NORTHEAST DROPS FIRST GAME OF REGION XI-B TOURNAMENT TO IOWA LAKES

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa – The Northeast Community College softball team traveled to Kirkwood Community College Friday to compete in the Region XI-B Tournament. The Hawks were matched up with Iowa Lakes Community College on Day 1 and the Lakers were able to come out on top in the game by a final score of 6-4.  

The Hawks (24-27, 7-18 ICCAC) scored all four of their runs in the seventh and final inning against the Lakers, but the rally was too late in the contest for the Hawks to take the victory. The Hawks scored runs on three different singles as Jade Koch (Norfolk, Neb.), Alondra Martinez (Grand Island, Neb.) and Alexis Folks (Arvada, Colo.) all tallied RBIs in the seventh inning. Mia Eickhoff (Redondo Beach, Calif.) also took a bases-loaded walk for another run on the scoreboard. All three of Northeast's pitchers tossed two innings as Josie Knust (Plattsmouth, Neb.) handled the first and second innings, Greta Lindberg (Tekamah, Neb.) took innings three and four and Emilee Spitz (Columbus, Neb.) finished out the matchup in innings five and six. 

No. 11 Kirkwood Community College defeated Ellsworth Community College in the first game of the tournament which means Ellsworth will take on Northeast tomorrow at 12 p.m. The loser of that game will be eliminated from the tournament while the winner will take on the loser of tomorrow's Kirkwood and Iowa Lakes matchup at 4 p.m. Fans are encouraged to follow @NortheastCCSB on Twitter to keep updated with the tournament bracket. 

HEAR FROM THE HAWKS COACH  

Interim head softball coach Jade Long's thoughts on starting postseason play today: 

"We have said all season long that what happens towards the end of the season is the most important and I think our grit to get to the seventh inning and then have that huge run kind of showed it all for us there," Long said. 

Long's thoughts on the elimination games tomorrow: 

"We're hoping for two games tomorrow," Long said. "We kind of talked about how we need to push a little extra at the little things in order to prevent those one or two runs that can be used against us at the end. We just want to have that seventh-inning fight from the first inning." 

UP NEXT  

The Hawks will play an elimination game tomorrow with Ellsworth Community College with the hopes of continuing on in the ICCAC Region XI-B Tournament. The first game is scheduled to begin at 12 p.m. in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. 

HAWKS HAPPENINGS  

For all the latest information on Northeast Hawks Athletics, please visit northeasthawks.com. For updates and other exciting content, follow:  

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