Burlington, IA - Appropriate for February, the Illinois Central College Softball team (1-1) got to work on Friday in the comforts of a dome at FunCity Turf, taking on the Hawkeye RedTails and #9 Des Moines Area Bears to open up the Southeastern Iowa Dome Tournament. The Cougars survived a late RedTail comeback for a 3-2 winner in game one, before the Bears slipped in a run at the end for a 1-0 win in the nightcap. 

ICC COUGARS 3, HAWKEYE 2
With Emily Compton tasked as the Opening Day starter, the sophomore went right to work, striking out the side. Her bats back her up as well, with an RBI double from Marlee Brown getting the Cougars on the board for a 1-0 lead after an inning. 

Compton, Nivarra Oredina, and Brown each teamed up for a double play to wipe Compton's lone hit thus far off the board in the top of the second. ICC was able to tack on another in the bottom half of the third, when Kayleigh Harr roped an RBI single into center field to score Oredina and go ahead 2-0. 

Perhaps Hawkeye's best inning came in the 5th, when back to back hits had runners on the corners with still nobody out. Alas, a strikeout, successful rundown (Harr, Graci Guenther, Oredina all involved), and flyout snuffed any scoring attempt for the interim.

Brown came up big again, getting a run of insurance on an RBI groundout after fighting off a 1-2 pitch to score Kelsey Bartels and take a 3-0 lead after five. 

Hawkeye would make a late push by way of a pair of RBI singles, but Emily Compton shut the door again, ending the game with back-to-back strikeouts and secure a 3-2 victory. 

COUGAR HITTING
Nivarra Oredina | 1 hit, 1 stolen base
Kelsey Bartels | 1 hit, 1 stolen base
Zoe Eeten | 1 hit, 1 stolen base
Kayleigh Harr | 1 hit, 1 RBI, 1 walk, 1 stolen base
Marlee Brown | 1 double, 2 RBI
Graci Guenther | 1 hit
Emily Compton | 1 hit
Courtney Campbell | 1 walk

COUGAR PITCHING
Emily Compton (W; 1-0) | 7 innings, 8 hits, 1 earned run, 0 walks, 9 strikeouts, 113 pitches

#9 DES MOINES AREA 1, COUGARS 0
The Cougars got right to the hit column against their top 10 opponent when Kelsey Bartels took an 0-1 single into left field.

From there, however, it was quite the pitcher's duel between Broghan Hall for the Cougars and Jacki Baas for Des Moines Area. 

Nivarra Oredina would leg out a bunt single on the first pitch of her third inning at-bat, but unfortunately, that was the offensive afternoon for the Cougars. 

The pitchers duel maintained course. Through the first five innings of the game, Hall had only allowed two other hits. Baas had only allowed the aforementioned Bartels single. 

It was the sixth inning that someone broke through. It was the Bears. Back to back singles, with the latter being of the RBI variety, gave Des Moines Area the one-run cushion they needed.

COUGAR HITTING
Nivarra Oredina | 1 hit
Kelsey Bartels | 1 hit

COUGAR PITCHING
Broghan Hall (L; 0-1) | 6 innings, 4 hits, 1 earned run, 0 walks, 3 strikeouts

WHAT'S NEXT FOR THE COUGARS
Southeastern Iowa Dome Tournament
at FunCity Turf - Burlington, Iowa
vs. Ellsworth Panthers (0-2)
9:00 AM First Pitch
Follow Live (Video/Stats); GameChanger: "Illinois Central College 2025"