Aberdeen, South Dakota

After stumbling in game one of a four-game stint inside the Winter Dome at Presentation College the Reivers rallied back with three strong performances.

Iowa Western dropped the first game, 8-5, versus McCook, but won the rematch with Head Coach Ben Greer's former team, 3-1 to close out the trip north.

Sandwiched in between the games with MCC, Iowa Western swept a pair of games versus North Platte, 1-0 and 20-6.

Tayler Floyd and Katriana Bain smashed a pair of home runs and the Reivers pounded out nine total hits, but it wasn't enough to overcome mistakes in the field and McCook's advantageous hitting in the game one loss.

A pitching duel ensued in game two of the day against the Knights of NPCC.  Hannah Smart tossed seven brilliant innings, striking out 14 batters in the three-hit shutout.  The Reivers mustered just four hits over their six innings, but only one was needed to complement Smart's day as Mattilyn Reiling blasted a solo shot in the bottom of the sixth to give IWCC the game-winning run.

Thursday morning, game three was all Reivers.  Kat Bain hit her 2nd homer of the trip and drove in six runs as Iowa Western pounded out 18 hits in the rout.  Madeline Layman, Matti Reiling, and Aujenai Gregory each had three RBI, while Chloe Brown drove in a pair of teammates.  In addition to Bain, Gregory homered for the Reivers and IWCC pounded out five doubles to keep the line moving.  

Brook Melnychuk tossed 4.2 innings with eight strikeouts to earn the win.

The rematch with McCook turned out better for the Reivers.  A day of maturity helped Iowa Western flip the script as Hannah Smart tossed another complete game, allowing only four hits while striking out 10 in the contest.  Madi Layman and Kat Bain had back-to-back doubles to plate a run and Logan Corcoran scored Karlie Chonis on a fielder's choice as Coach Ben Greer's squad outdueled his former team.

"We were significantly better the second day of the trip in our mental approach."  Said Greer, "We had a much different vibe and I was happy with how we competed after some mental mistakes the day before."

The Reivers are 5-1 overall after the trip and are scheduled to be back in action on February 28th in Miami, Oklahoma against Northeast Oklahoma A&M.

2021's home opener is scheduled for March 5th with a double-header rematch with North Platte followed by a Saturday duo versus State Fair CC.

Follow the Reivers on social media:

Twitter | https://twitter.com/ReiverSoftball
Facebook | https://www.facebook.com/IWCCsoftball
Instagram | https://www.instagram.comreiversoftball

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