Metro Sports Report

2018 MSR softball league off to fast start

It took Morgan Goedken exactly 50 minutes to register for the Iowa Women's Softball League for next season.

Goedken, a catcher from Wartburg College who played in the league this summer, received an e-mail from the Metro Sports Report at 11:17 Friday morning to tell her the registration process had begun.

Fifty minutes later - at exactly 12:07 p.m. - Goedken had submitted  her registration form with the $100 player fee to become the first player in the IWSL for 2018.

Five more players quickly followed, including a shortstop from Crystal Lake, Ill., who plans to drive from the Chicago suburbs to Cedar Rapids so she can play in the league.

Yes, we're off to a fast start.

(CLICK HERE TO REGISTER)

We had four teams and 60 players in the league this past summer in Year 1, with all the games held in Cedar Rapids at Kirkwood Community  College and Coe College. We plan to have 10 teams and approximately 140 players in the league next summer, with six teams in Cedar Rapids  and four teams in Central Iowa at Simpson College and the Iowa State University Recreation Field.

Registration begins for expanded softball league

The new Iowa Women's Softball League got off to a great start in Cedar Rapids this summer with four teams and 60 players.

Now we are delighted to officially announce that the league plans to expand into Central Iowa next summer and have 10 teams in 2018.

Registration begins today at the MetroSportsReport.com website. Simply click on the registration link and get started.

The Iowa Women's Softball League was created this year to give active college softball players a league of their own during the summer. It is the only collegiate fast-pitch league in Iowa and was warmly received by the players, college coaches and community.

Based on the results this year, it convinced us to expand the program in 2018 and reach even more players.

(CLICK HERE TO REGISTER)

We plan to have six teams in the Eastern Division in Cedar Rapids next summer with games at Kirkwood Community College, Coe College and  perhaps Mount Mercy University.

We also plan to have four teams in the Central Division with games at Simpson College in Indianola and the Iowa State University Recreation Field in Ames.

Comeback Kids trim DMACC in 5 sets

Maybe the Kirkwood Eagles are too young to know when they're licked and about to lose.

Or maybe they don't care.

The Comeback Kids rallied from a five-point deficit in the final set Wednesday night and escaped the DMACC Bears 22-25, 25-17, 25-22, 21-25, 19-17 in an exciting Iowa Community College Athletic Conference volleyball match at Johnson Hall.

The seventh-ranked Eagles trailed the 11th-ranked Bears, 12-7, in the fifth set and were just three points away from defeat.

They staged a magnificent rally at that point, staved off two match points and snared the victory before a lively crowd.

"We just have fight in us," said sophomore Margaret Micka, one of the few experienced players on the team. "That's the way we practice. We give 100 percent all the time and I think that's what we did tonight."

DMACC could have won the match when they served with a 15-14 lead in the final set, but McKenzie Petersen and Ady Wintermote blocked a shot to tie the game at 15-15.

Young Eagles sweep GV in 2017 opener

Scrappy. Athletic. Young.

That's the early scouting report for the Kirkwood women's volleyball team for the 2017 campaign.

The seventh-ranked Eagles swept the Grand View junior varsity, 25-14, 25-9, 25-18 in the season opener Wednesday night with a balanced attack at Johnson Hall.

The youthful Eagles feature 11 freshmen and only three sophomores on the club, but Coach Jill Williams liked what she saw after three weeks of camps and practices.

"I liked the energy, I liked the effort, I liked the bounce," she said after the match.

Kirkwood has finished seventh in the NJCAA Division II national tournament the last two years and Williams thinks she has another competitive team this season.