Muscatine, IA—A late push in game one and an early lead in game two were not enough for the Marshalltown Community College Softball team as the Tigers fell twice on the road to Muscatine Community College on Saturday afternoon. MCC dropped game one 5-3 and fell in game two 7-1.
Trailing 5-0 through three innings in game one, the Tigers scored a run in the fourth and two more in the fifth to pull within two, but could not complete the comeback in the opener. MCC struck first in game two on a Tess Cheetham (Oceanside, IA/Oceanside) RBI-single, but failed to score the rest of the way to drop the Iowa Community College Athletic Conference (ICCAC) doubleheader to the Cardinals.
The Tigers fall to 18-15 overall and 0-6 in ICCAC play while Muscatine improved to 35-6 overall and 4-2 in the conference.
Muscatine scored a single run in each of the first two innings of game one and added three more in the third inning to take an early 5-0 lead. The Tigers got on the board in the fourth after Cheetham singled to score Sarah Ghee (Carlisle, IA/Carlisle). An RBI-single from Courtney Fudge (Pleasant Hill, IA/Des Moines) scored Jordan Carter (Sigourney, IA/Sigourney) to cut into the lead and Kari Smith (Marshalltown, IA/Marshalltown) drove in Lauren Wolfe (Miles City, MT/Custer County) for the team's third run.
Freshman Paige Taylor (Coquitlam, British Columbia/Terry Fox) kept the Cardinals off of the scoreboard over the final three frames, but MCC's offense stranded four runners during the same stretch to come up short.
The Tigers collected eight hits in the loss, including a pair from Ghee. Taylor struck out three Cardinal batters on the day.
Fudge led off game two with a walk and following a single from Ghee, came around to score on Cheetham's single up the middle. MCC threatened in the first inning, but left the bases loaded. Muscatine scored in four of the first five innings of the contest while limiting the Tigers offensively to sweep the afternoon.
Rieley Rodman (Ankeny, IA/Grand View Christian) and Carter added hits in the loss for MCC.
MCC travels to Southeastern Community College for two ICCAC contests on Sunday afternoon. First pitch is set for 12:00 PM.
