DUBUQUE, Iowa — Nebraska Wesleyan softball dropped both ends of a doubleheader to American Rivers Conference opponent Loras on Friday at the Duhawk diamond, falling 7-0 in the opener before dropping a 2-1 heartbreaker in the nightcap. The losses dropped the Prairie Wolves to 10-16 overall and 2-4 in conference play.
HOW IT HAPPENED
GAME ONE: Loras 7, NWU 0
Kiya Steger did the damage early and often for the Duhawks, going 4-for-4 with a home run and three RBIs to pace a 14-hit Loras attack. Steger's two-run blast in the third inning broke the game open, and the Duhawks tacked on two more in the fourth and two again in the fifth before Nebraska Wesleyan could find an answer.
That answer never came. Eva Fahrnbruch absorbed the loss, working all six innings and allowing seven runs, six earned, on 14 hits. She struck out two and walked one. Loras starter Kaili Henning was simply untouchable, spinning a complete-game shutout on just 97 pitches. She struck out nine, walked three and surrendered just two hits.
Nebraska Wesleyan's best opportunity came in the fifth, when Fahrnbruch led off with a bunt single and Paige Comstock drew a walk, setting up runners on second and third with two outs after a sacrifice. Henning induced Kenzie Heedum to strike out looking to end the threat.
Fahrnbruch and Heedum each recorded a hit for NWU. Fahrnbruch also drew a walk.
GAME TWO: Loras 2, NWU 1
Jaedyn Ratzlaff was sharp through five innings, and Nebraska Wesleyan scratched across the game's first run in the top of the fifth on a Paige Comstock single that scored Macy Santoni. With a 1-0 lead and six outs to go, the Prairie Wolves appeared to be in control.
Then the bottom sixth arrived. Loras opened with a double from Steger and tied the game when Laurissa Klapatauskas singled her home, though Klapatauskas was thrown out trying to stretch the hit, the run counted. In the seventh, the Duhawks loaded the bases with two walks and an error helping the cause, then scored on an error by shortstop Ella Wolff to walk off with the win. Ratzlaff finished 6.2 innings, allowing two runs, one earned, in nine hits with four walks. She struck out none.
Catie Ingalls was the offensive standout in the nightcap, going 3-for-4 with two doubles. Comstock drove in NWU's lone run, and Santoni added a hit in a pinch-hit role.
Loras pitcher Kiya Steger, who was in the circle in game two, went the distance, allowing one earned run on five hits with six strikeouts.
UP NEXT
The scheduled doubleheader with Coe on Saturday has been postponed due to weather. Nebraska Wesleyan returns to action Monday with a single game against College of St. Mary in Omaha at 3 p.m.
