A walk-off homerun in extra innings by freshman Jena Malmen (Orion, IL) helped surge the Kirkwood Community College softball team to a doubleheader sweep of the district championship series against Central Community College from Nebraska.
It took the women until the bottom of the 12th inning to jump on top of Central when Malmen stepped to the plate and crushed her 28th homerun of the season to win the game 2-1.
After a tense first game, Kirkwood was able to scratch across one run in first inning of game two. The following inning, Melissa Walls (Tiffin, IA) hit her second grand slam of the season to put the women up 5-0. The Raiders walked Walls and Malmen in the top of the fourth inning to bring freshman Nicole Fisher (Conrad, IA) to the plate. Fisher stepped up and hit her 11th homerun of the year to put the Eagles ahead 10-0. Shelby Dougherty (Belmond, IA) pitched a no-hitter until the final out of the last inning, when a blooper dropped into centerfield. The women held on to win the mercy rule shutout and were crowned district champions.
The Eagles will travel to Normal, IL to compete in the NJCAA Division II National Tournament starting on Thursday, May 19. Kirkwood will be among 16 teams competing in the national tournament. Game times and tournament seedings are to be determined.
The women have won 34 of the last 37 games and own a 52-9 overall record. The Eagles national tournament berth marks head coach Joe Yegge’s first national tournament appearance in his four-year tenure. Under Yegge, the Eagles have posted an impressive 169-43 record with back-to-back 50 plus win seasons.