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Blackhawks beat back Tigers twice

T-R PHOTO BY ADAM RING • Marshalltown Community College pitcher Jordan Carter, right, throws to first after fielding a groundball to get Southeastern Community College’s Courtney Coffin, left, out in the second game of a doubleheader Saturday afternoon. MCC fell in both games, 6-3 and 8-5.

Yogi Berra once said something to the tune of a game is 90 percent mental and the other half is physical. The 90 percent part is what hurt the Tigers Saturday afternoon.

Time and time again the Marshalltown Community College softball team had lapses in the field and on the bases. Southeastern Community College pounced on the mental errors, turning them into two wins. The Blackhawks took both games of Saturday’s Iowa Community College Athletic Conference doubleheader 6-3 and 8-5.

In both games, the Tigers (13-11, 0-4 ICCAC) had a chance to stake a comeback. In the opener, MCC had the tying run at the plate. In the nightcap, the go-ahead run came to bat. Both times, the Blackhawks (17-12, 2-2 ICCAC) got out of the jams to preserve the wins.

“Have to be more disciplined,” said MCC coach Garland Shirley. “Seventh inning, you have to be tougher. That’s a toughness thing we talk about all the time. You can be nice when our girls have class. Want them to have character, but there’s a certain point I want them to be a little tough. If you can’t do that, you’re going to leave a lot of runs out there in a lot of games.”

In the opener, the Tigers came back from down one to tie the game twice, but things fell apart in the seventh with the game tied 3-all. MCC shortstop Courtney Fudge’s throw on a grounder was beat out by Emily Parks. Three batters later, the Blackhawks had the bases full with one out. Jorgi Krieger hit a groundball to pitcher Paige Taylor, who quickly came home to get the force out, but catcher Olivia Hubert didn’t make a throw in attempt to get the double play. That reloaded the bases instead of MCC getting out of the inning unscathed, and Kaylin Featheringill came up and roped a two-run hit to right for a two-run advantage. Krieger then scored on a wild pitch.

T-R PHOTO BY ADAM RING

Josie Carpenter walked to lead off the bottom of the seventh, but was out at second on a Jordan Carter fielder’s choice to third. Carter moved to second on wild pitch before Judge lined a single to center, putting runners at the corners with one out. That brought Dion Shirley to the plate representing the tying run. She grounded out but put both runners in scoring position, but Shaena Robinson couldn’t drive them in, flying out to right.

Robinson gave the Tigers a 2-1 lead in the third inning on a two-run home run to left for her 13th roundtripper of the season, despite the wind blowing in that plated Fudge. But then things unraveled in the fourth inning.

A combination of a walk, hit and physical error led to a run for Southeastern with no outs. Shelby Smith hit an infield single when there was miscommunication among the Tiger infielders. Before the play was all said and done, Smith was standing on second. That led to a string of four hits in which the Blackhawks scored on. Southeastern scored seven runs in the fourth to break open an 8-2 lead. Coach Shirley pointed out the Tigers have faced a lot of rain outs that washed out games the team could learn from, as well as practices to work on certain situations, but Shirley believes the team still needs to know better.

“These guys have been playing softball a long time, so the mental mistakes shouldn’t be there,” Shirley said. “There’s no excuse for that.”

Fudge hit an opposite field home run in the fifth, and Carpenter did the same thing in the sixth to bring MCC within four heading into the final three outs of the night.

T-R PHOTO BY ADAM RING

Fudge led off the seventh with a walk, and Shirley legged out an infield single when the defense was caught out of position. Tess Cheetham’s opposite field hit loaded the bases with one out. Annalee Myers, representing the tying run, grounded into a fielder’s choice and Fudge was out at home. Lexie Valentine then laced a base hit to right to score Shirley, but the go-ahead run, Taylor Tague, struck out looking to end the game.

The Tigers are back on their home diamond today for an ICCAC doubleheader against Indian Hills Community College. First pitch of the opener is scheduled for 2 p.m.

At Marshalltown

Game One

Southeastern CC 6, Marshalltown CC 3

T-R PHOTO BY ADAM RING

SCC 200 010 3 — 6 9 1

MCC 100 101 0 — 3 5 1

Hailly Greenough and Morgan Smith; Paige Taylor and Olivia Hubert. WP–Greenough. LP–Taylor (7-7). 2B–MCC: Tess Cheetham. LOB–SCC 9, MCC 6.

Game Two

Southeastern CC 8, Marshalltown CC 5

SCC 100 700 0 — 8 10 2

MCC 002 011 1 — 5 7 2

Mattie Lentz, Greenough (7) and Smith; Jordan Carter, Taylor (4) and Josie Carpenter. WP–Lentz. LP–Carter (5-4). S– Greenough. 2B–SCC: Greenough, Smith. HR–MCC: Shaena Robinson (13), Courtney Fudge (3), Josie Carpenter (2). LOB–SCC 6, MCC 8.

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