The Wildcats continue the Hawkeyes’ woes.

By Mario Williams
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The Iowa softball team continued a long road-trip that started in Nebraska and landed in Evanston, Illinois, this weekend to compete against Northwestern.

The Hawkeyes were swept by the Wildcats in the three-game series and now sit at 9-26 overall, 1-9 in the Big Ten play. Iowa lost both games of the April 9 double-header, the first 13-9 and the second 6-5. Sunday’s finale was no better, 9-5.

“We kept fighting back,” Iowa head coach Marla Looper said in a release. “Our girls don’t have any quit. That’s what I told them. I’m proud of the fact that they don’t quit. We have to continue to pluck away, and eventually, we are going to come out on the winning end of this.”

While Iowa took the loss in the first game, Iowa senior Holly Hoffman continued to have success. The senior doubled her season home-run total, sending two out of the park and setting a new career high. Junior Kaitlyn Mullarkey and sophomore Angela Schmiederer also had home runs for the Hawks.

While Iowa hit four home runs, it wasn’t enough to add a second Big Ten win to its record. The Hawks did, however, fight, scoring 6 runs in the final three innings.

The Wildcats didn’t let Iowa’s momentum stop them in the bottom of the second inning. They took an early 6-3 with 4 hits, 3 singles and a home run.

Iowa showed more in the top of the fifth, sending three more runners home. Hoffman sent the ball over the wall to send two runners home, putting Iowa down just 1.

The Hawks still battled in the top of the seventh, sending two more runners home, but it wasn’t enough to come on top.

While Iowa was quick to the offense in the first game, it was not a similar story in the second.

Northwestern scored early in the bottom of second and third innings. Iowa finally hit the scoreboard in the top of the sixth. Senior Whitney Reploe led off the inning with a single to the center, then Schmiederer hit her second home run of the double-header. She also became the first opposing player to hit the roof of McGraw Hall, a building located behind the left-field wall.

Iowa got things moving in the top of the seventh, sending three runners home.

“You tip your hat to our team for continuing to fight,” Looper said in a release. “We never gave up. It was a hard-fought battle today, but the match isn’t over yet.”

In the last game of the series, Mullarkey put the Hawks up in the top of the first. She powered her seventh home run of the season and the 13th of her career.

Iowa’s lead continued through the top of the third, but then Northwestern took control of the game and won.

“We are right there, but we just have to go take it,” Looper said in a release. “We are great at fighting when we are behind, but it’s about time that we get that knockout punch.”