The Buena Vista softball team played its first games of the year in the state of Iowa on Tuesday afternoon, and the Beavers will return to campus with a doubleheader split at Coe College under their belts. The Kohawks hung on to take the opener, 7-4, before BVU bounced back to take the nightcap, 9-6.  The games were the first Iowa Conference games of the year for both teams.

Marissa Schmidt singled home Jordon Pilcher in the fourth inning of the opener to tie things up at 1-1.  The Kohawks regained the lead, however, an inning later when they plated two runs before breaking things open in the sixth with four key insurance runs to build a 7-1 lead.  BVU did push across three late runs in the seventh inning when Jeanne Bramhall drilled a three-run home run to left field to make it 7-4, but it wasn't quite enough.

Bramhall turned in two of the team's four hits in the contest with Katie Yoder adding one hit and scoring one run.

Jenna Falline suffered the loss and is now 4-5 on the year.  She went the distance and allowed just four earned runs on nine hits, while striking out two and issuing three walks.

Paige Zahner hit a pair of home runs and drove in four to lead the Kohawks who picked up their 15th win of the year.

After coming up short with their comeback bid in the opener, the Beavers climbed over that hurdle in the nightcap, erasing a 5-0 first-inning deficit.  The team slowly chipped away at the lead, as Bramhall connected for a solo shot in the second inning to make it 5-1.

Keely Bycroft drove home the second run of the game for BVU in the fourth inning after she doubled down the left field line.  Moriah Guyett then got the Beavers back within a run at 5-4 with her two-run double to left center.

Schmidt then continued the power surge for the Beavers, connecting for a three-run home run to put BVU in front for the first time on the day at 7-5.  Yoder and Bramhall later hit solo home runs in the inning to extend the margin to 9-5.

The Kohawks tried to rally in the bottom half, but came up with only a sacrifice fly for the game's final score.

Bramhall helped lead the charge with her two home runs, two RBI and three runs scored.  She also walked once to finish 2-for-3.  Schmidt, Buycroft and Guyett also added two hits as each team posted 11.

Guyett improved her season record to 5-4 after earning the complete-game victory, allowing six earned runs and striking out four.

The win was the first over the Kohawks (15-7, 1-1 IIAC) since taking game two of a doubleheader back in 2010.  It was also the first win in Cedar Rapids since 2001.

BVU entered the day having scored three runs or less against Coe in seven straight meetings, including shutouts in three of the last four.

Buena Vista improves to 10-11 on the year and 1-1 in confernece play.  The team now gets set to play its home opener this Saturday afternoon when it hosts 10th-ranked Simpson College at 2:00pm.