Written by Colton O'Hern
BVU Athletics Communication Student Intern

Storm Lake, Iowa (Apr. 12, 2025) - The Buena Vista softball team was back at home on a very windy Saturday afternoon. They played the Simpson College Storm in a doubleheader in American Rivers Conference play. The Beavers, however, took two tough losses on the day, as they were swept by scores of 9-1 in five innings and 17-8 which went the full length. 

The Beavers started out down 3-0 at the top of the first inning in game one. During the bottom of the inning, senior Paige Druskis was able to score off a wild pitch from the Storm pitcher to get BVU on the board. The Beavers, however, didn’t score for the rest of the game despite getting on base all game long.

Junior Grace Fuhrman (2-7) was the Beavers starting pitcher for the game. Fuhrman pitched 2.2 innings, allowing five hits, six runs, two walks, and four strikeouts. Druskis led the team with her sole run for game one. Beavers to get hits in game one were: senior Madalyn Elwood (2), junior Rylie Garner (1), freshman Jordan Fabirkiewicz (1), sophomore Kali Irlmeier (1), and senior Danica Workman.

Game two started out with a 2-0 deficit going into the bottom of the first until the Beavers came out swinging as Garner singled allowing Elwood to score. Then senior Kayla Farmer smoked one out of the park right under the scoreboard allowing Garner and herself to score. It was Garner's second home run on the year. The Beavers got back up on the board in the bottom of the second when Druskis singled allowing freshman Lindy Nelson to score, bringing the score at the end of the second to 4-4. 

Heading into the bottom of the fourth, Druskis tripled down into the rightfield corner letting Workman, Nelson, and sophomore Shea Peterson to score to put BVU back in front at 7-5. The last time our Beavers scored was in the fifth when Nelson reached on a fielder’s choice allowing freshman Avery France to score and bring the score to 9-8 in favor of the Storm. From there, the Storm kept up their offense when they scored eight more times with a final score of 17-8 in their favor. 

Garner got the game-two start at pitcher and ended up pitching 5.2 innings. She allowed 17 hits, 14 runs, one walk, and three strikeouts. Other notable statistics from the game were Elwood’s double, Druskis with her triple and Farmer's home run. Druskis led the team with three hits, Farmer (2), Peterson (2), Workman (1), Nelson (1), Garner (1), and Elwood (1).

Buena Vista is now at 7-17 (0-6 A-R-C) after the tough doubleheader conference home loss. The Beavers will be back in action on Wednesday, April 16th at 3 pm. They will remain at home with conference doubleheader against the Nebraska Wesleyan University Prairie Wolves (21-8, 3-3 A-R-C).