Iowa Falls, IA—Sophomore Chezarae Garcia (Ogden, UT/Ogden) tossed a complete game and drove in the eventual game-winning RBI to lead the Marshalltown Community College softball team to a 9-8 game one victory over Ellsworth Community College on Monday afternoon. The Tigers dropped game two 21-2 in five innings to the Panthers.
Garcia earned her first-career win in the circle after striking out six Ellsworth batters. The sophomore also went 2-5 at the plate, including a two-run double to extend MCC's lead to four in the top of the seventh. Kortlan Ollinger (Robins, IA/Linn Mar) went 2-2 in the win, scoring three times.
MCC and Ellsworth went run for run in the opening game as Lauren Wolfe (Miles City, MT/Custer County) tripled to score Ollinger and Garcia. The Panthers answered with two runs of their own and took their first lead with a run in the bottom of the second.
Sarah Ghee (Carlisle, IA/Carlisle) put the Tigers back on top with a two-run double in the top of the fourth only to see Ellsworth respond with two runs of their own. Raini Hilmer (Dysart, IA/Union) came through with a two-run single in the fifth for the game's fifth lead change. Kayla Lopez (Tracy, CA/Merrill F. West) and Kari Smith (Marshalltown, IA/Marshalltown) both came around to score to give MCC a 6-5 lead.
Garcia stranded two Panthers in scoring position to end the fifth and kept Ellsworth to a scoreless sixth to hold MCC's one run lead. Lopez doubled the lead in the top of the seventh, scoring on an error. Garcia's big hit came with two outs, doubling to right center to score Kaycee Ray (Clinton, UT/Clearfield) and Ollinger.
The Panthers refused to go away, scoring three times in their final at bat to pull within one, but Garcia was able to shut down the Ellsworth rally to give the Tigers their third win over the Panthers this season.
Along with two hits from both Ollinger and Garcia, Ghee finished the game with two knocks, including her eighth double of the year.
Ollinger led off game two with a double, but the Panthers controlled the game the rest of the way. Ellsworth held MCC to a scoreless first and followed up with five runs of their own. The Panthers added four runs in both the second and third innings and capped off their scoring with eight in the fourth.
Despite just two runs, the Tigers recorded 10 hits on the afternoon as each player in the lineup had at least one hit. Lopez led the way with two hits. Ray and Wolfe each had RBI-singles while Garcia and Lopez produced the two runs.
The Tigers conclude the regular season on the road at Iowa Lakes Community College at 2:00 PM on Tuesday afternoon.
