WEST BURLINGTON - Southeastern Community College softball wrapped up their regular season on Sunday with a 12-0, and 16-3 sweep of Marshalltown Community College in Burlington. The previous day, Southeastern was on the road to Creston as they completed a sweep of Southwestern Community College. The scores of Saturday's contests were 9-0, and 10-2.
Southeastern's sweeps were incredibly important for the seeding in the regional tournament as they are in sole possession of second place, and will host Indian Hills Wednesday, May 1st at 2:00PM and 4:00PM in a best of 3 series. The (if necessary) game will be played on Thursday, should the teams split on the first.
Southeastern's performance in the first game on Sunday was highlighted by Araceli Rivas' performance on the mound. Rivas allowed just one hit while facing 18 batters through 5.0 innings. Additionally, Rivas had 9 strikeouts in the game.
When asked about this weekend's performances, head coach Kevin Kaalberg stated,
"I thought they did a very good job with their maturity, and focusing on the task at hand."
"I thought over the four game series that we as a team hit the ball really well. We had multiple people have their best hitting performances this season.. As a team they were disciplined, and played really well. Everyone got in, and they all played well."
Southeastern's second game on Sunday was nothing short of a success as well, defeating the Tigers 16-3. Navy Clark went all 5.0 innings for the Blackhawks in the circle. Allowing only 4 hits and accumulating 5 strikeouts. "Navy pitched really well for us this weekend," assistant coach Madison Kaalberg claimed. "She really controlled the mound this weekend and made it difficult for batters."
Rylee German, Mireya Rose, and Ella Florey all homered on Sunday. "Over the weekend, Rylee had a batting average of .692 this weekend. It has been very good to see her growth in the batter's box this year.," assistant coach Madison Kaalberg added. Over the weekend seven Blackhawks homered, with two recording multiple.
"We are really proud of the kids. They played hard. It's not always pretty, but they play hard," head coach Kevin Kaalberg addressing the regular season finale weekend. "They are really connected, and that's a lot of where their success comes from. They want each other to do well."
Southeastern will host Indian Hills Wednesday afternoon in the DI Region 11 tournament opening round. Coach Kaalberg when asked about the matchup stated, "We split 2-2 with them this year. We have to play well. They are a good hitting team, and we are going to have to play well to beat them."
Wednesday is a best of three series with the "if necessary" game coming on Thursday. Winner gets the bid to the Region 11 Championship. Game times for Wednesday are set for 2:00 PM and 4:00 PM on the West Burlington campus. Live streaming can be found here on our website.
