Estherville, IA—Kortlan Ollinger (Robins, IA/Linn Mar) carried the Marshalltown Community College softball offense with seven hits, including three home runs on Tuesday, but the Tigers suffered two losses at Iowa Lakes Community College. The Lakers took game one 17-7 before stealing game two 11-10.
Ollinger finished the day 7-9 at the plate to boost her average to .364 on the year. The sophomore smacked two home runs in game one before adding a third in the nightcap. Ollinger scored six total runs and added five RBI on the day.
Ollinger's big day began with a solo home run to start off game one. Kari Smith (Marshalltown, IA/Marshalltown) walked with the bases loaded to score Sarah Ghee (Carlisle, IA/Carlisle) to give MCC a 2-0 lead in the opening frame. MCC extended its lead to 3-1 with a solo home run from Raini Hilmer (Dysart, IA/Union) in the second.
The Lakers ran the Tigers off course with seven runs in the bottom of the second followed by six runs in the third. Ollinger sent her second home run of the game over the center field wall in the fourth and added an RBI-double in the top of the fifth. Chezarae Garcia (Ogden, UT/Ogden) and Hilmer produced RBI-singles in the frame to cap the scoring for the Tigers.
The Tigers kept pace with the Lakers in game two as MCC scored in the top of the first on an RBI-single from Lauren Wolfe (Miles City, MT/Custer County). After a run from the Lakers in the bottom of the first, the Tigers added three in the second on an RBI-single from Ollinger and a two-run home run from Garcia, her first-career long-ball.
The Lakers ended the Tigers' lead with four runs in the bottom of the second to jump ahead 5-4. Garcia doubled and scored on a single from Ghee in the fourth, but the Lakers scored four times in their half to take a 9-5 advantage.
The Tigers stayed in contention with a four-run sixth inning as Ghee sent a two-run home run over the left field fence. Ollinger homered in the top of the seventh, a solo shot to pull MCC within one, but the Tigers stranded two runners to close out the game.
Tuesday's games concluded the regular season for the Tigers. Next up for MCC is the Region XI Tournament on Friday afternoon as the No. 5 seed and will face the No. 4 seed Southeastern Community College Blackhawks at 10:00 AM.
