• DMACC will face either ICCC or NIACC in its tournament opener
• Bears swept both teams during the regular season
• DMACC is 46-3 and ranked first in the NCAA Division II poll

The DMACC softball team will be seeking its fifth consecutive National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Region XI-A softball championship when the Bears host the tournament May 5 to 7 at the DMACC softball diamond.

DMACC, which captured Region XI-A titles in 2021, 2019, 2018 and 2017 takes a 46-3 record and a 25-game winning streak into the tournament. And the Bears are the top-ranked team in the NJCAA Division II poll. There was no Region XI-A tournament in 2020 because of the Covid-19 virus.

DMACC will face the winner of the Iowa Central Community College (ICCC)-North Iowa Area Community College (NIACC) games in their tournament opener at 4 p.m. on May 6. ICCC and NIACC will play at 2 p.m.

The Bears will be heavily favored to win the 3-team double-elimination tournament after sweeping both ICCC and NIACC during the regular season. Six of the eight games against the two teams were decided in five innings and the Bears outscored NIACC 135-6 in their four wins against the Trojans. DMACC outscored ICCC 47-8 in that four-game series.

In addition to having swept both ICCC and NIACC, the Bears have a wide edge over both teams statistically. DMACC freshman Kendal Clark of Humboldt leads the ICCAC in hitting with a .564 average and sophomores Abby Husak of Polk City and Jada Collins of Des Moines are second and fourth respectively. Husak is batting .555 and Collins is hitting .506.

Clark leads the ICCAC in runs batted in with 89 and freshmen Emma Dighton of Boone, and Madison Kearns of Glenpool, Okla., and sophomore Sami Miller of Mason City are second, third and fourth with 86, 68 and 64 RBIs respectively. Dighton and Clark are first and second in home runs with 25 and 22 respectively and Husak tops the conference in stolen bases with 32.

Sophomores Abby Flanagan of Coggon and Lexi Lander of Onawa are first and second in earned run average at 1.28 and 1.42 and freshman Sydney Kennedy is fifth with a 2.13 ERA. Dighton is fifth in the conference in victories with 12 and Kennedy tops the league in saves with six.

DMACC is hitting .442 with a .509 on-base percentage and a .731 slugging percentage as a team. The Bears have hit 92 home runs against 22 for the opposition and have outscored their opponents 583 to 135.

DMACC pitchers have a combined ERA of 2.40 to the opponents' 9.91. They have struck out 324 batters in 292 innings and are averaging 7.77 strikeouts per seven innings.

The Region XI-A tournament will continue with an elimination game at noon on May 7 and the championship game at 2 p.m. A second championship game, if necessary, will be played at 4 p.m. on May 7 or noon on May 8.

The Region XI-A champion will host the North Plains A District Tournament May 14 and 15. The North Plains District champion will advance to the 2022 NJCAA Division II Softball Championship May 24 to 28 at Oxford, Ala. DMACC has qualified for the national championship every year since 2014 with the exception of 2020 when there was no tournament. The Bears finished third in 2019, 2018 and 2014 and placed fourth in 2015.