Sioux Center, Iowa — The Dordt Defender Softball team split a softball doubleheader with Doane Saturday afternoon.
Doane scored three in the first and Dordt overcame a late two run deficit to secure a 9-5 win with a six run sixth inning for the GPAC win in game one of the doubleheader.
Doane put together three runs on three hits in the first inning but Dordt answered with Brooklyn Van Oort belting a three-run homerun with two outs after Rachel Evavold and Hannah Sikkema reached on a single and walk.
Doane regained the lead with a run in the fifth and added another run in the sixth for a 5-3 lead. Dprdt answered in the home half of the sixth with four this and an error accounting for the big inning and three walks also factored into the scoring.
The Tigers were retired without threat in the seventh.
Abby Kraemer won her second decision of the weekend and struck out eight with two walks.
Rachel Evavold was 2-3 with a run scored and a run batted in.
Van Oort had a single and homerun with four runs batted in and Dordt was actually outhit 11-6 but took advantage of four walks.
Dordt and Doane battled in the second game of Saturday’s doubleheader, an extra-innings matchup that saw the visiting Tigers come away with a 5-3 win.
The Defenders got out to a quick start in the home half of the 1st inning. Dordt sent 8 batters to the plate in the inning, scoring three runs on three hits. Jessica Oules reached on an error and Rachel Evavold doubled, sending in Oules from first base. Later in the inning with the bases loaded and two outs, Emma Veenstra hit a single to left field that scored both Hannah Sikkema and Brooklyn Van Oort.
Both pitchers held the score at 3-0 for the next four innings of play, which included a bases loaded opportunity for the Defenders in the bottom of the 3rd inning. However, Doane pitcher Shelby Downard got out of the inning with no runs allowed.
The next scoring opportunity came for Doane in the top of the 6th inning, as three Tigers in a row reached base, leading to two runs scored on Alicia Vint’s single along with a previous RBI for Downard.
Neither team put runs on the board until the 10th inning, when Doane’s Kailyn Wiseman scored after being placed on second for the International Tie Breaker. Downard then hit a home run in the following at-bat, which was enough for Doane to hold a 5-3 lead for the remainder of the contest.
Rachel Evavold was 2-3 at the plate with 1 RBI
Emma Veenstra had 2 RBI
Evavold pitched a complete game with 8 strikeouts
Dordt will travel to Madison, South Dakota on Tuesday for a non-conference doubleheader with Dakota State. First pitch is scheduled for 4:00 pm