Reiver Softball Advances to Region 11 Finals

COUNCIL BLUFFS - No.2 seeded Iowa Western Softball advanced to its second straight ICCAC Region 11 Final on Wednesday afternoon, sweeping No. 3 seeded Southeastern CC, 2-1 and 10-5 on a rainy afternoon.

The Reivers (31-13) and Blackhawks (29-14) played a tight game one with both teams sending out their aces.  Iowa Western struck first against Navy Clark after a one-out double from Kamira Botos who then stole third base.  Allie Cromer, the Reivers leading hitter, doubled her home to make it 1-0.

Southeastern answered back in the top of the 2nd on a solo shot to right-center field from Lauren Summers.  Iowa Western would be shutout of the hit column by the lefty Clark for the next three innings until Kiley Grubbs led off the 5th inning with a single and a steal of second base.  A pair of infield singles from Jaylynn Brandt and Kacy Miller would load the bases with just one out.  Botos would send a ball to the wall in center field for the out but Grubbs slid safely into home on the sac-fly for the go-ahead run, making it 2-1.  IWCC Starting Pitcher Olivia Dougherty would shut the door in the 6th and 7th innings behind great defense from Botos at shortstop to claim game one of the three game series.

Game two saw the weather roll in and the rain start to pour.  The Blackhawks' Jeilane Stewart opened the scoring with a solo home run off of Saydee Plummer with two outs in the first.  The Reivers responded in the bottom of the second, a lead-off single from Cromer followed by an RBI double from Amelia Ehlert who then scored after a sacrifice bunt and an error from Stewart at third on her throw to first to give the home team a 2-1 lead.

Iowa Western added two more runs in the bottom of the fourth on a two-run single from Botos.  In the top of the fifth, the rain turned from a slight drizzle to a steady down pour and the visitors took advantage of three Reiver errors in the inning, leading to four runs and a 5-4 lead. The Southeastern pitching however, couldn't find the strike zone in the bottom half of the inning.  Five consecutive walks and two wild pitches created four runs for the Reivers, giving the home team an 8-5 lead.  Iowa Western added two more runs in the 6th to pad their lead giving Caedence Risius a comfortable margin to close out the game.

The Reivers will now head to Ottumwa, IA to take on the ICCAC's top-seeded Indian Hills Warriors on Sunday at noon and 2:00 pm and Monday for the if-necessary game.