The games were originally scheduled for Wednesday but the threat of bad weather forced the games up, but despite the change of schedule the Reivers still showed up to play, taking both games against the Tigers with an 8-1 victory in game one and a 9-1 triumph in game two in six innings.

Even though his team was outscored 17-2 in 12 innings, new MCC softball head coach Dominic Ellis said his team fought hard throughout.

“The scores don’t show how competitive we really are,” he said. “We actually will compete with almost anybody right now and we are getting better every day. That as a coach is what I want to see, as long as we are improving every day I can’t complain.”

In game one, most of the damage from Iowa Western (20-12, 2-0) came in the fifth inning where the Reivers scored four of their eight runs. That inning was when the pitching change between Saydee Terrell, who started the game, and Ashley Tennant came. Ellis said that’s going to happen at times because of the way they platoon Terrell and Tennant on the mound.

T-R PHOTO BY THORN COMPTON

“That was the gameplan anyway, with Saydee and Ashley both pitching. They kind of tag-team a game, neither one of them are actually pitchers by trade, so when they come in and help us like that we are going to be a little more lenient,” he said. “That’s the gameplan and they know we are going to split, whether one starts or one come in. If one is on fire and going then we will leave her in.”

It was another big inning in the second game that led to the lopsided score, Ellis said, and it’s those kind of innings his Tigers (6-15, 0-2) need to avoid to keep themselves in the hunt.

“We tried to stay out of the big innings, we gave up three off of a home run and had a couple of untimely errors,” he said. “Those are the things that we have to clean up as a team, stop walking a few players here and there, make the play when we need to and the scores will be a lot different.”

While the pitching was suspect at times, in game one the Tigers only managed one hit, which was a single from Taylor Hipsley in the sixth inning that scored Terrell. The second game wasn’t much better at the plate, and Ellis said that’s the area he was most disappointed in.

“We didn’t hit the ball well today, in game one or game two. Not like I know we can,” he said.

T-R PHOTO BY THORN COMPTON

This was the first ICCAC Division I games of the year for the Tigers, which means it was the first conference action for Ellis as the head coach and for five of the 11 girls on the roster. Ellis said right now his team is in growing and building mode, and after the games he reminded the girls that it’s a process.

“I told them, ‘you know what? These games are going to happen, you’re going to run into good teams,'” he said. “The young freshmen we have, they are excited for the future. The sophomores are actually excited because things are a little different, things are different than they were last year and with a new coach those things are going to happen. Everybody is excited and with 11 girls the energy is up. It doesn’t sound like it always is but it is, and that’s what we are looking for. I want the energy to be high.

“It is exciting to see the future of MCC softball. The sophomores have embraced these freshmen coming in, taken them under their wing and just said, ‘hey this is how we are going to start doing things.’ We are trying to change the culture here and start making things happen.”

MCC hits the diamond again today when it travels to face Southwestern Community College for a pair of games in Creston, starting at 2 p.m.