MCC Softball sweeps Lady Jacks for 10th-straight win
The McCook Community College softball team won their 10th-straight game Tuesday with a pair of wins on the eight-run rule over Dakota College-Bottineau. MCC won 16-1 in five innings and 13-5 in six innings.
“We got off to a pretty good start in Game 1 and had really good defense and timely hitting,” said MCC Coach Mike Mendenhall. “We were able to play a lot of players which was nice after a quick turn-around.”
In Game 1 sophomore Kashlin Beck (Claflin, Kan.) and freshman Lyndsay Keogh (Surrey, British Columbia) both powered home runs and sophomore Paige Warren (Victoria, British Columbia) hit a pair of triples and a double as the Indians ended the game in the fifth inning on the eight-run rule. Freshman Hannah Schneider (Alliance, Neb.) pitched three perfect innings to pick up the win in Game 1 and closed out the second game pitching the final 2.1 innings.
In Game 2, MCC overcame a 4-0 first-inning deficit as freshman Lacyn Keller (McCook) led off the bottom of the first with a home run and freshman Josie Wright (Calgary, Alberta) ended the game on with an inside-the-park home run. Sophomore transfer Marleigh Mitchell (Mission, British Columbia) and freshman Hayley Smith (Chestermere, Alberta) both had three-hit games.
“We obviously got off to a slower start in Game 2, but kept chipping away at the plate,” said Mendenhall.
Dakota College-Bottineau falls to 3-7 on the season.
The Lady Indians improve to 19-3.
On Friday MCC hosts Southeast Community College (7-6) for a four-game Region IX series. Friday’s games start at noon with Saturday’s games starting at 11 a.m. The Bobcats are 4-0, tied for first place in the region with MCC and Lamar. Southeast is coming off a sweep at Otero where they outscored the Rattlers, 13-0, 10-6, 13-0 and 20-1.
“It will be nice to have a little break in between games,” said Mendenhall.
GAME 1 – McCook CC 16, Dakota-Bottineau 1 (5 innings): The Lady Indians scored four times in the first, four times in the second and eight times in the third inning.
Lyndsay Keogh delivered an RBI-single in the first inning and Kashlin Beck smashed a three-run homer to right field to put MCC up 4-0.
Paige Warren tripled to lead off the second and scored on a sacrifice fly by freshman Malia Hilker (McCook). Keogh followed with a double and with two outs Beck singled and MCC got back-to-back walks from sophomore
Olivia Pollon (Tisdale, Saskatchewan) and freshman Danika Vandermeer (Sylvan Lake, Alberta) to walk in a run and a two-run Lady Jack error made it an 8-0 MCC lead.
Warren doubled to lead off the MCC third inning and Keogh made it 11-0 with a three-run home run. MCC got back-to-back-to back RBI-singles from Vandermeer, sophomore Tatum Ross (Frederick, Colo.), and freshman Blake Elliott (Calgary, Alberta) to make it a 14-0 game. Warren hit her second triple of the game to drive in the 15th and 16th runs.
Hannah Schneider pitched the first three innings for MCC allowing no runs, no hits and no walks with three strikeouts. Hayley Smith pitched two innings and allowed two hits, one walk and one run with two strikeouts.
MCC had 12 hits in the game with three each by Warren and Keogh. Beck and Ross both had two-hit games for the Lady Indians.
GAME 2 – McCook CC 13, Dakota-Bottineau 5 (6 innings): The Lady Jacks scored four first-inning runs on a pair of walks, an error and a grand slam home run off sophomore starting pitcher Olivia Moorhead (Hershey, Neb.).
Lacyn Keller got the Lady Indians back in the game with a solo home run to lead off the bottom of the first.
Sophomore Peytann Weiland (Aurora, Colo.) led off the second with a single, and after a walk and a Lady Jack error, Keller singled in two runs and with two outs Marleigh Mitchell put MCC in the lead for good with a two-run single. Weiland singled for the second time in the inning and put MCC up 7-4 with a two-run single and a single by freshman Hallie Schneider (Alliance, Neb.) drove in the seventh run of the inning and put MCC ahead 8-4.
A two-out MCC error led to a Dakota College run and after a single and a walk put the tying run at the plate Hannah Schneider came on in relief. After loading the bases on a walk. She got out of the jam with a groundball to her sister at second base to keep it an 8-5 MCC lead.
Moorhead picked up the win for MCC twirling 3.2 innings and allowing seven hits and three earned runs on two walks and two strikeouts.
MCC added two runs when Hallie Schneider tripled to lead off the fifth inning and scored on an infield error. With two-outs Mitchell drove in a run to make it 10-5. Weiland walked to lead off the sixth and after two outs, pinch hitter Josie Wright ended the game on the eight-run rule with an inside-the-park home run to right field.
Hannah Schneider pitched 2.1 innings, allowed one walk and one hit while striking out one.
Mitchell and Hayley Smith both had three hits. Keller and Mitchell both drove in three runs and Hallie Schneider and Weiland both had two-hit games.
Up-to-date information about MCC softball including up-to-date schedule and changes, livestream links for home games, rosters, photos, statistics and more can be found on the MCC Athletics website, www.mccindians.com