The Des Moines Area Community College (DMACC) softball team improved to 15-4 for the season after sweeping a doubleheader from Marshalltown Community College (MCC) March 26 at the DMACC softball diamond.

Game scores were 21-0 and 15-4. The first game was called after five innings because of the mercy rule and the second game ended after the Bears rallied for seven runs in the bottom of the sixth.

Sophomore Josie Swafford of Wellston, Okla., pitched a two-hitter and helped her own cause with three hits and five runs batted in in the opener. Sophomore Kaisha Wells of Topeka, Kan., also had three hits and drove in four runs.

The Bears, ranked fifth in the Division II poll from the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA), took a 6-0 lead in the first inning, padded their advantage to 11-0 with five runs in the second and put the game away with 10 runs in the third.

Sophomore Mia Ruther of Burlington joined Swafford and Wells with three hits in the game and freshmen Morgan Lewis of Cedar Rapids, Ally Pickering of Winterset, Maddie Karr of Center Point, Elly Schuemann of Marion and sophomore Ellie Dixon of Iowa City had two hits apiece. Wells had three doubles in the win, Swafford and Schuemann had two apiece and Karr had one double and drove in three runs. Ruther, Pickering, Schuemann and Dixon each drove in two runs.

Swafford struck out 13 and walked one in coming away with the win.

Freshman Jayci Vos of Monroe had three hits, including a home run, and drove in three runs for DMACC in the second game.

The Bears opened up a 2-0 lead in the second, but fell behind 3-2 after MCC rallied for three runs in the top of the fourth. DMACC tied it with a run in the bottom of the inning and then fell behind 4-3 when MCC scored in the top of the sixth. DMACC's seven-run rally in the bottom of the inning gave the Bears the win.

Ruther collected three hits in the win and Lewis, Pickering and Schuemann had two apiece. Schuemann drove in a pair of runs.

Freshman Dana Dunbar of Chadron, Neb., pitched the first four innings, allowing three runs on four hits. She struck out two and walked one. Sophomore Peyton Parker of La Porte City worked two innings and came away with the win. She allowed one run on three hits, struck out two and walked one.

The DMACC softball team will face the Simpson College junior varsity in a doubleheader today at Indianola.