Feb. 14, Iowa Western Community College at Sedalia
The Lady Roadrunners (1-3) opened their second season in program history at Mandy Thomas Field inside Centennial Park. The Lady Roadrunners lost a pair of games to Iowa Western Community College from Council Bluffs 9-3 and 15-9.
In game one, Iowa Western scored two runs in the first inning and added four runs in the top of the fifth inning. The Lady Roadrunners got on the scoreboard with a run in the bottom of the fifth. Iowa Western tacked on three runs in the top of the sixth inning. SFCC answered with a run in the bottom of that inning. State fair answered with one more run in the bottom of the seventh to complete the scoring.
Freshman pitcher/first baseman Madison Love (0-1) went the distance in her first collegiate pitching appearance. She gave up nine runs, five earned runs and struck out four.
Freshman infielder Abby Rector recorded a hit and an RBI. Sophomore pitcher/outfielder MacKenze Gudde scored a run and drove in a run. Freshman pitcher/first baseman Madison Lovehad a hit and an RBI. Freshman utility player Kylie Johnson hit a double in the game.
"I thought our freshmen responded well in their first game against a well-respected program like Iowa Western," said Head Coach Lyndsey Talbot.
In game two, the Reivers once again opened the scoring with four runs in the top of the first. SFCC scored a single run in the bottom of the inning to trim the deficit to 4-1. Iowa Western added a run in the second inning. The Lady Roadrunners scored two runs in the bottom of the fourth inning. Iowa Western responded with five runs in the top of the fifth. The Lady Roadrunners' offense exploded for six runs in the bottom of the fifth to cut the Iowa Western advantage to one run.
"We were able to make adjustments, and they finally started to believe in themselves," said Talbot. "I think we still had some first game jitters. They finally started hitting their pitches and making solid contact."
The Reivers scored five runs in the final two innings to put the game away.
Freshman catcher/third baseman Gabi McGinty led SFCC offensively in game two with two hits, two runs scored, three RBI, and a home run. Freshman middle infielder Brytni Hummel recorded two hits, a run scored and an RBI. Love scored two runs.
Freshman pitcher/infielder Macy Buzzanga (0-1) got the start in the circle for SFCC in game two. She pitched five innings. Gudde pitched the final two innings in relief.
Feb. 15, Kansas City Kansas Community College at Kansas City, Kansas
The Lady Roadrunners traveled to Kansas City, Kansas, to take on the KCKCC Blue Devils and won game one 7-1. Love (1-1) recorded her first win as a collegiate pitcher and set the program record for strikeouts in a single game with 12. Love gave up one hit and one run in the game on a home run.
SFCC got the offense started with a single run in both the second and third innings. The Lady Roadrunners blew the game open in the top of the fourth inning scoring five runs.
"Madison was on top of her game in the circle," said Talbot. "I told the team that it was the best offensive game that I've seen. We did a good job of executing and moving runners early in the game. It was just really good team softball. In the fourth inning our offense was able to explode."
Gudde led SFCC offensively with two hits, two runs scored and an RBI. Love contributed two hits, two RBIs and a run scored. Freshman outfielder Jacki Watson added two hits and a run scored. Freshman outfielder Abby Rector drove in a pair of runs and scored one.
In the second game, SFCC scored a pair of runs in the top of the first inning. KCKCC responded with three runs in the bottom of the second. Both teams scored two runs in the third inning. KCKCC added four runs in the bottom of the fourth. SFCC added a run in the fifth and three more in the sixth. KCKCC added one more run in the bottom of the sixth to win the game 10-8 after an SFCC comeback attempt fell short.
Wilson led the Lady Roadrunners offensively with three hits and three runs scored. Love continued her hot offensive start with three hits, four RBIs and two runs scored. Hummel pitched in with two hits, a run scored and an RBI.
Buzzanga (0-2) got the start in the circle for SFCC. She pitched 3.1 innings giving up nine runs, five earned and striking out three.
"Macy Buzzanga pitched a great game," said Talbot. "She is a ground ball pitcher. She forced the Kansas City Kansas batters to hit a lot of ground balls and pop-ups. Our defense struggled in the fourth inning. We had to make a pitching change, but Macy did what she was supposed to do … we got back into the game. We had an opportunity late in the game, but we just couldn't convert."
David Rohrbach
SFCC Athletics