#7 Eagles Split With #9 Bears
Cedar Rapids, IA- The #7 Kirkwood Eagles came into Wednesday's games against the #9 DMACC Bears riding a 24-game win streak that started back on March 30th. The Eagles were also coming in as first in ICCAC standings with a 21-1 record, DMACC being right behind at 19-3. The large crowd in Cedar Rapids would get their money's worth with two action-packed games in this doubleheader.
The first game of the afternoon would be a low-scoring pitching duel that would take extra innings to decide. Peyton Driscoll started in the circle for Kirkwood. The starting pitcher gave up four hits and one run over 7 innings, striking out 4 and walking 2. Jenna Sprague would throw one inning of zero-run ball for the Eagles in relief. She would allow two hits, striking out one. DMACC would be the first team to get on the board in the top of the 6th inning but Kirkwood would respond right away in the bottom of the inning when Brenna Ross doubled, bringing in one run for the Eagles. With the game tied at 1 going into extra innings, Brenna Ross would step up to be the hero for Kirkwood as she hit a walk-off single in the bottom of the 8th to secure the 2-1 victory.
The second game between the two rivals would be higher scoring but still a back-and-forth battle all the way through. DMACC would start the scoring in the top of the 1st inning but Kirkwood would answer again, right away, in the bottom of the inning. An error by DMACC and a Sydney Roe homer to left field would put the score at 4-3 in favor of Kirkwood after 1 inning. DMACC would tie the game up in the top of the 4th, however, Kirkwood would take the lead back in the bottom of the 4th after Brenna Ross doubled, Sailor Hall grounded out, and Sophia Kreutner tripled, each scoring one run. Kirkwood would pile up 13 hits in the game. Extra innings would be needed again in this game, but this time DMACC would score the winning run and win the game 8-7.
Next up for Kirkwood are the two final regular-season doubleheaders against NIACC and Iowa Lakes this Saturday and Sunday.
