Lady Indians sweep NJC to open region play

The McCook Community College softball team opened the Region IX schedule Sunday at home with a sweep over Northeastern Junior College, 10-2 and 9-1.

Sophomore Anna Elliott (Calgary, Alberta) hit her ninth and 10^th home runs of the season in Game 1 and sophomore Lexi Knapp went three-for-three as MCC got up 5-0 in the first and cruised to a 10-2 win in five innings.

“The first inning of the first game gave us the momentum we needed,” said MCC Coach Mike Mendenhall.

Sophomore Sadie Kahl (Calgary, Alberta) picked up the complete game win on the mound.

MCC pecked away at the Plainswomen in Game 2 scoring two runs in the first, one in the second, two in the third and three in the fourth and held on for a 9-1 win. Knapp completed her perfect day at the plate with a four-for-four game (seven-for-seven in the doubleheader) and freshman Kaliyah St. Amand (Duncan, British Columbia) allowed two hits and struck out 10 to pick up the win, adding two hits and two RBIs at the plate.

“We had two great pitching performances from Sadie and Kaliyah,” said Mendenhall. “We did a really nice job of scoring every inning except for one.  

Northeastern falls to was 5-21 on the season

MCC improves to 18-4.

These two teams will travel to Sterling Colo., Monday for a doubleheader starting at 2 p.m.

“We need to keep our foot on the gas going tomorrow when we play them again,” said Mendenhall.

The Lady Indians will continue in the region this weekend hosting doubleheaders Saturday and Sunday against Luna Community College starting at 1 p.m. Saturday and 11 a.m. Sunday.

Up-to-date information about MCC softball including livestream links, schedule, statistics, rosters, photos and more can be found on the MCC Athletics website, www.mccindians.com 

 

GAME 1 – McCook 10, Northeastern JC 2: The Lady Indians came out with the offense all charged up with five first-inning runs. Paige Warren (Victoria, British Columbia) led off with a double and one batter later Payton Kinsley (Didsbury, Alberta) homered to centerfield. After back-to-back singles by Lexi Knapp and Sadie Kahl, Anna Elliott made it a 5-0 lead with a three-run home run.

Warren hit a one-out double in the second and scored on a Plainswoman error and Elliott hit a leadoff home run in the third to put MCC up 7-0.

Knapp singled in a run in the fourth, Elliott hit a sacrifice fly and sophomore Rocio Mascorro (Brownsville, Texas) hit an RBI-double for the final MCC run.

Kahl carried a no-hitter into the fifth when NJC scored two runs on a pair of singles and two doubles, but MCC was able to put the game away throwing two NJC runners out on the bases to end the game with a doubleplay. Kahl allowed two earned runs on four hits, no walks and four strikeouts.

MCC had 13 hits with three from Knapp and two-hit games from Warren, Kahl, Elliott and Mascorro.

 

GAME 2 – McCook 9, Northeastern JC 1: Lexi Knapp drove in two runs with an RBI-single in the first. The Lady Indians got three straight one-out doubles in the second inning from Kaliyah St. Amand, sophomore Angela Banzet (Surrey, British Columbia) and Paige Warren to go up 3-0. St. Amand delivered a two-out, two run RBI-single in the third to make it a 5-0 MCC lead.

A Plainswoman error and a hit batter set the stage for freshman Payton Kinsley’s (Didsbury, Alberta) two-run double in the fourth to push the MCC lead to 7-0 and Rocio Mascorro batted home another run with an RBI-groundout.

NJC scored their only run with a leadoff home run in the fifth inning and after MCC failed to score in the bottom of the inning, ended the game on the eight-run rule in the sixth on an RBI-single from sophomore Ayana Goodwin (Broomfield, Colo.).

St. Amand allowed two hits in six innings, no walks and struck out 10 hitters to pick up the win in the circle.

Knapp led the 15-hit MCC attack with four hits. The bottom three spots in the batting order all came through with two hit games: Goodwin, St. Amand and Banzet.