Iowa Western Opens Softball World Series With Win

OXFORD, Ala. - 17th seeded Iowa Western Softball opened the 2024 NJCAA D1 Softball World Series with a 3-1 victory over Lake Land College.

The Reivers (40-17) did all of their damage in the top of the 3rd inning when the teams 9-hole hitter Emma Hague led off the frame with a single followed by an infield bunt single from Moira Baxter to give IWCC runners on first and second with no outs.  Ella Fitzpatrick sacrificed herself to move the runners up one base to bring Mattea Martin to the plate.  The sophomore outfielder delivered with a 2-run double to left field to give the Reivers a 2-0 lead with just one out.  

Allie Cromer followed with a single to put runners on first and second, bringing up Catcher Cydnee Schneider.  Schneider hit a ball right back to the pitcher Bryanna French but her throw to third base was wide to the left of Bella Atkinson letting Martin score on the error.

Lake Land (47-13) would get a run back in the bottom of the third inning after Melaina Dusti-Wayne Heaton led off with a bunt single.  A sacrifice bunt would move Heaton to 2nd and after a flyout to centerfield, the Lakers' Tia Durst hit a ball to Alix Bailey at short but the freshman's throw to first was too high for Alex Stoner and Heaton rounded third to score easily on the throwing error.

Madeline McCall would get out of the inning on a ground ball to Allie Cromer a third base to end the inning.

Lake Land had a chance to score again in the 6th inning after Hannah Parlier hit a one-out single off of the glove of Bailey at shortstop that led to a pitching change for the Reivers.  Erin Kirkland came into the game but threw a wild pitch to advance Parlier to second base.  Kirkland recorded the second out with a flyball to center field but walked the next batter to put two runners.  With a 1-1 count, Kirkland threw a ball in the dirt that gave Parlier a chance to steal third but Catcher Cydnee Schneider grabbed it cleanly off of the surface and threw a strike to Allie Cromer a third base for the final out of the inning.

Kirkland then struck out three in the seventh to give Iowa Western the 3-1 win.

Mattea Martin ended the game with just one hit but plated two runs and scored another.  Both Cromer and Baxter recorded two hits a piece and McCall (13-6) went 5 1/3 innings, giving up one run while striking out four.  Kirkland earned her second save of the season, while striking out three in an inning and a two thirds.

The Reivers will now move on to face top-ranked McClennan College tomorrow at 11:00am from Choccolocco Park.  The livestream can be found exclusively on the NJCAA Network, any other sites asking for money to watch the games are spam.