The Viking softball team hosted the first round of the Midwest Collegiate Conference Tournament Saturday and Sunday in Des Moines. The No. 3 seeded Grand View faced No. 4 Waldorf for the second game of the day Saturday and No. 7 Clarke in the opening game Sunday morning.

Waldorf defeated No. 7 Clarke 8-2 in the opening game in the Des Moines Pod Saturday. The Warriors took that momentum into the next game, defeating the Vikings 11-4. The losers of game one and two faced off Sunday morning with the Vikings winning 9-4 in 10 innings. The remainder of tourney play was suspended due to heavy rain. No further games will be played in the Des Moines pod as both Grand View and Waldorf qualified for the Final Four next weekend in Ames.

On Saturday, GV was slow to find its rhythm as the Warriors capitalized on three Viking errors and scored five unearned runs, three on a three-run homer by Macey Hickes in top of the second inning. Waldorf added four runs in the top of the third including a two-run shot by Hickes and a solo home run by Vance.

Grand View finally got on the board in the bottom of the fourth inning. Lauren Vitiello singled to right field and scored on a home run over the center field fence by Courtney Yacinich. The Warriors came right back with two more unearned runs after a GV error in the top of the fifth. Grand View battled kept themselves alive by scoring two runs in the bottom of the inning. With the bases loaded, Whitney Link was hit by a pitch allowing Emily Gilbert to score. Pinch runner Dacia Miller then scored on a misplayed fly ball by the WC left fielder.

Both teams were silent in the final two innings as Waldorf won 11-4. Vitiello was 3-4 for the game and Yacinich went 2-3.

Sunday, the Vikings faced Clarke in what would be the elimination game for one of the teams. GV was the visitors on the board following the coin toss and wasted no time getting on the board. The Vikings scored in top of the first. Megan Tompkins singled and moved to third on a double by Emily Gilbert. A sacrifice fly by Vitiello scored Tomkins and GV took a 1-0 lead. GV added another run in the top of the second. Sheila Finnell walked, stole second, and advanced to third on an error. She scored on a Crusader error to put GV up 2-0. Clarke capitalized on a Viking error in the bottom of the inning to close the gap 2-1.

GV's third run came in the third inning. Megan Tomlinson singled, stole second, and was driven in a single by Vitiello for a 3-1 lead. Clarke took advantage of two GV errors in the bottom of the third, scoring four unearned runs to take a 5-3 lead.

Grand View made up the deficit in the top of the fifth with two runs to tie the game and eventually send the game to extra innings. Tomlinson reached on an error and advanced to second on the error. She scored on a two-run shot by Gilbert that tied the game 5-5.

Neither team scored for four straight innings. In the bottom of the 10^th inning, Grand View finally broke through offensively. Tomlinson and Tompkins singled. A double by Gilbert scored Tomlinson to give GV its first lead since the third inning of the game. Vitiello stepped up and drilled a three-run homer over the left center fence to give the Vikings a 9-4 advantage. GV held Clarke in the bottom of the inning and ended the game on a double play by Katie King who tagged a runner on the way to second and then threw to first for the out.

Vitiello finished with five RBI and was 2-5 from the plate. Gilbert went 3-4 with two runs and three RBI. Vitiello and Belieu shared duties on the mound. Vitiello struck out five batters in 3.1 innings pitched while Belieu gave up no earned runs in seven innings and picked up the win, her 11^th of the season.

Pod play ended due to rain and Grand View improves to 22-28 overall. The Vikings advance to the Final Four of the MCC Tourney and will place next weekend, May 8-9, in Ames. The bracket for the tournament will be released and posted on GV athletic web site on Monday.