Lady Indians sweep Northeastern JC for second day
STERLING, Colo. – The Lady Indian softball team picked up their 20th win of the season Monday completing a four-game sweep over Northeastern Junior College, winning their second doubleheader in consecutive days. Mondays wins were 11-0 and 7-4.
“I knew today would be a little bit tougher, but I’m extremely proud of these girls to get the sweep,” said MCC Coach Mike Mendenhall. “We had a few hiccups in Game 2 but did what we needed to do to win.”
Sophomore Sadie Kahl (Calgary, Alberta) tossed a three-hit shutout in Game 1 and sophomore Rocio Mascorro (Brownsville, Texas) belted a three-run homer and two doubles to pace a 20-hit Lady Indian offense.
In Game 2, the Lady Indians jumped in front 5-0 in the first inning and held on for a 7-4 win to back the pitching of freshman Kaliyah St. Amand (Duncan, British Columbia).
“Two more fantastic pitching performances from Sadie and Kaliyah again,” said Mendenhall.
Northeastern goes to 5-23 on the season
MCC to 20-4 and 4-0 in Region IX.
“These girls get a few days off and then we will be right back at it this weekend,” said Mendenhall.
The Lady Indians will begin a six-game home stand and continue with Region IX play this weekend hosting doubleheaders Saturday and Sunday against Luna Community College (1-3, 4-24) starting at 1 p.m. Saturday and 11 a.m. Sunday.
Next week, MCC will host North Platte March 27 at 2 p.m.
GAME 1 – McCook 11, Northeastern JC 0: After the two teams exchanged two scoreless innings, MCC got back-to-back singles from Paige Warren (freshman, Victoria, British Columbia) and sophomore Laila Gutierrez (Seminole, Texas) to lead off the third. With one out sophomore Lexi Knapp (Berthoud, Colo.) singled in Warren and Gutierrez came home on the throw to put the Lady Indians up 2-0. With two outs, sophomore Ayana Goodwin (Broomfield, Colo.) walked with the bases loaded and sophomore Angela Banzet (Surrey, British Columbia) singled in a run to give MCC a 4-0 lead.
In the MCC fifth, sophomore Rocio Mascorro (Brownsville, Texas) lined a one-out double, freshman Peytann Weiland (Aurora, Colo.) delivered a two-out pinch-hit RBI, and Warren followed with an RBI-single to give the Lady Indians a 6-0 advantage.
Pinch-hitter Cassidy Fenske (freshman, Gibbons, Alberta) led off the seventh with a single and Warren’s RBI-single ignited a five-run frame. Freshman Payton Kinsley (Didsbury, Alberta) singled home Warren and after a pinch-hit single from Kashlin Beck (Claflin, Kan.), Mascorro put the exclamation point on the game with a three-run home run – her fourth hit in four at bats.
Kahl closed out the seventh to complete the three-hit shutout. She didn’t walk a hitter and struck out three.
In addition to Mascorro’s four-hit game, the Lady Indians also got three hits and two RBIs from Warren, two hits and two RBIs from Knapp and two hits and an RBI from Banzet.
GAME 2 – McCook 7, Northeastern JC 4: The Lady Indians sent 10 batters to the plate in a five-run first inning which included two Plainswomen errors; singles by Paige Warren, Rocio Mascorro, Peytann Weiland and Ayana Goodwin; a sacrifice fly by sophomore Anna Elliott (Calgary, Alberta); and a three-run double by Kashlin Beck.
Northeastern JC got their first run of the day in the second off MCC pitcher Kaliyah St. Amand on a two-out a single and an RBI-double. A two-base Plainswoman error in the third allowed MCC to get that run back with an RBI-single by Goodwin but NJC got one run back in the bottom of the third to make it a 6-2 game.
Beck hit a two-out solo home run in the fifth to put MCC up 7-2.
The hosts scrapped for a run in the sixth with a pair of two-out singles, a walk and a wild pitch. After MCC went scoreless in the seventh, NJC got one run on a pair of singles and an MCC error, but Kaliyah St. Amand closed out the inning to pick up the complete game win. She allowed seven hits and three earned runs without walking a hitter and striking out six.
MCC had 12 hits in the game led by three from Beck and two each by Mascorro and Goodwin.