IW softball splits final games, earns No. 5 seed

MT. PLEASANT — In what was likely Iowa Wesleyan ace Morgan Christner’s last night pitching in Southeast Iowa, the Tiger softball team showed it was a force to be reckoned with in the upcoming St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference tournament.

Christner dominated on the mound and at the plate during the Tigers’ 5-0 Game 1 win over the SLIAC’s top seed. The Tigers dropped Game 2, 2-0.

Christner made the Fontbonne offense look silly in the opener. She gave up just two hits in the shutout and struck out 12 batters.

The game stayed tied at 0-0 until the fourth inning. Christner led the inning off with a double. Yessenia Munoz had an RBI single. Taylor Johnson knocked in two with a single of her own, and Breanna Mettler brought one in to make it 4-0.

After a scoreless Fontbonne fifth, Christner led off the bottom of the inning for the Tigers again. This time, she knocked the ball out of the park, putting the Tigers up 5-0 on a solo homer.

Christner and Alex Eyman each had two hits in the win. Johnson’s two RBIs led the squad.

The Tiger bats went cold in Game 2. Fontbonne earned two unearned runs on Christner, one in the top of the second and one in the top of the fifth.

Iowa Wesleyan’s Ivy Geerdes went 2-for-3 to lead the Tigers in Game 2. She and Karoline Stratton reached scoring position in the bottom of the seventh, but the Tigers couldn’t bring them in, and Fontbonne escaped with a split.

Iowa Wesleyan is now 5-9 overall and 4-4 in conference play. The fifth-seeded Tigers will play at fourth-seeded Westminster in the SLIAC tournament quarterfinals on Wednesday.