The Buena Vista softball team let a late lead get away during a 4-3 loss to the University of Dubuque in game one of their doubleheader on Wednesday afternoon before its comeback bid in the nightcap came up just short, as the Beavers again fell by a 4-3 margin.

Dubuque got on the board first in the opener with a solo home run in the first.  BVU tied it in the second on a Keely Bycroft RBI single up the middle before taking a 3-1 lead in the fifth after a sacrifice fly from Michaela Mason and an RBI single from Mckynze Hansen.  That lead stood until the seventh when BVU was an out away from securing the win.  The Spartans, however, came through with back-to-back RBI doubles with two outs to take a 4-3 lead.

BVU tried to rally in the bottom half by getting runners to first and second and just one out, but a fly out to center and a foul out to the catcher is how the game ended.

Hansen went 3-for-4 in the contest to lead the team at the plate.  Carlee Guyett was 1-for-4 with a stolen base and a run scored while Jeanne Bramhall also added a hit, run and stolen base.

Moriah Guyett (10-6), pitching in her final career home game, went the distance for BVU, allowing nine hits, struck out seven and walked just two.

The Spartans, who had only hit three home runs all season long, hit two big ones in the finale to help boost them offensively.  They took another 1-0 lead in the first with an RBI single to right center field, and that's how things stood until the Spartans blasted a two-run home run over the fence in left to make it a 3-0 lead.  BVU got one of those runs back in the bottom half of the sixth when Taylor Frain came through with a pinch hit RBI single right back up the middle.

Dubuque, though, used the long ball to its advantage yet again, with a key solo shot in the seventh to get the run back and extend the lead back to three.  The Beavers made things very interesting in the bottom half as they were fighting for a split.

The blue and gold loaded the bases with no outs and then got within a run when Carlee Guyett lined a two-run single to left with one out.  The Spartans then swithed pitchers and put the ball in the hands of their game-one winner.  She then got Mason to pop out on the second pitch she saw before striking out Hansen on a 2-2 pitch to end the game.

Guyett was 3-for-3 with a walk and two RBI.  She is closing in on the program's single-season hits list after her four on the day.  She's currently sitting with 59 on the year which pushes her past Stephanie Hayden for second on the program's single-season list.  She needs three more to pull even with the 36-year record set in 1982 by S. Lawzer.  She now has 34 RBI which moves her into seventh.

Marissa Promes (8-6) pitched a complete-game, scattered nine hits, struck out three and walked one.

Buena Vista falls to 20-14 overall (5-9 IIAC) and is now seventh in the league standings with two games left after Nebraska Wesleyan split a home doubleheader against 16th-ranked Central earlier in the evening.  The Beavers are one game behind the Prairie Wolves and Simpson, and will go after a doubleheader sweep in their regular season finale on Saturday at Wartburg.