NIACC faces Iowa Central in regional tourney opener

CEDAR RAPIDS - The fifth-seeded NIACC softball team faces third-seeded Iowa Central at 4 p.m. Friday in the opening round of the NJCAA Region XI-B tournament on the Kirkwood campus.

The winner of the NIACC/Iowa Central game faces either Kirkwood or Ellsworth in the second round of the regional tournament at 2 p.m. on Saturday. The first-round losers meet in an elimination game at noon on Saturday.

NIACC (18-28 overall, 9-15 in the ICCAC) won three of four games from Iowa Central (31-26, 11-11) during the regular season.

The two teams split a doubleheader at Oskaloosa on March 30 with the Tritons winnng the first game 7-4 and the Lady Trojans winning the second game 11-8. NIACC won both games (8-7 and 14-9) in the second twinbill in Austin, Minn.

NJCAA Region XI-B Tournament (At Cedar Rapids)

Friday's games

Game 1 - (2) Kirkwood vs. (6) Ellsworth, 2 p.m.

Game 2 - (3) Iowa Central vs. (5) NIACC, 4 p.m.

Saturday's games

Game 3 - Loser G1 vs. Loser G2 - noon

Game 4 - Winner G1 vs. Winner G2 - 2 p.m.

Game 5 - Winner G3 vs. Loser G4 - 4 p.m.

Sunday's games

Game 6* - Winner G4 vs. Winner G5 - noon

Game 7** - If necessary, 2 p.m.

* Championship Game

** If Necessary Game

NIACC's leaders

Batting average - Morgan Thesing-Ritter .461; Courtney Johannes .401; Shelby Low .391.

Hits - Thesing-Ritter 71, Johannes 55, Alyssa Laxson 50.

Doubles - Johannes 21, Kaci Sherwood 17, Low 15.

Triples - Thesing-Ritter 7.

Home runs - Sherwood 8, Thesing-Ritter 7, Laxson 6.

RBIs - Johannes 50, Sherwood 45, Thesing-Ritter 42.

Stolen bases - Thesing-Ritter 44, Kaitlyn Carlson 23, Low 19.

Wins - Johannes 11-10.

Strikeouts - Johannes 96.

Innings pitched - Johannes 122 1/3.