West Burlington, IA—The Marshalltown Community College Softball team upset No. 3 seed Muscatine Community College with a stunning 14-4 victory in the Region XI Tournament on Sunday morning. The Tigers advance to take on the loser of No. 1 seed Indian Hills Community College and No. 2 seed Iowa Western Community College at 2:30 PM Sunday afternoon.

The No. 5 seed Tigers claimed their second upset victory of the tournament after defeating the Cardinals. MCC opened the tournament with a 5-1 victory over No. 4 seed and tournament host Southeastern Community College on Friday. After falling to Indian Hills 6-1 on Friday, the Tigers were set to take on Muscatine in an elimination game on Saturday.

Unfavorable weather delayed Saturday's tournament action, pushing the games back to Sunday. Having lost to the Cardinals all four times in the 2016 regular season, the Tigers opened the day with a run in the top of the first as Kari Smith (Marshalltown, IA/Marshalltown) singled and later scored.

After a run from the Cardinals in the bottom half of the inning, the Tigers poured on four runs in the second. Sophomore Sarah Ghee (Carlisle, IA/Carlisle) provided a three-run home run as MCC built a 5-1 advantage. Freshman Courtney Fudge (Pleasant Hill, IA/Des Moines East) sent a solo home run over the right center fence to lead off the fourth and the Tigers took advantage of a Muscatine error to tack on two more runs in the inning for an 8-1 lead.

Muscatine got two runs back in the fifth, but the Tigers made a statement in the sixth inning, scoring six runs in the frame to erase any doubt that MCC can compete with the top tier teams in the conference. Raini Hilmer (Dysart, IA/Union) connected on a three-run home run as five straight batters reached base to start the inning.

While the offense took care of the runs, freshman Paige Taylor (Coquitlam, British Columbia/Terry Fox) limited the Cardinals in the circle to earn her second win of the tournament after tossing all six innings for the Tigers.

Smith and freshman Jordan Carter (Sigourney, IA/Sigourney) each had three hits in the win as the team pounded at 17 hits, the Tigers' third-most knocks in a game this year. Ghee, Hilmer, Taylor Anderson (San Antonio, TX/Churchill), and Tess Cheetham (Oceanside, CA/Oceanside) added a pair of hits each.

Continue to check www.mccathletics.com for full coverage of the Region XI Tournament. Fans can also get live updates by following the Tigers on Twitter: Follow @MCC_ATH, like Marshalltown Community College Athletics on Facebook and follow the Tigers on Instagram: MCC_Tigers