#8 Eagles Punch Their Ticket to 2024 World Series

Cedar Rapids, IA- After winning the Region 11A Tournament, #8 Kirkwood was set to take on the winner of Region 9, the Southeast Bobcats. The winner of the best 2 out of 3 matchup would punch their ticket to the 2024 NJCAA Divison II Softball World Series in Spartanburg, SC. 

In the first game of the afternoon, Peyton Driscoll started in the circle for the Eagles. The starting pitcher had 12 strikeouts, only allowing 1 hit and 1 run over five innings. The Eagles got off to a fast start, putting up three runs in the bottom of the 1st inning after Brenna Ross homered to left field. Kiya Johnson then hit a homer in the bottom of the 2nd inning to make the score 4-0. The bottom of the 4th inning is when the Eagles would really assert their dominance and put the game out of reach for the Bobcats. In that inning, Kirkwood would score 10 runs from a triple from Rachel Schlotter, three doubles from Peyton Johnson, Sydney Roe, and Delia Schwartz, two singles form Delia Schwartz and Sailor Hall, and finally a sacrifice fly from Kylie Schult. Kirkwood would take the first game by a score of 15-1. 

In what would be the final game of the series, Kirkwood came out swinging right away. Brenna Ross would hit a homer to left field, scoring three runs, and a Kylie Schult single would make the game 4-0 after the first inning. The home runs were not done, however. Sophia Kreutner would hit two more home runs in the top of the third and top of the fifth along with Lexi Hines homering to center field in the top of the 4th. Peyton Paulsen started pitching for the Eagles and would only surrender 1 hit and 0 runs over four innings, striking out 6 batters. Kirkwood would take the game 8-0. 

This is the 9th straight season Kirkwood has punched its ticket to the NJCAA DII Softball World Series. They await to find out their seed which will be announced during the NJCAA Selection Show on Tuesday May 14th at 11 AM CST.