Iowa softball picked up two wins against St. Thomas, 4-1 and 4-3, on Tuesday afternoon, moving its record to 21-10 on the season ahead of a three-game home series against Washington.
Iowa Survives Pitching Battle In Game One
The Hawkeyes struggled to gain consistent offensive opportunities in game one and had to lean on their strong pitching and defense to keep the Tommies at bay.
Veteran fourth-year Serayah Neiss got the call to start game one for Iowa, throwing five scoreless innings. Neiss gave up just one hit and one run midway through the sixth inning before first-year Carly Brewer got the call from the bullpen.
Brewer went on to hold the Tommies scoreless the remaining sixth and seventh innings to earn the Hawkeyes the 4-1 victory.
“I know I had a really good run and am proud of Carly for coming in and finishing the game for us strong,” Neiss said. “I am just so proud of our team today with resilience.”
Offensively, the Hawkeyes took the lead early in the first inning, scoring two runs off a fielding error that resulted in a little commotion at third with two Iowa runners stacking up on the bag.
“Surprisingly, that is something we have actually practiced a lot for and have coached them to handle situations with chaos to get the outcomes we still want, like scoring those runs,” head coach Stacy May-Johnson said.
St. Thomas struggled defensively through the first few innings, giving Iowa multiple base runners. But thanks to strong pitching by Ella Cook, the Tommies held the Hawkeyes in check.
Iowa, however, would later add two more runs in the bottom of the fifth with a two-run single from fourth-year Tory Bennett. Bennett, Iowa’s current leader in home runs, earned two hits on her three at-bats Tuesday.
With a win under their belt, the Hawkeyes looked to continue that momentum into the second game that same afternoon.
Nailbiting Comeback with Walkoff
Though the Hawkeyes struggled to gain any offense until the last few innings, Iowa pulled out the 4-3 comeback to earn the afternoon doubleheader sweep against St. Thomas.
Getting her seventh start this season for the Hawkeyes in game two was third-year Avery Sapp. Sapp held the Tommies scoreless through the first inning before surrendering a solo homerun midway through the second to Morgan Klein.
The Tommies would remain up 1-0 through the fifth inning, where they would tag one more run on a sac fly from Cook.
Iowa would finally find an offensive groove in the fifth inning with a triple by first-year Mariah Myers off a fielding error from the St. Thomas right fielder. She would later score off a double from fellow freshman Phoenyx Silva.
A sac bunt and a hit by pitch later, Iowa would have runners on first and third, and head coach May-Johnson decided to try an offensive gamble. A safety squeeze play allowed the Hawkeyes to score the runner from third and also advanced the first base runner to second, tying the game going into the sixth.
“It was something in the scouting report that we could leverage and was actually not particularly well run by the third base runner, but the pressure allowed us to get the run in the end,” May-Johnson said.
After losing a run in the sixth to the Tommies and a 1-2-3 sixth inning for themselves, the Hawkeyes looked to the final frame to muster a comeback.
Second-year Brianna Johnson would be that comeback Iowa desperately needed, as she walked it off with a double to deep left-center field, scoring the runners on third and second to give Iowa the victory.
“I was just really excited for my team to get that win with us being down throughout that game,” Johnson said.
Up Next
Iowa softball will host Washington for a three-game home series on Friday, March 27, through Sunday, March 29. First pitch on Friday is scheduled for 6 p.m. on Big Ten Plus and the Hawkeye Radio Network.