LAKERS WIN BIG IN ROUNDS ONE AND TWO OF NJCAA NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS

The Iowa Lakes Community College Softball team started off strong in the quest for a national title at the Division II NJCAA National Championships in Normal, Ill., by coming up with two big victories over their first and second round opponents.

The Laker women exploded out of the gates against Kankakee Community College, with Brittany Brohmer hitting a homerun in the top of the second inning, putting Iowa Lakes on top 1-0.

The scoring continued in the third inning after Stephanie Ochoa hit a double that drove in Caiti Block and Andrea Hacker. This put the Lakers up by a score of 3-0.

Ochoa stretched the lead to 5-0 for Iowa Lakes when she had two more RBIs in the fourth inning. The score at the end of the fourth inning stayed 5-0, but only after the Lakers made three consecutive outs with the bases loaded.

The Lakers tacked on three more runs in top half of the seventh, while Kankakee scored their only two runs in the bottom half. The game ended in an Iowa Lakes victory, 8-2.

The opening round win earned the Lakes a spot in the championship bracket and a second round game later in the day against Sauk Valley Community College.

Although the opening round win was impressive, the second was even more so. The game only lasted five innings, due to the Laker women being ahead by eight runs. The tournament has a 10-run after four and an eight-run after five inning rule.

The Laker women scored right away in the bottom of the first with Kimmie White driving in Aly Cloud on a double. White scored shortly after on a passed ball putting the Lakers up 2-0.

Sauk Valley came back right away in the top of the third with a three-run homerun. But the lead didn’t last long when White scored on a Brittany Brohmer double in the bottom of the third.

With the score being tied 3-3 in the bottom of the fourth, Stephanie Ochoa hit a sacrifice fly to score Sarah Dockter, then Cloud scored minutes later on a Sauk Valley error.

In the bottom of the fifth Bromer hit a homerun, her 22nd of the year, and brought the score to 6-3. Camiel Salcedo then hit an RBI single followed by an Aly Cloud three-run double which made it 10-3. White put the nail in the coffin with a sacrifice fly which made it 11-3 and enforced the eight-run rule.

The Laker women’s next game is at 10 a.m. on Friday, May 16 against Phoenix College, who are the defending Division II NJCAA National Champions.