Iowa Lakes Softball swept Southwestern Community College on Sunday. Courtney Calkins picked up the 12-3, five inning, game one win, while Kaitlin Walsh hit the game winning single in the top of the seventh for the 7-6 game two win.
Game One: ILCC 12, SWCC 3
Thanks to a Courtney Calkins grand slam, the Lakers jumped out to an early lead. Julia Sullwold, Lauren Hein, and Deanna Gerrard each singled in their first at bats. Calkins helped herself out, hitting a two out grand slam over the left field fence. The Spartans scored one in the bottom of the second to make the score 4-1.
The Lakers scored again in the third, led off with a one out single by Leilani San Pedro. Gerrard then drove the ball over the right center fence to make the score 6-1. Shelby Davis did not want the rally to end as her and Blaney each singled to bring up Walsh. Walsh brought both runners home on another two out homerun. Southwestern capitalized on two Iowa Lakes errors in the bottom of the third to make the score 9-2.
Hein led off the fourth with a single and caught the defense sleeping to advance herself to third on a groundout by San Pedro. Davis again stepped up with two outs and hit a single up the middle to score Hein. Calkins got the Spartans to go down 1-2-3 in the bottom of the inning to bring a 10-2 lead into the fifth.
The Lakers scored two more runs in the top of the fifth on another two out hit, this time a single by Hein to score Walsh and Montanna Popp. Southwestern's first batter of the inning homered, but the rest of the Spartans could not get anything going to complete the 12-3, five inning win.
Calkins picked up another win, going all five innings and allowing just two earned runs. The Spartans scored three runs on four hits and two Laker errors, while Calkins walked three and struck out six. Offensively, Hein was 3-4 with two runs batted in and two runs scored. Gerrard was 2-3 with one homerun, two runs batted in, and two runs scored.
Game Two: ILCC 7, SWCC 6
Ashton Kazmierski and the Laker defense struggled in the first inning of game two, allowing four runs on one hit, two errors, and three walks. The Lakers responded in the top of the second with four runs of the their own. Gerrard was hit by a pitch and Davis hit a homerun to left field to lead off the inning. Calkins kept things rolling with a walk before Blaney Markman homered to centerfield to tie up the ballgame.
The Spartans again took the lead in the bottom of the second scoring two runs on two hits. The third inning saw the Lakers score one run on a leadoff double by San Pedro, followed by back to back walks, and a Calkins sacrifice fly to score San Pedro and bring the Lakers within one. Iowa Lakes again pushed across a run in the fourth when Julia Sullwold scored on a San Pedro sacrifice fly to center.
The Lakers got tough and stepped up to the challenge in the seventh inning. Davis hit a one out single and then was pinch ran for by MaKarlie Smith. Calkins followed with a single of her own to put runners at first and second. Spartans pitcher then got Markman to fly out to the centerfielder to bring up freshman, Kaitlin Walsh, with two outs. Walsh drove the first pitch she saw up the middle to score Smith and put the Lakers up 7-6. Gerrard came up with a huge play in the bottom of the seventh, throwing out a Spartan runner who tried to tag up from first on a fly out behind home plate. Kazmierski got the final Spartan batter to strikeout to complete the 7-6 victory.
Kazmierski picked up the win for the Lakers allowing six runs, one earned, on eight hits, five walks, two hit by pitches, and six strikeouts. Calkins was 2-2 with one run batted in and one run scored. San Pedro and Davis each had two hits in the game as well.
The Lakers will again be on the road on Wednesday, March 29th. They will play in Mason City, Iowa at 2 and 4 PM.