Cedar Rapids, IA—Behind a 23-hit attack on Wednesday evening, the Marshalltown Community College Softball team rolled to a pair of wins over Mount Mercy University on the road. The Tigers needed just five innings to win game one 9-1 and took game two 11-7 over the Mustangs.
Freshman Tess Cheetham (Oceanside, CA/Oceanside) powered the offense on the night, recording five total hits against Mount Mercy. The freshman also drove in four runs and scored four more. Lexie Valentine (Des Moines, IA/Saydel) added four hits on the night, including three for extra bases.
MCC's two leading pitchers, freshmen Paige Taylor (Coquitlam, British Columbia/Terry Fox) and Jordan Carter (Sigourney, IA/Sigourney) earned the wins in the circle for the Tigers.
The Tigers opened up game one with a four-run first inning in large part to three consecutive run-scoring doubles. With two outs, Cheetham sent a ball to right field to score Courtney Fudge (Pleasant Hill, IA/Des Moines East). Raini Hilmer (Dysart, IA/Union) followed suit with a two-bagger to score Taylor Anderson (San Antonio, TX/Churchill) and Cheetham. Valentine's first double of the night scored Hilmer for the early lead.
Sophomore Lauren Wolfe (Miles City, MT/Custer County) connected on her first-career home run in the fourth to score Valentine to extend the lead to 6-1. The Tigers added three runs in the fifth, with Sarah Ghee (Carlisle, IA/Carlisle), Anderson, and Cheetham crossing the plate to secure the win.
Cheetham and Hilmer both went 2-3 at the plate while Hilmer drove in three runs. Taylor improved to 9-7 in the circle after allowing just two hits and striking out eight batters.
Mount Mercy took a 1-0 lead after one inning on the Tigers, but Valentine continued to find holes in the defense, delivering an RBI-double in the second to score Cheetham to tie the game at one. MCC added a pair of runs in the third and two more in the fourth, including an RBI-single from Wolfe.
The offense continued to score with two more runs in the fifth after Carter drove in Cheetham on a single and Valentine later scored on a bases loaded walk to Fudge. An RBI-double from Rieley Rodman (Ankeny, IA/Grand View Christian) upped the run differential in the sixth and Cheetham's two-run double in the seventh put the game out of reach.
Cheetham finished 3-4 at the plate with three RBI. Valentine and Carter both added their first-career three-hit games. Carter earned the win in 5.1 innings of work while Taylor tossed 1.2 innings of relief.
The Tigers travel to Muscatine Community College for an Iowa Community College Athletic Conference (ICCAC) doubleheader at 1:00 PM on Saturday.
