Lady Bucs Softball Hosting District Championship Series on Friday

May 9, 2024

The Dawson Community College Lady Bucs will be hosting the Des Moines Area Community College (DMACC) Bears in the Northwest Plains B District Championship Series in Glendive on Friday, May 10th. The doubleheader will be at 12:00 pm and 2:00 pm and then Game 3, if necessary, will be on Saturday, May 11th at 12:00 noon. The winner of the series will automatically qualify for nationals in Spartanburg, SC May 21-25. The Lady Bucs have never qualified for the Division II National Tournament.

It will be a battle of titans with both teams coming in with high powered offenses and dominating pitching staffs.

DMACC is ranked 9th in the country in the latest polls with a record of 44-9 on the year. They won the Region XIB Tournament by beating North Iowa Area Community College 14-0 and then 8-2. Their offense is dangerous. On the season the Eagles have a batting average of .376, on base percentage of .426, slugging percentage of .570 and have hit 50 home runs in 53 games. They are 11 th in the country in hits and 10 th in doubles. Even though their offense is dangerous, it is their pitching that has led the way to their success. The Bears have the most total strikeouts in the nation (567) and the most strikeouts per seven innings (11.97). DMACC's ace pitcher Courtney Donahue brings a 24-3 record into the series. She's thrown 22 complete games and has only allowed 19 earned runs in 164 innings for an ERA of 0.81 (3 rd best in the country). She has struck out 349 batters while only walking 28. She leads the nation in only allowing 0.53 walks and hits per innings pitched (WHIP).

Dawson has a record of 37-14 on the season. They captured the Region XIII Championship by winning three games on Saturday, defeating Dakota County Technical (MN) 9-6 and then beating Miles Community College 11-7 and 12-2. For the season, the Lady Bucs have a batting average of .398, on base percentage of .466 and slugging percentage of .587 while crushing 48 home runs in 51 games. They rank in the top 10 in the country in hits, runs, RBI's, and batting average. Stocktyn Stevenson and Shelby Blankenship both rank in the top ten in the country in runs scored. Dawson's pitchers also have the Lady Bucs ranked 3rd in the country in total strikeouts and strikeouts per seven innings. Dawson's ace pitcher is Riley Price. She was named

the Region Tournament MVP last weekend. On the season she averages 11.11 strikeouts per seven innings which is the 4 th best in the country. She is 2 nd in the nation in total strikeouts with 272. Her ERA is 3.11.

The temperature is expected to hit 70 degrees in Glendive on Friday, making for a beautiful day for softball. Admission for the District Championship Series in Glendive will be free. First pitch will be at 12:00 pm Friday.