawkeyes.
A lead-off single was followed by a close call for pitcher Ihle when she deflected a hard comebacker with her glove. After a quick check with the umpire, she kept pitching.
Runners were on first and second when a ground ball advanced them to second and third with one out. Another grounder scored a UNI runner. With two outs and a runner on third, Panther Courtney Krodinger dropped a single into right field to make the score 3-0, where it remained for the rest of the night.
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Iowa’s offense was highlighted with 5 hits, 4 of the infield-single variety. Angela Schmiederer laced a double into the right field corner with one out in the second inning, but she was left stranded following a ground out and a strikeout. Iowa loaded the bases in the bottom of the fourth inning but was unable to capitalize.
Iowa saw few other glimpses of hope throughout the night. Cheyenne Pratt led off the sixth inning with a hit and was bunted to second. With one out, teammate Ally Wood flew out to right field, and Pratt failed to get back to second in time for a sloppy third out.
“We have to be better base runners,” head coach Marla Looper said. “We ran ourselves out of what could have been a rally.”
Defensively, Iowa played strong.
Second baseman Daniella Ibara made a diving snag with her back turned to home plate in shallow right field with one out in the top of the eighth. The Hawkeyes ended their night with 0 errors. In contrast, the Panthers had 3 errors. But they ended their slugfest with 10 hits, bringing the final score to 3-0.
Softball will play again on Sept. 30 at 1 p.m. at Pearl Field against Iowa State in another Big 4 matchup.
