Rain delays Crowder's playoffs

May 08, 2008 12:17 am

— By Jim Henry
jhenry@joplinglobe.com
Rain continues to play havoc with Crowder College’s District K softball playoff against Iowa Western.
The best-of-three series, originally scheduled to begin on Wednesday, was pushed back to noon today. But after Wednesday’s day-long rain, a noon start today isn’t likely.
“A backup plan is to play one game today at 4 p.m. and the other games on Friday,” Crowder head coach Brandi Arthur said. “The field is not covered (with a tarp), and the field does not have lights.”
No. 14 Crowder (51-8) and No. 20 Iowa Western (49-11) won Region XVI and Region XI championships, respectively, on Sunday. The winner of this series completes the 16-team field for the NJCAA Division I tournament, scheduled for May 15-17 in Plant City, Fla.
“Our region used to get an automatic bid, but we’ve had some teams drop out,” Arthur said. “The national committee has determined our region is not strong enough for an automatic bid, and there are only three Division I junior college teams in Iowa. So our region plays their winner.”
The Roughriders and Reivers (River Pirates) met three times this season. Crowder won twice by scores of 11-2 and 11-4, and Iowa Western won the middle game 7-4.
The two teams have almost identical team batting averages — .366 for Crowder, .360 for Iowa Western.
“We have to pitch well,” Arthur said. “We have to do the little things right, get bunts down, run the bases well, make the routine defensive plays. They have several kids throughout the lineup who can hit home runs, so if you make an error and the next player homers, it costs you two runs instead of one.”
Alex Peters, a freshman from Adair, Okla., is Crowder’s No. 1 pitcher with a 32-3 record. According to the latest national statistics, she has given up 126 hits in 214 innings, struck out 336 batters and walked just 19.
Sophomore center fielder Cassie Martin, the leadoff hitter, and sophomore third baseman Rachelle Rhodes are both hitting around .470 to lead the Roughriders. Rhodes has 56 RBI in 59 games.
Jessica Marble, sophomore shortstop from Neosho, is hitting around .400, and Olivia Baldwin, freshman designated player from Lamar, has belted a team-high 10 home runs.
The remainder of Crowder’s lineup has sophomore Katie Rackliff at catcher, sophomore Richelle “Dutch” VanGennip at first base, freshman Hollee Statum at second base, freshman Alaina Burkhart in left field and freshman Cassie Kissler in right field.
Iowa Western is led by Samantha Tiefenthaler, the Iowa conference’s pitcher of the year, and Toni Dance, the league’s player of the year. Dance has a team-high 98 hits, and her 68 runs batted in rank fourth on the team behind Kelsey Meyers (81), Jenna Dell (72) and Laura Wilcox (70).
Iowa Western, coached by Lana Ross, has won at least 38 games the last five seasons.
Crowder, since it reinstated softball three years ago, placed third in the region in 2006 and first the last two years.
Crowder and Iowa Western met in the district playoff last season, with the Roughriders winning two straight games in Council Bluffs, Iowa.