IMS 4  Highland 2

IMS 3  Central Lee 4
On Friday night the IMS softball team took the field against the Super Conference second place team Highland Huskies. IMS came out with great intensity despite having already played four games that week.  Highland matched the IMS intensity in the first inning as they were able to plate a run to take an early 0-1 lead.  IMS answered with two runs of their own in the bottom half of the inning to take the lead back 2-1.  Early on the IMS defense was led by Laura Hochstetler’s pitching with six of the first nine outs through strike outs.  Hochstetler continued to pitch well throughout the night keeping the Highland hitters off balance by pitching a two hitter.  With the score still two to one in the top of the fourth Highland scored the tying run when lead off batter reached base on a perfectly placed bunt and later scored on an IMS fielding error.  IMS answered in the bottom of the fifth inning scoring two runs to take the lead back at 4-2.  Highland did not threaten again as the IMS defense did not allow a base runner during the last two innings to bring home the win. 
“This was a good win for us.  Highland is a very well coached team that doesn’t make many mistakes and tonight we were able to take advantage of the opportunities we had. I thought we played solid defense making it tough for them to get anything going offensively”  said Head Coach Chris Nachtigall.
IMS came back to take the field again only 13 hours after their defeat of Highland against Central Lee in the first game of the IMS Softball Classic.  As the game started it didn’t look like the the game would happen as storms threatened.  But the game would go on as a steady drizzle continued to fall making it a little sloppy on both sides of the field.  A coin flip determined that IMS would be the visitors for the game.  Central Lee got things going in the bottom half of the first inning with a run on an IMS error to make it 0-1.  IMS would answer in the top of the second inning as a they executed a run down play with a runner on first and third to score the tying run making it a 1-1 game.  IMS used that momentum to score two more runs in the top of the third making it a 3-1 game.  Central Lee was not to be denied however and came back with two runs of their own to knot the score up 3-3.  IMS would threaten the next two innings but would not be able to come up with any runs and Central would plate the winning run in the bottom of the fifth inning to take the game 3-4.  With an hour and half time limit the game was shorted to only five and a half innings. 
“I thought we came out focused but a couple of errors cost us which will happen sometimes.  This was a good chance for us to get better figuring out how to play consistently no matter what the circumstances.  We have been doing a better job of staying consistent. I think this game will help continue that trend,”  commented Head Coach Chris Nachtigall. 
IMS is 9-12 (8-7 SEISC) and will play tonight at home against Columbus Junction.