IOWA FALLS, IOWA -- Ellsworth scored 25 runs, capped by an 8-run final inning in the nightcap, and blasted Northeast (Neb.), 9-1 and 16-7, in a softball twinbill Thursday.

The huge inning in game two took what was a one-run game and gave the Panthers a nice cushion in their 17th win of the spring.  The first four hitters in coach Nate Forsyth's lineup -- Kaysee Dale, Gintare Paskocimaite, Chelsea Buck and Gwen Hovorka -- all had two hits.  Hovorka scored three runs and 11 different ECC players scored a run.  Paskocimaite chipped in four RBIs and there were three apiece by Buck, Hovorka and Delaney Vetter, who finished off the Hawks with a 3-run home run.  Buck and Hovorka also homered.  Cheyanne Collins, Chloe Roberts and Vetter did the pitching, Roberts notching her second win.

In game one, Ellsworth pushed across five runs in their first at-bat, and added two in the 5th and 6th innings.  Dale banged out three hits while Hovorka and Sierra Robinson had two each.  Robinson and Becker led the way with 3-RBI games, Buck knocked in two and Mya Mathes one.  Hovorka came around to score three times and Paskocimaite, Buck and Mathes twice.  Vetter turned in another pitching gem, after beating nationally-ranked Kirkwood the day before.  Against Northeast, she permitted only one hit and an unearned run with six strikeouts.  The victory put Vetter's season record at 10-8.

The Panthers (17-23) now look forward to a four-game weekend series with Southestern CC at home on Saturday and Sunday.