While Iowa softball’s senior pitchers threw a pair of shutouts Saturday afternoon, the Hawkeye freshmen put on a clinic in offense. 

Three freshmen hit it out of the park in Saturday’s doubleheader, helping the Hawkeyes to a sweep at Pearl Field and improving the team’s record to 12-7.

“Let’s hope that says we’re doing a good job recruiting,” head coach Renee Gillispie said. “These are Midwest kids. These are kids that are blue-collar and know how to work and know how to take care of business.”

The first game ended after five innings and eight Iowa runs because of the NCAA softball run-rule. The Hawkeyes made quick work of the Hoosiers, winning 8-0.

Freshman first baseman Denali Loecker was the first to round the bases, notching her first career home run in the bottom of the first inning in the first game of the day. Loecker finished the doubleheader going 4-of-5 at the plate.

Loecker’s career day came after the Hawkeyes fell, 4-1, to Indiana Friday night. While Loecker couldn’t connect with ball on Friday, she found her fire Saturday afternoon.

“We were down a little bit after the loss,” Loecker said. “But we always bounce back, you could see during warmups today the grit in our eyes, that we just wanted to win this game, and it worked.”

RELATED: Lehman allows two home runs in ninth, Iowa softball falls in extra innings

In game two, freshman designated player Marissa Peek served to be the difference maker. She knocked the ball out of the park in the bottom of the fifth inning for the only run of the game, as Iowa overtook Indiana, 1-0.

“Marissa was struggling early on [in the season],” Gillispie said. “But to see her come out the last two games and really hit well — I’m proud of where she is.”

Freshman Lindy Milkowski flashed her expertise both on offense and defense in the doubleheader, hitting a two-run home run in the first contest and catching all 12 innings for the Hawkeyes.

“You can see she’s fired up behind that plate,” Gillispie said. “She gives us the arm that we need, especially on a running team like Indiana. They don’t like to run against her, you saw that they kind of stopped their running game a little bit. But she does a great job of going down for those stolen bases when she needs to.”

But Milkowski is still learning, along with all ten freshmen on the team. At the top of the seventh inning of the second matchup, Indiana threatened as Milkowski passed up a ball after a strikeout, allowing Indiana to take first base. 

“She had a couple miscues back there on some rise balls,” Gillispie said. “Some got past her, and that’s just her getting ahead of herself… those are things that freshmen do. We’re just learning to stay in the moment, and forcing us to fall first and get the outs when we can.”

With the sweep, Iowa holds a 2-1 series lead over Indiana this weekend, and the teams will meet for the final game of the series  Sunday at 2 p.m. at Pearl Field. The game will be televised on BTN.