MARSHALLTOWN — The Colfax-Mingo softball team stepped away from the pursuit of its first South Iowa Cedar League title Saturday to once again play in the annual Marshalltown Bobcat Invitational.
The Class 1A No. 11 Tigerhawks split two games Friday and Saturday and are now 18-9 on the season.
Friday, Colfax-Mingo dominated 3A Bondurant-Farrar, 10-0, before falling to 5A host Marshalltown, 6-3. The Tigerhawks began Saturday with a 5-3 victory over 4A Marion and then closed the tournament with a 4-1 loss to 5A Des Moines Roosevelt.
The Tigerhawks have only two losses against 1A competition this season. They dropped a game against 2A state-ranked Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont, but every other loss has been to either 4A or 5A opponents.
In the win over Bondurant-Farrar, junior Amy Russell blasted her fifth home run of the season, while freshman Colbee Cunningham allowed just two hits in the circle.
The Tigerhawks led 4-0 after two innings and then scored four runs in the fifth and two more in the sixth to win easily.
Russell was 4-for-4 at the plate with a double and a homer. She also had four RBIs and scored three runs. Sophomore Ries Wilson had two hits and three runs, while junior Alivia Haley collected two hits and scored twice.
Freshman Delaney Underwood finished with two RBIs. Her only hit was a double.
Cunningham (7-3) surrendered two hits in six innings and registered three strikeouts and three walks.
Wilson (0-2) made her second start of the season against Marshalltown. She surrendered four earned runs on 10 hits, and the Bobcats won their third game of the season.
The Tigerhawks had six hits against Jasmine Judge. Wilson had two hits and scored twice, while Cunningham had two hits, one RBI and one walk. Russell’s only hit resulted in two RBIs.
Cunningham’s RBI came in the first inning. Wilson and Rhiannon Haley both singled to load the bases. Cunningham singled in one run, but Judge got the next two batters by strikeout and pop out.
Freshman Mackensie Brown reached on an error to begin the seventh. She went to third on Wilson’s double and then both runners scored on Russell’s two-run single.
The threat ended though when Judge got a ground ball out, a line drive out and a strikeout.
Colfax-Mingo began Saturday with a win over Marion (9-17). The Tigerhawks broke a 3-all tie with a pair of runs in the sixth inning. Brown drove in both runs in the sixth with a two-run single.
Brown had two hits in the game. Russell and Haley finished with three hits apiece. Russell scored a run and Haley had one RBI. The Tigerhawks were helped by four Marion errors.
Roosevelt got an early advantage against the Tigerhawks in one of the tournament’s final games and held on to win 4-1.
The Roughriders (10-18) plated two in the third against Russell and then added two more in the fifth after Colfax-Mingo cut the deficit to 2-1.
Russell (10-3) took the loss in the circle. She allowed three earned runs on eight hits in six innings.
Russell had two of the team’s six hits at the plate, too. She also walked and scored a run. Sophomore Rhiannon Haley had one hit and one RBI.
The Tigerhawks stay outside the SICL when they play at 7 p.m. Tuesday at 3A No. 13 Collins-Maxwell/Baxter. Colfax-Mingo hosts North Mahaska at 6 p.m. Wednesday.