The Marshalltown Community College softball team opened up their 2021 season this past weekend with four games in Burlington, IA. Southeastern Community College hosted the weekend inside their dome. The Tigers had a rough start going 0-4.

In game one, MCC had a 4-0 lead over Lincoln Land Community College in the third inning but were outscored 9-3 over the next four innings and ended up losing 9-6. MCC had several fielding errors and a couple of baserunning errors that cost them the game and set the tone for the weekend. Bailey Ashton suffered the loss.

MCC suffered a 9-2 loss in game two to Spoon River Community College.

In game three of the weekend against McCook Community College, MCC took a 2-0 lead in the first inning. McCook took the lead back in the bottom of the second and held MCC scoreless for the rest of the game. The Tigers had several opportunities to score with bases loaded several times but runners were left stranded and unable to score. "McCook was by far the best team in Burlington," commented MCC Head Coach Russ Jones. "Kodie suffered the loss but pitched much better and only gave up four earned runs." Costly fielding errors hurt the Tigers in the 10-2 loss to McCook.

MCC finished with their fourth and final game of the weekend against Southeastern Community College falling 6-2. Ashton suffered the loss for the Tigers but pitched well giving up only three earned runs in seven innings. Once again the timely hits were not there for MCC. In the third inning, they had the bases loaded with no outs and only scored one run.

Lexy Davis was the big highlight of the weekend. She played well, catching all four games. She went 7 for 9 at the plate with 4 doubles, 5 RBIs, and 3 walks. One of her doubles would have been a home run on a normal field but the fields were set up with 180' fences and they counted any ball hit over the fence as a double instead of a home run. "No question in my mind her double would have been gone in any stadium, " said Jones. 

"Certainly not the start to the season that we were looking for but there were definitely some things we can build on as well as some mistakes that are easily fixed," commented Jones. "I still believe this team can and will win a lot of games this spring."

The Tigers will have a break until they have a six-game weekend Feb. 26-28 in Kansas and Missouri.