The Buena Vista softball team continued its home schedule on Friday afternoon by making up a pair of Iowa Conference games against visiting Loras College.  The Beavers rallied in the seventh to win the opener, 5-4, before seeing the comeback fall short in the nightcap, 6-3.

Most of the scoring in game one was done in the first inning.  The Duhawks took the early 3-0 lead after half an inning before BVU came right back in the bottom half with a two-run double by Keely Bycroft to make it 3-2.

The Duhawks pushed their advantage to 4-2 with a sacrifice fly in the third before BVU got the run back in the home half when freshman Jeanne Bramhall blasted her sixth home run of the year to right center field.

That's how things stood until the seventh when the Beavers tied it with a one-out sacrifice fly off the bat of Jordon Pilcher before Marissa Schmidt singled home the game-winning run with a hit right back up the middle.

BVU had four players finish with two hits in the contest, including Schmidt and Hayden who also walked once each.

Bycroft came on in relief to pick up her second win of the year.  She pitched the final three innings and did not allow a single base runner.  Jenna Falline got the start and worked four innings, allowing four runs (two earned) on eight hits while walking four.

The Beavers looked to extend their win streak to three with a win in game two, but came up just short.

The Duhawks broke a scoreless tie against the reigning IIAC Female Athlete of the Week, when they scored twice in third for a 2-0 lead.  They then doubled the lead in the fifth two more runs.

Hayden put BVU on the board in the sixth with an RBI single before a big two-run single in the seventh extended the Loras lead to 6-1.

Buena Vista made things very interesting in the home half, scoring a pair of runs and had the tying run on base with only one out and the middle of the order coming up.

Katie Yoder and Cheyanne Boland each singled home runs to get the team within three, but the Duhakws got a pair of ground outs to end the game.

Hayden added two more hits as did Yoder.  The duo accounted for two of the three doubles in the contest with Schmidt adding the other.

Moriah Guyett suffered the loss for BVU, going the distance and allowing six runs on nine hits while striking out six.

The Duhakws are now 13-13 (2-4 IIAC) while BVU sits 12-13 (3-3 IIAC).  The Beavers have little rest ast they turn around and play two more conference contests on Saturday afternoon at the University of Dubuque.  First pitch of game on is slated for 2:00pm.