[Softball] Tigers, Warriors bounce Mustangs from MCC Tournament

FOREST CITY, Iowa -- A pair of late-inning rallies by Iowa Wesleyan and Waldorf knocked Mount Mercy out of the Midwest Collegiate Conference Softball Tournament this weekend.

Fourth-seeded Mount Mercy led seventh-seeded Iowa Wesleyan, 2-0, after five innings in game one of the MCC Tournament pod at Waldorf on Saturday. But the Tigers tied it up with a pair of unearned runs in the sixth and got a leadoff home run by Ashley Mysliwiec in the top of the eighth inning to get the 3-2 victory.

Junior first baseman Liz Hill had a pair of hits, including an RBI double, for the Mustangs. Junior right-hander Mariah Early hit a solo homer and went 5 2/3 innings without surrendering an earned run. She allowed five hits while striking out eight and walking three.

Sunday's elimination game against Waldorf also started well for Mount Mercy, but the Mustangs couldn't hold on to a 6-3 lead in the fifth inning and saw its season come to an end with an 8-6 loss to the Warriors. Waldorf scored the final five runs on the game on a two-run homer by Melissa Vance in the fifth and a three-run shot by Katie Bredlow in the sixth.

Hill drove in a pair of runs and collected two more hits, including her 10th homer of the season. Early homered for the second straight game and had two RBIs, while junior second baseman Rosie Jones and junior left fielder Christina Husmann scored two runs apiece. Junior righty Paige Lager struck out seven but took the loss for the Mustangs (22-24).

Waldorf beat Iowa Wesleyan in game four of pod play, 5-3, but the Tigers won game five, 4-3, to advance to next weekend's MCC Final Four in Des Moines. They will be joined by second-seeded Grand View, top-seeded William Penn and ninth-seeded Clarke.