CEDAR RAPIDS, IOWA -- Ellsworth split four games in the Region XI-B softball postseason tournament, but fell short in the championship game, falling to 7th-ranked Kirkwood CC, 3-0, on Monday. In the tourney, ECC bounced back after dropping their first game to Iowa Central, 7-3, to stay alive with an 8-7 10-inning victory against NIACC. Then, after gaining some revenge against Iowa Central with a 4-1 decision Sunday, the Panthers were held to just one hit in going down to defeat against Kirkwood.
In Saturday's opening contest, ECC broke on top with single runs in the 1st and 3rd innings. Iowa Central responded with a 4-run 3rd and a 3-run 4th and held the Panthers to a single run after that. Ally Sparks supplied one of the ECC runs with her 6th home run of the spring and Gintare Paskocimaite and Chelsea Buck had the other RBIs. Kaysee Dale scored twice and had two hits. Buck, Maggie Braniff and Kailey Becker also had two-hit games. Delaney Vetter, who pitched in all four games in the tourney, went the first three innings in the circle and was charged with all seven ICCC runs. Cheyanne Collins provided three excellent innings of relief work, shutting out the Tritons on four hits with no walks and a strikeout.
Ellsworth used a 4-run 3rd inning and two more runs in the 4th to grab a 7-2 lead in the NIACC tilt. The Trojans roared back to tie the score at 7-all, before ECC pushed across the game-winning run in the bottom of the 10th. The Panthers banged out 18 hits, including four by Sparks, three apiece by Chloe Roberts and Gwen Hovorka, and two for Dale and Paskocimaite. Vetter, Buck, Mya Mathes and Becker also had hits and Roberts and Hovorka each scored twice. Paskocimaite and Sparks combined for six RBIs and Dale stole her team-high 23rd base. Roberts was the starting pitcher and went 4 1/3 innings. Collins, again, was strong in relief, going 2 2/3 innings without allowing a run and permitting only one hit and one walk. Vetter faced one batter over the minimum in her three innings and fanned four in picking up her 13th win.
Facing Iowa Central in an elimination game, Vetter was superb, spacing seven hits and giving up just one run. She whiffed nine. ECC tallied two times in the 1st and, after ICCC got their only run, the Panthers picked up insurance runs in the 3rd and 5th innings. There were six ECC hits -- a double by Mathes and singles from Dale, Roberts, Paskocimaite, Buck and Sparks. Roberts scored two of the runs and Mathes knocked in two.
The Ellsworth offense was shut down in the title game vs. KCC, however, with Dale's single the lone hit. The score was 0-0 after 4 1/2 innings before the Eagles punched a run across in the 5th and added two in the 6th. Vetter supplied another tough pitching performance, surrendering only seven hits and one earned run with six Ks.
The Panthers end the season with a 22-32 record. The 22 wins represent the most for an ECC softball team in almost a decade. They return all but five players, including a number of key performers, from this year's squad.