The Iowa Lakes Softball team earned the sweep over Central Community College-Columbus on Thursday. The Lakers hit four homeruns in their 12-0 game one win and held the Raider offense to just four hits in their game two 9-2 victory. The Lakers are 26-10-1 on the season.
GAME 1: 12 (ILCC), 0 (CCC) 5 innings
Johnson reached on a Raider error and then scored on a MacKenna Jones homerun to left. Allie McCabe tallied a two out single, stole second, and then advanced on a passed ball to put herself 60 feet from home. Brielle Bartelt walked and then stole second. When Bartelt stole, McCabe scampered home on the throw down. Amanda Franke then hit the final homerun of the inning to center, scoring two runs.
Eliya Johnson kept her perfect game going in the bottom of the second, getting two strikeouts and a groundout in the inning. Chase again got the Lakers offense rolling with a double. Karisa Hernandez walked and both runners advanced on a passed ball. Johnson then singled off the fence to score Chase. Paige Grafton picked up her first hit of the game to score Hernandez and advance Johnson to second. Allie McCabe hit the Lakers fourth homerun of the game to clear the bases and give the Lakers the 11-0 lead.
Johnson continued the gem, striking out all three Central batters that she saw in the third. Hernandez led off the inning getting hit by a pitch, she advanced to second on a O'Donnell single. Hernandez and O'Donnell then stole a base and Hernandez scored on a Mackenna Otte sacrifice fly.
Allie McCabe was 2-2 at the plate with two runs scored and three runs batted in. Lexi Chase was also 2-2 with two runs scored and one run batted in. MacKenna Jones and Amanda Franke each added two runs batted in for the Lakers. Eliya Johnson earned the win, getting all nine batters she faced out. She allowed zero runs and struck out six. Baylee O'Donnell pitched two innings for the Lakers, allowing no runs on one hit, one walk, and two strikeouts.
GAME 2: 9 (ILCC), 2 (CCC)
Iowa Lakes took the early first inning lead and never looked back in game two. Chase drew a walk and then stole second. Hernandez then pushed the ball into right field to score Chase. Hernandez followed suit and stole second before Johnson was hit by a pitch. The Lakers took advantage of a Central error off the bat of Grafton to score Johnson and advance Jones to third and Grafton to second. Jones then came across to score on a passed ball, before Brielle Hogan hit a sacrifice fly scoring Grafton and giving the Lakers the early 4-0 lead.
With MacKenna Jones in the circle, the Lakers pitching did not miss a beat. She quickly got three strikeouts in the inning to let the Laker offense get back to work. Alyssa Thorson led off the inning with a double and Chase walked. Johnson loaded up the bases when she reached on a Raider error. Jones hit a deep fly ball to right center, scoring Thorson.
The third inning saw Central score their first run of the day. With one out, they reached on a Laker error that allowed the runner to get to second. A single advanced the runner to third and a groundout to Hernandez scored the first run. Jones got the final out of the inning to strikeout. Iowa Lakes got the run back in the bottom half of the inning when Franke reached on a two out error. She then stole second and scored on a Thorson single.
Jones helped herself out, hitting a solo homerun in the bottom of the fourth to put the Lakers up 7-1. The Lakers put up another run in the fifth when McCabe and Franke hit back to back doubles.
Central earned another run in the sixth with a single and a double off of Jayda Staige. Johnson put another run up on the board for the Lakers in the bottom half of the inning on a solo homerun to lead off the inning.
Staige got the final three outs of the game on three strikeouts.
MacKenna Jones earned the win for the Lakers, allowing one run in five innings of work. She allowed one walk and struck out eight batters. Jayda Staige pitched the final two innings of the game, allowing one run on two hits and striking out three. Alyssa Thorson led the Lakers at the plate, going 2-3 with one run batted in and one run scored. MacKenna Jones had one hit in the game with two runs score and two runs batted in.
The Lakers will have their final home games of the season this weekend. They will take on Ellsworth Community College on Saturday at 1:00 and 3:00 PM and on Sunday at 12:00 and 2:00 PM.
Photo ID: Picture of team attached.
MEDIA: For more information, please contact Head Softball Coach, Katie King at (712) 362-8367 or the Iowa Lakes sports information office at (712) 362-7928.