NJCAA Division I Region XI Tournament Bracket
The Marshalltown Community College Softball team is set to open up play at the 2016 Region XI Division I Tournament in West Burlington, IA on Friday morning. The Tigers enter the postseason as the No. 5 seed.
The Tigers will take on No. 4 seed and tournament host Southeastern Community College in the opening round at 10:00 AM Friday. The two teams split their four-game regular season series at two games apiece.
Indian Hills Community College enters the tournament as the top seed after a 12-4 regular season Iowa Community College Athletic Conference (ICCAC) record while Iowa Western Community College comes in as the No. 2 seed. Muscatine Community College rounds out the top three in the double-elimination tournament.
The winner between MCC and Southeastern will take on Indian Hills at 2:00 PM Friday while the loser will play the loser of Iowa Western and Muscatine at 4:00 PM Friday.
MCC enters postseason play having made one of the biggest turnarounds in the nation this year. After a three-win season in 2015, the Tigers finished above .500 in 2016 with a 27-22 record, having won three of the team's final four games.
The Tigers have been paced offensively and defensively by a vast array of contributors. In the circle the Tigers rank second in the conference with 271 strikeouts, led by Paige Taylor's conference-best 183 on the year. The freshman also ranks second in the league with 16 wins and a 2.83 earned run average.
Offensively, the Tigers boast four players with a batting average over .350, led by freshman Courtney Fudge's .390 clip. Sophomore Taylor Anderson (San Antonio, TX/Churchill) has provided the power at the plate for the Tigers, slugging a team-best .584 while also leading the Tigers with seven home runs and 45 RBI.
For the Blackhawks, Courtney Coffin's .462 batting average leads the way on the offensive attack. Southeastern has relied on four different pitchers on the year and rank last in the conference with a 6.66 earned run average.
In the team's first meeting at Southeastern, MCC took both games by scores of 5-1 and 7-5. After cruising to a game one victory, the Tigers rallied behind Tess Cheetham (Oceanside, CA/Oceanside) for the afternoon sweep on April 10. The Blackhawks evened the season series with a 6-4 and 7-5 victory at Marshalltown.
You can watch the Tigers live throughout the tournament: LIVE STREAM
