A member of the Kirkwood softball team was positioned behind the outfield fence Friday afternoon when Maddie Hansen took batting practice with the Eagles.

The unnamed player kept extremely busy, chasing countless home runs as  Hansen swatted a series of long fly balls over the padded barrier in left field, left-center and center.

Hansen carried her sweet swing into Saturday's doubleheader against Southwestern Community College as the Eagles swept the twinbill, 6-2 and 12-2, in conference action.

Hansen, an All-American catcher, belted two homers and drove in four runs in the doubleheader as Kirkwood raised its records to 33-2 overall and 11-1 in the league.

Hansen is hitting .529 with 12 homers and 59 RBIs this season. She leads Kirkwood in all three departments and ranks first in the nation in RBIs, fourth in home runs and 11th in batting average.

The Cedar Rapids Jefferson grad is getting plenty of competition for the team lead in all three departments, but right now she's on top of  the pack on the power-hitting club.

Taylor Nearad, who led the nation with 30 homers last season, socked her 11th  Saturday. Monika Bevans, one of the talented new freshmen on the team, hit her eighth homer.

Lexi Kinnaird was a strikeout machine for Kirkwood in the 6-2 victory in the first game. She whiffed 16 batters in the seven-inning contest and leads the nation by a wide margin with 170 strikeouts in 107  innings.

Kinnaird (16-2, 1.57 ERA) tossed a three-hitter and displayed  pin-point control again with no walks. She has issued only seven walks all season, an average of one walk every 15 1/3 innings.

Freshman DoniRae Mayhew (5-0, 2.28) pitched a complete game in the 12-2 triumph in the second game with seven strikeouts.

Chaise Light went 2-for-3 in the first game and scored two runs. Audra Bridenstine had two RBIs.

Hansen, Nearad and Bevans hit their home runs in the second game. Hansen and Nearad had three RBIs in the game. Mayhew and Bevans drove  in two runs. Morgan Frost was 3-for-3. Nearad, Hansen, Mayhew, Bevans and Bridenstine had two hits.

Southwestern fell to 3-16 overall and 2-12 in the league.

GAME 1

Southwestern    000 101 0 - 2 3 2
Kirkwood        002 400 x - 6 7 1

W - Kinnaird. L - Schlefen.

GAME 2

Southwestern    002 00 - 2 6 1
Kirkwood        244 2x - 12 15 0

W - Mayhew. L - Schlefen.