AMES, Iowa - The Omaha softball team (23-15) got off to a fast start and held on late for a 3-2 win over Iowa State (20-22) on Wednesday.
The Mavericks took a 2-0 lead in the top of the first after key hits and a bit of good fortune.
Allie Mathewson sent the first pitch of the game off the wall in left field for a double.
Amber Lutmer then hit a high fly ball to left center that was dropped, allowing Lutmer to reach second on the error and Mathewson third with no outs. After ISU pitcher Paris Imholz recorded a pair of outs,
Lizzie Noble delivered a two-run double to the gap in left center to plate Mathewson and Lutmer for the 2-0 lead.
The lead gave
Dana Elsasser some breathing room to work with. And she battled through a bases-loaded jam in the second inning with a strikeout of Brittany Gomez.
UNO tacked on another run in the fourth inning.
Mara Eeman led off with a single and advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by
Tonya Peterson. With two outs,
Tara Trede singled home Eeman for the 3-0 lead.
ISU got the run back in the bottom of the fourth on an RBI double by Jordan Spendlove to score Rachel Hartman and make it 3-1. The Cyclones cut it to 3-2 in the fifth and loaded the bases with two outs, but the Mavs again found a way out. Liana Henry bounced the ball right in front of the plate, and UNO catcher
Campbell Ditto alertly picked the ball up and tagged her to end the threat.
In the top of the seventh, the Mavs looked to stretch the lead, loading the bases via a walk and two hit by pitches. Lutmer drew a one-out walk and was replaced by pinch-runner
Nicole Warren.
Sydney Hames was then hit by a pitch and replaced by pinch-runner
Megan Stegman. Ditto was also hit by a pitch to load the bases with one out for Noble. The freshman almost put the game away with a near-grand slam, but her long drive was about a foot outside the foul pole. She ended up grounding to short to force out Warren at home plate, and Eeman flied out to center to leave the bases juiced for UNO.
However, Elsasser closed the door in the seventh despite a Cyclone reaching second with one out. Elsasser improved to 19-7 after throwing the complete game with two earned runs on 10 hits, four walks and with six strikeouts.
Mathewson was 2-for-4 with a run, while Peterson went 2-for-2.
The Mavericks are back on the road this weekend for a three-game series at South Dakota State.
