SCC advances to Region XI softball title game to face Indian Hills

Southeastern Community College's softball team may be coming from the wrong side of the bracket, but the Blackhawks will be playing for the Region XI, Division I championship on Monday.

The third-seeded Blackhawks fell to top-seeded Indian Hills, 7-0, in the winners bracket at SCC's Wagner Athletic Complex Sunday afternoon, then bounced back to win the losers bracket, 6-2, over Marshalltown.

That gave SCC (28-22) a berth in Monday's 11 a,m. championship game against Indian Hills (45-8) at the WAC. SCC would have to beat Indian Hills twice in the double elimination tournament to win the regional title.

Marshalltown ended its season at 11-45. The Tigers, seeded fifth of the five teams, knocked off Southwestern, 11-3, earlier Sunday.

SCC is currently 0-7 against Indian Hills, which is ranked 16th in the nation.

"It's going to be a tough challenge for us because Indian Hills has a good team all the way around, but nothing's impossible," SCC head coach Melissa Flores said. "I told the girls they have to put everything out there on the field and give their best effort."

Sunday, all nine Indian Hills players in the lineup got at least one hit each, finishing with 11 hits as a team.

"They're a very good offensive ball club," Flores said. "They're just swinging the bat really well. We've got to try to keep them off the bases because they'll jack one over. The bottom line is we scored three runs in seven games against Indian Hills. We've got to do a better job hitting.

"We've faced all three pitchers that they have," Flores said. "Whatever they come out and throw we've got to make adjustments early."

SCC managed to keep Indian Hills scoreless the first two innings, then the Warriors exploded. The first five Warriors to bat in the third got hits, chasing SCC's Kayla Norton out of the circle. She was relieved by Cara Linnenkamp, who yielded an RBI-single to Kennady Preston for the Warriors sixth consecutive hit. Indian Hills went up 5-0 in that third inning.

Norton (15-11) suffered the loss, giving up four earned runs on five hits and no walks in two complete innings. She fanned two Warriors. Ryann Cheek (10-1) went the distance for the win, blanking the Blackhawks on four hits and two walks. She struck out 10, including the first five batters she faced.

Hitting wasn't a Blackhawk problem against Marshalltown. Nine of 10 Blackhawks who batted got at least one hit. Right-fielder Kisbel Vizcaya led the onslaught with a double, two singles and an RBI in four trips to the plate.

Vizcaya went 1-for-3 against Indian Hills, totaling four hits in seven at-bats for the day.

"She was really seeing the ball well today," Flores said. "She's a fighter. She's a competitor."

It was "definitely much better hitting this game," Flores said. "It was a little bit different pitching. We were able to adjust a little bit quicker. The first three innings it's kind of hard to get something started after such a big game to start the day with, but we were able to put some runs on the board. Kayla (Norton) did a great job of throwing them off-balance which I think was key. Now we're going to the championship game."

Norton improved to 16-11 by going the distance in the second game, She allowed two runs, neither earned, on six hits and a walk. She struck out six Tigers.

"Those two (Marshalltown) runs never should have scored, but it happened," Flores said. "We moved on. We scored a couple to make up for that."

The Blackhawks went up 4-0 in the third on a double by Kiley McConville and singles by Jody Fisher, Lydia Allen-Barnes, Mady Reed and Vizcaya. In the fifth, Maddy Stutsman led off with a single and Vizcaya doubled to push Stutsman to third. McConville and Norton both bounced out to second base, scoring two more runs.

Allen-Barnes and Reed each finished with two hits.

"We did what we had to do," Flores said. "We had to flush the first game and come back and win a game to go to (Monday's) championship game."

SUNDAY GAME 1

(Winners bracket)

SCC. 000. 000. 0 — 0

IndianHills. 005. 011. X — 7

WP — Ryann Cheek (10-1). LP — Kayla Norton (15-11)). Leading hitters — SCC: Megan Topping 1-2, Mady Reed 1-3, Kisbel Vizcaya 1-3, Kiley McConville 1-3. Indian Hills: Destiny Lewis 2-3, Alex Beard 2-3, Gretta Hartz 1-3, Sydney Anderson 1-3, Kennady Preston 1-3, Bryanna Mehaffy 1-3, Abbi Cataldo 1-3, Yanna Roberts 1-3, Breanna Newton 1-4. 2B — Lewis. 3B — Hartz. HR — Lewis, Beard. RBI — Indian Hills: Lewis 2, Anderson 2, Preston, Beard, Cataldo.

Records: Indian Hills 45-8, SCC 27-22 .

SUNDAY GAME 2

(Losers bracket)

M'town. 000. 020. 0 — 2

SCC. 004. 020. X — 6

WP — Kayla Norton (16-11). LP — Aspyn Harrison. Leading hitters — Marshalltown: Kyleigh Westlin 2-4, Marlie Hurinui 2-2, Paige Westlin 1-3, Hannah Gibson 1-3. SCC: Kisbel Vizcaya 3-4, Lydia Allen-Barnes 2-4, Mady Reed 2-4, Adessa Brandenburg 1-3, Maddy Stutsman 1-3, Kiley McConville 1-2, Megan Topping 1-3, Jody Fischer 1-2, Jessica Alvaro 1-1. 2B — Hurinui, Reed, Vizcaya, McConville. RBI — Visitor: P Westlin; Home: McConville 2, Reed, Stutsman, Vizcaya, Norton.

Records: Marshalltown 11-45 ; SCC 28-22..

This article originally appeared on The Hawk Eye: SCC falls to Indian Hills, polishes off Marshalltown to survive