Davenport, IA - It had been a long layover for the ICC Softball team (3-4). The Cougars found themselves playing a doubleheader against St. Ambrose JV on Saturday, in what was their first set of games since a 4-run loss to #2 Jones wrapped up on February 19th, a total of 14 days between games. Ultimately, a good start was capped by a close loss, and ICC would split the pair of games with the Bees.

Game 1: ICC 5, St. Ambrose JV 3
In the opener, it took a few innings for either team to find a groove at the plate, with the Bees holding a slim 1-0 lead until the 4th inning. In that frame, Hillary Mason got the Cougar scoring going with an RBI single. With Alicia Casas at the dish, Mason would use smart baserunning to advance to second on an error and ultimately scoring on a passed ball. That changed the lead to ICC's favor after four, 2-1.

The Cougars added on all of an inning later when Olivia Drish collected an RBI groundout which scored Allie Scrivner and extended the lead to 3-1. 

St. Ambrose JV would slowly chip away at the two-run deficit and end up tying the game in the bottom of the 7th. Neely Rogers shut the door and kept it tied at 3-3, and this would need more than seven to determine a victor.

It didn't take long for the Cougars to capitalize off of having shut the door, with Priscilla Peek (double), Alyssa Heerman (RBI triple), and Olivia Stirnaman (RBI single) all reaching base within the first three plate appearances of the eighth inning. Those three combined to return ICC to the lead and the subsequent final score of 5-3 ICC. 

Game 2: St. Ambrose JV 6, ICC 5
When game two rolled around, Cougar fans did not have to wait as long for ICC runs to hit the board. After Allie Scrivner led off the game with a single, hits from Kiersten Manning and Hillary Mason put ICC up 2-0 right away. 

Manning would also be helping herself out in the circle, in what was effectively a pitcher's duel for at least a few innings. The freshman would ultimately finish with 14 strikeouts. 

Priscilla Peek would pull off a steal of home and had the Cougars feeling good, up 4-0 on the Bees.

With the Bees on home turf inside the Ambrose Dome, their bats would unload in the bottom of the 6th, getting five runs on five hits, capped by an inside the park home run on the second-to-last batter of the inning. That quickly changed the vibe of the game to a one-run deficit that was a four-run lead a half inning ago.

ICC was able to limit the damage somewhat and get back within a run when Priscilla Peek scored on a fielder's choice to tie the game at five in the seventh.

That would force the JV Bees to need to walk it off to win the game. They did. After a walk and a single had runners on the corners with the Cougars down to the final out of the inning, an error was committed that scored the Bees' final run and securing a 6-5 loss for ICC.

Up Next:
ICC Softball has another extended time in between games before headed to sunny Florida for six games at Titusville's Chain of the Lakes Park. That set of games starts with Alpena (MI) on Monday, March 14th at 9:45 am. As always, fans can follow the team GameChanger account at this link.