Surprise, surprise: Coe's a power once again

CEDAR RAPIDS -- It might not be the best softball team Bob Timmons has coached, though it's close.

It is, without a doubt, the most surprising.

"We had a lot of holes to fill," said Timmons, in his 16th season at Coe College. "To be honest, when we went to Florida at the beginning of the season, I would have been content at 7-7."

Instead, the Kohawks started 13-1 and haven't slowed down.

Ranked No. 11 in NCAA Division-III, Coe (31-5) shared the Iowa Conference regular-season championship with Central, and takes the No. 1 seed into the IIAC tournament, which begins Friday at Clark Field.

The six-team double-elimination tournament was scheduled to begin Thursday, but forecasts for inclement weather moved the schedule back 24 hours. The event runs through Sunday.

After heavy graduation losses, the Kohawks came into the season loaded with question marks.

"We lost a good group of seniors, and after fall ball, we really didn't know what to expect," said Callie Morningstar, a shortstop and the lone senior on this year's roster. "But we went down to Florida, we won a lot of games and we really got to know what we were as a team."

A shortstop at Lisbon High School, Morningstar moved to second base for much of her Coe career. Now, she's back at shortstop, and it feels like home.

"I just think I see the ball better on the left side (of the infield)," she said.

At .450, Morningstar is one of four Kohawks hitting better than .400 this season. Abby Flannagan, a junior catcher from Manchester, leads the way with a .464 batting average, nine home runs and 49 RBIs.

Flannagan is the career record-holder in homers (35) and ranks No. 2 all-time at Coe in RBIs (138).

My high school coach (Kevin Schuchmann at West Delaware) said I wasn't a home run hitter, that I hit line drives that happened to go over the fence," Flannagan said. "I try to live up to that, but it seems I've been hitting more balls that go three miles up in the air instead of the line drives that we want."

Maddison Woodruff (Emmetsburg) and Mackenzie Laux (Iowa City West) headline the pitching staff; they are 15-2 and 7-3, respectively.

Laux was repeatedly called for illegal pitches during her high school career. According to Timmons, the next one she is called for at the collegiate level will be her first.

"That's a credit to (pitching coach) Ben (Sorden) and to Mackenzie for adjusting and getting her to drag that foot," Timmons said.

Coe earned the top seed over Central by a tie-breaker (fewer runs allowed in conference play). And Timmons said hosting the tournament figures to be an advantage -- and not just on the field.

"It helps so much as far as academics are concerned," he said. "A lot of kids will be taking finals this week, Saturday and next week."

The Kohawks' tournament opener is 2 p.m. Friday, against the winner of the 10 a.m. contest between Simpson and Dubuque.

"It's going to be a tough tournament," Morningstar said. "It's the toughest (D-III) conference in the nation.

"So we've got to play our game. When we don't, that's when problems happen."

The tournament champion earns an automatic berth in the 62-team Division III Championship. The NCAA field also figures to include two or three IIAC teams as at-large entrants.

IOWA CONFERENCE SOFTBALL TOURNAMENT

At Clark Field, Cedar Rapids

(Double-elimination)

Friday

Game 1 -- No. 4 Simpson (29-9) vs. No. 5 Dubuque (15-17), 10 a.m.

Game 2 -- No. 3 Luther (25-9) vs. No. 6 Buena Vista (14-20), noon

Game 3 -- No. 1 Coe (31-5) vs. Game 1 winner, 2 p.m.

Game 4 -- No. 2 Central (28-7) vs. Game 2 winner, 4 p.m.

Saturday

Game 5 -- Game 1 loser vs. Game 2 loser, 10 a.m.

Game 6 -- Game 3 winner vs. Game 4 winner, noon

Game 7 -- Game 5 winner vs. lower-seeded loser of Games 3 & 4, 2 p.m.

Game 8 -- Game 7 winner vs. higher-seeded loser of Games 3 & 4, 4 p.m.

(Exception: If one of the Game 3/Game 4 losers has already had a bye, that team will play in Game 7, regardless of seed)

Sunday

Game 9 -- Game 6 loser vs. Game 8 winner, 11 a.m.

Game 10 -- Game 6 winner vs. Game 9 winner, 1 p.m.

Game 11 -- Game 10 winner vs. Game 10 loser (if first loss), 3 p.m.