Iowa Lakes Community College softball team earned another sweep on Tuesday. The two wins came over North Iowa Area Community College. Courtney Calkins and Ashton Kazmierski each pitched a shutout in the 6-0 and 8-0 wins. Leilani San Pedro was 2-3 in each of the ballgames. The two wins brought the Lakers to 19-4 overall, 6-0 in the conference. The Lakers also reached number 17 in the NJCAA Division II National Softball Rankings. This is the first time that Iowa Lakes softball has been ranked nationally since 2010.

Game One: ILCC 6, NIACC 0

The Lakers attacked first, scoring one run in the top of the first inning. Julia Sullwold led off the inning with a single to right field and put herself into scoring position by stealing second base. San Pedro then drove Sullwold home on a ground ball up the middle. 

Scoring only in odd innings, the Lakers waited until the third inning to score again. This time, San Pedro led off the inning with a double over the centerfielders head. Deanna Gerrard then hit a ground ball up the middle to score San Pedro and put the Lakers up 2-0.

Iowa Lakes again waited until the seventh inning to really push some runs across. Lauren Hein led off the inning with a single, then stole second base. San Pedro hit a little blooper over the shortstops head that Hein tried to advance to third on, but was thrown out. San Pedro had some heads up running and took second base on the Trojans throw to third. Gerrard then took a walk before Shelby Davis hit a double to the right center fence to score San Pedro and put runners at second and third. Calkins followed with a single to score Gerrard and advance Davis to third. After stealing second base, Calkins and Davis scored on a Kaitlin Walsh single.

The Lakers took a 6-0 lead into the bottom of the seventh, but the Trojans were not going down without a fight. Sullwold killed all hope for NIACC when she threw a rope home from left field to get a Trojan runner out at the plate, for the second out of the inning. Calkins then got the final batter of the game to strikeout to complete the 6-0 win.

Calkins picked up her second shutout and tenth win of the year. She allowed seven hits, while striking out four. Offensively, San Pedro was 2-3 with a double, one run batted in, and one run scored. Davis was also 1-2 with a double, two walks, one run batted in, and one run scored.

Game Two: ILCC 8, NIACC 0 (5 innings)

Game two started off slow for the Lakers. It took until the third inning for the Lakers to push runs across the plate. Things got started with a Hein single that was followed by a San Pedro homerun. Not to be shown up, Deanna Gerrard followed with a solo shot of her own. Davis, Calkins, and Walsh all singled to load the bases. Davis was then forced out at home on a Desiree Lopez fielder's choice. Sullwold stepped up and hit a two out single to score Calkins and Walsh quickly followed when she scored on a wild pitch. The Trojan pitcher then got Hein to groundout to third base to end the inning.

Defensively, the Lakers came up big in the third and fourth innings. With runners at first and second, the Trojans tried a double steal but Gerrard threw a perfect ball to Markman at third to get the runner out. NIACC then singled up the middle before Markman fielded a shot and threw the runner out trying to advance to third. Kazmierski got the final batter of the inning to fly out to Gerrard behind the plate.

The Lakers began the fifth inning with a walk by Walsh. Sullwold then laid down a beautiful bunt before her and Walsh advanced on a wild pitch. San Pedro hit a two out double to left center, scoring Walsh and Sullwold to put the Lakers up 7-0. San Pedro advanced to third and scored on two Trojan passed balls to score Iowa Lakes' final run of the game.

North Iowa Area Community College again put up a fight in the fifth, but Kazmierski got the final batter of the game to strikeout for the 8-0 win.

Kazmierski allowed zero runs on six hits and struck out two. San Pedro was again 2-3 with a double, homerun, three runs batted in, and one run scored. Calkins was also 2-3 with one run batted in and one run scored.

The Lakers will play on the road at Morningside College on Thursday, March 30th at 3:00 and 5:00 PM.