NORTHEAST FALLS TO NO. 3 DMACC IN HOME OPENER

NORFOLK, Neb. – The Northeast Community College softball team held their home opener Monday at Ta-Ha-Zouka Park in Norfolk as they battled No. 3 Des Moines Area Community College. The Bears took Game 1 by a final score of 10-0 and downed the Hawks 10-2 in Game 2.

Northeast (4-6, 0-2 ICCAC) played in front of their home fans for the first time in what was also the beginning of the conference portion of the schedule for the Hawks. The Bears held Northeast to just one hit in Game 1 as the contest lasted just five innings.

The Hawks faired better in Game 2 as they were able to push multiple runs across the plate. In the bottom of the third inning the top of the order for Northeast got going as Alexis Folks (Arvada, Colo.) singled, Taylor Schmidt (Norfolk, Neb.) doubled and then Abby Balfour (Nebraska City, Neb.) also doubled to bring home both Folks and Schmidt. The Bears would retake the lead in the fifth inning and captured the victory in six innings.

HEAR FROM THE HAWKS COACH:

Head softball coach Iris Woodhead on starting conference play today:

"DMACC is ranked number three in the nation," Woodhead said. "No one wants to start conference play with DMACC, but it's a positive. We haven't seen pitching like that. The first game we had 11 strikeout's and the second game we had 10, which is not much better, but we also put up two runs. I fully expect that our hitting is going to get better tomorrow because we are going to continue to see more of that pitching."

Woodhead on how playing DMACC will benefit her team down the road:

"With DMACC ranked number three in the nation, you have to assume that their pitching is pretty good," Woodhead said. "They are the highest-ranked team in our conference, which means their pitching technically based off of that number, should be better than everyone else. Seeing that pitching right away sets us up for Iowa Lakes, sets us up for Kirkwood, sets us up for NIACC, Ellsworth and Iowa Central because we have already seen that pitching. That is the positive of starting off with DMACC. We are seeing the best of the best pitching, and look what we are able to do."

Woodhead on what she is looking ahead to tomorrow:

"We went from one hit in the first game to four or five hits in the second game," Woodhead said. "That's huge. I expect our hitters to have better approaches tomorrow and our defense just needs to make the routine plays."

UP NEXT:

Northeast will wrap their series in a doubleheader with DMACC starting at 1 p.m. tomorrow at Ta-Ha-Zouka Park in Norfolk.

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