Lady Indians sweep Central for 16th straight win

The McCook Community College softball team won their 16^th straight game Wednesday sweeping Central Community College 10-0 and 12-0. The Lady Indians scored in every inning of both games, outhit Central 23-3 and didn’t commit an error in either game.

“We played great defense and our pitchers competed in the zone to give us a chance,” said MCC Coach Mike Mendenhall. “Our bats were pretty good today as well. We had 20-plus hits in two games and didn’t strike out much.”

In Game 1, freshman Payton Kinsley (Didsbury, Alberta) had two home runs and drove in five runs to back starting pitcher Sadie Kahl (sophomore, Calgary, Alberta) who pitched a two-hit shutout in a five-inning game.

Kinsley kept it going in Game 2 with a three-run home run in the second and freshman pitcher Kaliyah St. Amand (Duncan, British Columbia) faced just one batter over the minimum in a one-hit shutout.

In addition to keeping the win-streak in-tact, MCC improves to 8-0 in the Nebraska Community College Athletic Conference and goes to 12-0 at the Jaycees Sports Complex. 

“I keep waiting for one of these teams to sneak up and beat us, but we don’t give them the opportunity,” said Mendenhall. “These girls are locked in.”

Central goes to 4-3 in the Nebraska Conference and 12-16 overall.

The Lady Indians go to 28-4 on the season and shift attention to the Region IX standings, which they lead with an 8-0 record. Next up is second-place Otero College (10-2, 16-13).

Adverse weather forecasts for Colorado for the weekend have altered the four-game series at La Junta. That series was scheduled to start Saturday but was pushed back a day and with doubleheaders set for Sunday and Monday.

The Lady Indians will be back at the Jaycees Sports Complex April 9 for a pair of NCCAC games against Southeast Community College starting at 2 p.m.

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, Central CC 0: Sophomore Laila Gutierrez (Seminole, Texas) hit a one-out triple in the first and put MCC up 1-0 on a wild pitch. Sophomore Lexi Knapp (Berthoud, Colo.) hit a two-out single and scored on a single by sophomore Anna Elliott (Calgary, Alberta) to make it a 2-0 game.

In the second, freshman Audrey Reeves (Sterling, Colo.) fouled off three straight 3-2 pitches then led off the second with a solo home run. A pair of Central errors and a wild pitch led to an MCC run in the third to make it a 4-0 game.

Kinsley hit a two-run home run in the fourth and sophomore Rocio Mascorro (Brownsville, Texas) hit a sacrifice fly to put MCC up 7-0.

With one out in the fifth, sophomore Paige Warren (Victoria, British Columbia) and Gutierrez singled in front of Kinsley, who ended the game on the eight-run rule with a walk-off three-run home run.

MCC had 12 hits in the game with three by Gutierrez and two each by Kinsley, Knapp and Elliott.

Kahl picked up the complete-game win allowing two singles, two walks and she struck out five.

GAME 2 – McCook 12, Central CC 0: Paige Warren led off the MCC first with a single, Laila Gutierrez walked. With two outs, Anna Elliott delivered a two-run double and freshman Peytann Weiland (Aurora, Colo.) singled in Elliott to put MCC up 3-0.

Freshman Kashlin Beck (Claflin, Kan.) led of the MCC second with a single, stole second and scored on a single by Angela Banzet (sophomore, Surrey, British Columbia). Warren doubled in Banzet and after Gutierrez walked, Payton Kinsley hit a three-run home run to make it an 8-0 MCC lead. It was her third homer of the day and 10^th of the season.

MCC scored a run without a hit in the third to up the lead to 9-0.

A Central error opened the MCC fourth. Lexi Knapp and Elliott followed with singles to make it a 10-0 game and Weiland drove in the final two runs of the game with an RBI-single.

Kaliyah St. Amand (Duncan, British Columbia) was perfect through four innings, allowed a leadoff double in the fifth but stuck out the final two batters to end the game on the eight-run rule. She allowed just the one hit, didn’t walk a batter and struck out seven.

MCC had 11 hits in the game with two each by Warren, Elliott and Weiland. Elliott and Weiland also had three RBIs each along with Kinsley.