MCC Softball sweeps Southeast CC; improves to 23-3
Sophomore Paige Warren (Victoria, British Columbia) pitched all 14 innings Saturday as the McCook Community College softball team swept Southeast Community College 2-0 and 6-3. The win was MCC’s 14th straight win and the Lady Indians improve to 8-0 to lead the Region IX standings.
In Game 1, Warren singled in the third inning, stole second base, advanced to third on an error, and scored the first run of the game on a sacrifice fly by freshman Josie Wright (Calgary, Alberta). It was the only run she needed as the starting pitcher to get the seven-hit shutout.
Warren allowed three runs in the first two innings of Game 2 but recovered and the offense got on track and she retired six of the final seven batters to improve to 9-2 on the season. Wright and sophomore Marleigh Mitchell (Mission, British Columbia) both aided the offense with two hits and freshman Brooklyn Gillen (McCook) and freshman Hayley Smith (Chestermere, Alberta) both drove in two runs each.
The Bobcats fall to 7-10 and 4-4 in Region IX play.
MCC improves to 23-3 and 8-0 in the region and takes over first place in the standings.
The Lady Indians will play a split Region IX series against Northeastern Junior College. On Friday, MCC travels to Sterling, Colo. for a pair of games with the two teams returning to McCook for two games on Sunday, March 22.
GAME 1 – McCook CC 2, Southeast CC 0: The Lady Indians got back-to-back singles in the second inning by freshman Ellie Baca (Greeley, Colo.) and Brooklyn Gillen but the rally stalled there.
In the bottom of the third inning, Paige Warren singled, stole second, went to third on a Bobcat error and scored on sacrifice fly to centerfield by Josie Wright.
Sophomore Audrey Reeves (Sterling, Colo.) lined a single to centerfield to lead off the MCC fourth and went to second on a Gillen single. A fielder’s choice advanced Reeves to third and she scored on a two-out single by Hayley Smith.
Warren kept the Bobcats off the scoreboard in the fifth inning, limiting them to a single. She gave up a leadoff single in the sixth but retired the next three hitters in order and allowed a leadoff single in the seventh but retired the final three Bobcats for the shutout win in the circle. She allowed seven hits, one walk and she struck out three.
Gillen led the eight-hit MCC offense. Freshman Lyndsay Keogh (British Columbia) had the only extra-base hit, a fifth-inning double.
GAME 2 – McCook CC 6, Southeast CC 3: The Bobcats got a two-out, two-run home run in the first to go up 2-0 and added another run with two outs in the second to lead 3-0 on Paige Warren, who pitched a complete game in Game 1.
The Lady Indians tied the score in the bottom of the second. After two walks and a single loaded the bases, Hayley Smith singled home two runs and with two outs Josie Wright singled in the tying run.
Sophomores Marleigh Mitchell and Audrey Reeves singled to lead off the MCC third. After the runners advanced on a groundout, Brooklyn Gillen hit a sacrifice fly to drive home Mitchell and freshman Lacyn Keller (McCook) singled home Reeves to put the Lady Indians up 5-3.
Mitchell singled to lead off the fifth and freshman Malia Hilker (McCook) came in as a pinch runner and advanced to third on a single by Kashlin Beck (sophomore, Claflin, Kan.) and Hilker scored on a fielder’s choice with Gillen batting to give MCC a 6-3 lead.
Warren retired six of the final seven batters to pick up her second complete-game win of the day. She allowed eight hits, and struck out five. She went 3-0 in the series and picked up a save, pitching 23 innings, allowing four earned runs, walking four and striking out 20. She faced 57 batters Saturday, threw 191 pitches (131 for strikes).
MCC had eight hits in the game with two each by Mitchell and Wright. Gillen and Smith both had two RBIs.
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