Marshalltown, IA—A late push from the North Iowa Area Community College Trojans led to a doubleheader sweep as the Marshalltown Community College softball team fell short in game two on Tuesday afternoon. After dropping game one 13-4, the Tigers fell 7-2 in the nightcap.
Amanda Staudt (Charles City, IA/Charles City) went 3-3 at the plate in game one and Kaycee Ray (Clinton, UT/Clearfield) added two hits and a run in the opening game loss. Chezarae Garcia (Ogden, UT/Ogden) struck out five batters in game two and helped her own cause with two hits at the plate, but the Trojans pulled away in the seventh inning to complete the sweep.
The Trojans jumped out to an 11-0 lead before the Tigers were able to cross the plate in game one. MCC scored two runs in both the fourth and fifth innings to stay afloat, but the Trojans ended the game with two runs in the sixth.
Kortlan Ollinger (Robins, IA/Linn Mar) went 2-3 in game one with an RBI and a run scored as the Tigers pounded out 10 hits and struck out just two times.
Game two saw a competitive battle between the two teams as MCC looked to salvage a split. Despite an early 3-0 deficit, Garcia found a way to keep the Tigers intact in both the circle and at the plate. Garcia scored the first Tiger run in the bottom of the third inning, taking advantage of a Trojan throwing error. In the top of the fourth, Garcia left two Trojan runners on base to end the inning.
Lauren Wolfe (Miles City, MT/Custer County) scored MCC's second run as Garcia stole second and Wolfe was able to take home on the throw to pull the Tigers within one. With the Trojans threatening in the sixth, Wolfe snagged a hard-hit line drive to right field and was able to double-up the runner at first base to spark the Tigers.
With Garcia on second base in the bottom of the sixth, the Tigers were unable to bring in the tying run as NIACC plated four runs in the top of the seventh and held off MCC in the final frame to drop the Tigers.
As a team, the Tigers left nine runners on base in game two.
Tuesday's games were the seventh and eighth for the Tigers in the last four days. MCC is now off until Friday afternoon when the Tigers travel to Southeastern Community College for an Iowa Community College Athletic Conference (ICCAC) doubleheader at 2:00 PM.
