Wounding a wild animal is not a good idea because it envokes the fight or flight reaction. Many times the animal will choose to fight for its life and the result for its attacker can be brutal.
The Hawkeye softball team faced four opponents this weekend at the Miken Invitational in College Park, MD. Three of those four got the brunt of the Hawkeyes’ fight. After St. John’s clipped Iowa’s wings 3-1 to open up the tournament, Iowa decided that it would stand its ground and fight in the next three games.
The second game was against the host school and future Big Ten conference member Maryland. Johnnie Dowling and Kayla Massey both got multiple hits and RBIs in the game. Megan Blank added three RBIs of her own. Massey allowed three earned runs over seven innings and the Hawkeyes got back on the winning side of the scoreboard, 9-4. Saturday came to a close with two more games left on the weekend’s slate for the Hawkeyes.
Sunday morning brought Radford University and the Hawkeyes took their fight to a new level. The Hawkeyes got four runs in the first frame of the early game against Radford and never looked back. Five scoreless innings by Chelsea Lyon and six runs later, the Hawkeyes had a 10-0 five-inning victory. That final brought a twenty minute break which was followed by the Hawkeyes’ first look at a current conference opponent for 2013. The Ohio State Buckeyes were the final opponent of the weekend.
Iowa dispatched of the Buckeyes nearly as easily as it did Radford. Six scoreless innings by Massey were punctuated by a walk-off grand slam by Holly Hoffman to defeat Ohio State in six innings, 8-0. Iowa’s pitchers are currently working with an 11-inning scoreless streak and outscored their last three opponents 27-4.
The Hawkeyes will put that scoreless innings streak on the line next weekend at the Louisville Tournament in Louisville, KY. There Iowa will face #25 North Carolina, Ball State (twice), and the host school #13 Louisville in a four-game set.
