CEDAR RAPIDS, IA – The Northeast Community College softball team closed out regular season play and picked up one win in four Iowa road games played over the weekend.

On Saturday, the Hawks were swept by Kirkwood Community College in Cedar Rapids, dropping the first game, 14-0, and the second, 12-0. On Sunday, Northeast traveled to Iowa Falls where they split a doubleheader with Ellsworth Community College, winning the first, 11-3, and falling in the nightcap, 7-5.

In Saturday’s first game against Kirkwood, Paige Schmidt, Leah Grovijohn and Kylie Givens all batted 1-for-2. The second game saw Kianna Garza and Amy Rogers batting 1-for-2.

“I thought we hung tough with Kirkwood in game one,” said Northeast Coach Iris Woodhead. “We gave up eight unearned runs. Logan (Runge) pitched very well, keeping their hitters off balance and not allowing them to string hits together. It was just unfortunate our defense couldn’t make the routine plays behind her.”

Woodhead said Sunday’s doubleheader split in Iowa Falls against Ellsworth was an all-around great day for the Hawks’ offense, especially in the game one win. “We had great approaches at the plate, we got runners on base, and were able to advance them into scoring position and then push them across,” she said.

“It was great to see some quality at-bats. Paige and Alyson (Romey) had a great day at the plate, finding ways to get on base. Leah has been seeing the ball extremely well, while Kianna, Logan and Amy all came through with timely hits today. Logan kept Ellsworth’s hitters off balance the entire day until she ran out of gas in the fifth (inning of game two).”

In the first Ellsworth game, Romey went 3-for-4 with three runs, a double, an RBI and a hit by pitch. Schmidt (1-for-4) finished with three runs, a double and a base on ball. Grovijohn went 2-for-2 with two runs, two RBIs and three base on balls. Runge batted 1-for-5 with a double and three RBIs, while Rogers went 2-for-3 with a run, an RBI and a base on ball. Maddison Oltjenbruns went 1-for-3 with an RBI and base on ball.

The second game saw Garza batting 2-for-4 with two runs. Schmidt went 1-for-3 with a run and triple, while Romey went 1-for-3 with a run and RBI. Rogers finished 2-for-4 with a run and a double.

“I could not be more pleased with (our) work on the mound today,” Woodhead said. “Now we have a week off to heal our injuries the best we can and go to the region tournament with a headful of steam.”

The Hawks end the regular season 10-45 and 5-23 in region play. They next turn their attention to the NJCAA Region XI-B Division II softball tournament hosted by Des Moines Area Community College in Boone, Iowa. Northeast faces DMACC in game one of the tournament on Friday at 2 p.m.