The #17 ranked Iowa Lakes Community College Softball team won their first game at the regional tournament 6-4 over Northeast Community College. The Lakers are now 37-10-1 on the year.
GAME 1: 6 (ILCC), 4 (NIACC)
The Lakers got on the board first, putting up four runs in the third inning. Amanda Franke led off the inning with a single. She advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt from Alyssa Thorson. Lexi Chase singled to advance Franke and Bryn Bohmann walked to load the bases. Eliya Johnson delivered a walk, and MacKenna Jones followed with a single to put the Lakers up 2-0. Kaitlin Roundy then hit a sacrifice fly to score Brielle Bartelt from third. Allie McCabe pushed the last run of the inning across the plate with a double.
Jones and Roundy drew back to back walks to lead off the fifth inning. Both runners advanced on a Hawks error, before Karisa Hernandez hit a ground ball to score Jones and give the Lakers a 5-0 lead.
Iowa Lakes' final run of the game came in the bottom of the sixth inning. Chase walked and advanced to second on a groundout from Bohmann. Jones stepped up and singled to score Chase from second.
Northeast put up a fight in the top of the seventh, when they drew back to back walks. Two singles followed to give the Hawks their first run of the game. With the bases still loaded, Jonson walked one to make the score 6-2. Jones entered the game and gave up two singles to bring Northeast to within two runs. Chase came back into the circle with the bases loaded and no outs. She quickly got three outs on two pop flies and a strikeout to end the game.
Lexi Chase earned the win in the circle. She pitched four innings, allowing zero runs on no hits and six strikeouts. Eliya Johnson pitched three innings, allowing four earned runs on two hits, four walks, and three strikeouts. MacKenna Jones allowed two hits in the game. MacKenna Jones was a perfect 3-3 at the plate. She had one walk, two runs batted in, and one run scored.
With the win, the Lakers advance in the winner's bracket. They will take on #11 Kirkwood at 2:00 PM tomorrow, May 6th, at Kirkwood Community College. With a win, the Lakers will play again on Sunday, May 7th, but with a loss, they will play immediately after against the winner of Ellsworth Community College and Northeast Community College.
Photo ID: Picture of Iowa Lakes Softball 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.