Beatrice, NE—The Marshalltown Community College softball team fell in extra innings in Sunday's opening game against Southeast Community College, 6-5. The Tigers dropped game two 10-2 despite a home run from Raini Hilmer (Dysart, IA/Union).
In game one, both teams traded two runs in the opening frame as MCC struck first. After a leadoff walk from Lauren Wolfe (Miles City, MT/Custer County), and a walk to Kortlan Ollinger (Robins, IA/Linn Mar), freshman Kari Smith (Marshalltown, IA/Marshalltown) delivered a two-out, two-run double to center field for the initial lead.
The two runs in the first, aided by a run in the second and one more in the third gave Southeast a 5-2 lead midway through the contest. Wolfe, the game on starting pitcher, held the opposing offense scoreless over the next three innings and stranded two runners in scoring position in the sixth.
Facing their final at bat, the Tigers forced extra innings with three runs in the top of the seventh inning. Hilmer drew a leadoff walk and stole second base. A one out double from Kayla Lopez (Tracy, IA/Merrill F. West) drove in the first run of the inning. Wolfe doubled to score Lopez and Sarah Ghee (Carlisle, IA/Carlisle) tripled to right field to tie the game at five.
Wolfe sat Southeast down in order in the bottom of the seventh, but the Tigers put up a zero of their own in the eighth inning. Southeast manufactured a run in the bottom of the eighth to steal the win.
"We saw the excitement we need from our team," said head coach Dan Huntley, "both at the beginning and end of the game offensively. If we can cut down on providing the other teams free bases, we will get some opportunities to win some games, but right now we need to play near perfect softball."
"Lauren provided us the chance to stay close in game one with her quality pitching performance," Huntley added.
In game two, the Tigers put just two base runners on over the first four innings as Southeast built a 10-0 lead over MCC. Hilmer led off the fifth inning with a solo home run. Chezarae Garcia (Ogden, UT/Ogden) kept things going with a double and later scored on a single from Wolfe, but the Tigers ended the threat without another run.
The Tigers' home portion of their schedule kicks off this week with eight consecutive home contests. MCC opens the week with a home conference game against Iowa Western Community College at 3:00 PM on Wednesday afternoon.
