Tiger softball team drops two in final Florida games

By Andy Krutsinger, Mt. Pleasant News

TITUSVILLE, Fla. ? Iowa Wesleyan softball dropped two games on Thursday to close out their spring break trip to Florida. The Tigers fell 8-0 against Missouri Baptist in the morning game and then lost a back-and-forth battle 8-5 against Marywood University later in the day.

The IW offense couldn?t get off the ground against Missouri Baptist. The Tigers were one-hit in their shutout loss, with the lone hit coming on a Serena Almodovar infield single in the fourth inning.

Missouri Baptist scored one run in the first inning, four in the second, two in the fourth and one in the fifth.

Almodovar was also the starting pitcher in the loss. She threw five innings and gave up eight runs (six earned) on 10 hits and no walks. The Spartans hit two homeruns in the game, one in the first inning and one in the fifth.

The Tigers had a slow start against Marywood, giving up two runs in the first inning and two in the second. Iowa Wesleyan?s offense finally got going in the third inning however, and it led to a short-lived lead.

The Tigers scored three runs in the third inning to cut the lead to 4-3. Almodovar and McKenzie Copher hit back-to-back RBI singles, and Alex Eyman added another run with an RBI double.

Ashley Machholz stepped to the plate in the top of the fourth with two on and to out. She tied the game with an RBI single to center field, and Jaimee Houchins came around to score an unearned error on a throwing error. This gave IW a 5-4 lead midway through the fourth inning.

Marywood tied the game in the fourth inning with an RBI single. In the fifth inning, Marywood took the lead on a sacrifice fly in foul territory. They added two more runs in the inning and held an 8-5 lead after five innings.

The Tigers had two runners on and one out in the sixth inning, but couldn?t capitalize, and then went quietly in the seventh.

Almodovar went 2-4 with an RBI and a run scored in the loss. Eyman finished 2-4 with an RBI. Copher was 1-4 with an RBI and a run scored and Machholz finished 1-4 with an RBI. Houchins, Emmy Rodriguez and Jaiden Rogers all had one run scored in the loss.

Haley Varga was tagged with the loss, throwing five innings and giving up eight runs (four earned) on eight hits and six walks, while striking out three. Julie Dodd came in to throw one shutout inning, giving up one hit and one walk, while striking out one.

IW fell to 1-7 on the year. They will play two games in St. Mary of the Woods, Ind., on Saturday, March 17. They?ll take on St. Mary-of-the-Woods College at 9 a.m. before taking on Cleary University at 1 p.m.