Marshalltown, IA—Despite holding late leads in each game, the Marshalltown Community College Softball team fell twice to visiting Muscatine Community College at home on Sunday afternoon. The Cardinals rallied for a 7-5 win in game one and came from behind to take game two 6-5.
After winning six consecutive games, the Tigers (24-19/2-10) have now lost four straight after dropping two Iowa Community College Athletic Conference (ICCAC) doubleheaders this weekend. All four losses came by just two runs in each contest. The Cardinals improve to 42-9 overall and 7-5 in league play on the year. The Tigers have now played in 15 games this year decided by two runs or less, having won six of those contests.
Freshman Courtney Fudge (Pleasant Hill, IA/Des Moines East) extended her hitting streak to 10 games after going 5-7 at the plate between the two games. Taylor Anderson (San Antonio, TX/Churchill) added four hits on the day for the Tigers.
The Cardinals opened the day with two runs in the first inning of game one, but the Tigers answered right back as Anderson sent a three-run home run over the right center fence to take the lead. Muscatine added a run in the second to tie the game and jumped ahead 4-3 after scoring in the fourth.
MCC regained control of the game after Anderson and Tess Cheetham (Oceanside, CA/Oceanside) contributed RBI-singles in the fourth inning as Kari Smith (Marshalltown, IA/Marshalltown) and Lauren Wolfe (Miles City, MT/Custer County) scored for the 5-4 lead.
The Cardinals wasted no time responding, scoring three runs in the fifth inning to take the two-run advantage. The Tigers failed to put a runner on base in the final three frames to drop the opening game of the doubleheader.
Anderson finished the game 3-4 at the plate with four RBI while Fudge went 2-4 as the Tigers pounded out 10 hits but left eight runners on base. Freshman Paige Taylor (Coquitlam, British Columbia/Terry Fox) struck out four batters in the loss.
Game two replicated the opener as the Cardinals tallied two runs in the top of the first. MCC cut the deficit in half after Fudge doubled to lead off and later scored on a passed ball. After two runs in the top of the second from Muscatine, the Tigers answered with three runs in the bottom half to tie the game at four after Fudge doubled off of the left field fence to score three on the play.
Sarah Ghee's (Carlisle, IA/Carlisle) RBI-single scored Wolfe in the fourth to give MCC a 5-4 lead, but the Cardinals put up a fight down the stretch. The Cardinals added a home run in the fifth and one more run in the sixth while keeping MCC scoreless the final three innings to secure the sweep.
Fudge went 3-3 in the game with three RBI and a run scored. The freshman has recorded seven multi-hit games during her 10-game hit streak and is batting .647 during the run. Jordan Carter (Sigourney, IA/Sigorney) went 2-4 at the plate in the loss.
Taylor pitched six innings of relief in the nightcap for the Tigers and allowed just three hits and one earned run but was tagged with the loss.
Next up for the Tigers is a trip to Indian Hills Community College for an ICCAC doubleheader on April 22.
