Lady Indians advance to ‘Elite 8’ in CWS
YUMA, Ariz. – The McCook Community College softball team staved off elimination twice Wednesday to advance to the final eight teams in the National Junior College Athletic Association World Series.
MCC opened the day topping 10th seeded Trinity Valley (Athens, Texas) 8-3 then followed that with a 6-3 win over No. 8 Butler Community College (Great Bend, Kan.)
“These were quality win for us,” said MCC Coach Mike Mendenhall. “We kept everything pretty much the same as yesterday and it worked.”
The Lady Indians, now 51-10 on the season are right back at it Thursday at 9 a.m. against No. 11 Wallace State Community College 47-13 from Hanceville, Ala. A win would put MCC in a second elimination game Thursday.
On Wednesday MCC used the same formula that has propelled them to three straight CWS wins after losing the opening game Monday to Crowder College 4-2. In three of the four College World Series games, the Indians got down early and responded late.
In both games Wednesday, MCC got down early and charged back. Against Trinity Valley MCC took a 3-2 lead in the fourth inning and added three runs in the sixth on a bases-loaded double by freshman Payton Kinsley (Didsbury, Alberta). Against Butler, MCC got down 2-0 in the third, took the lead with four runs in the fourth and added two more in the sixth inning.
“Our two pitchers threw great in both games, we had timely hits and we did a better job defensively today as well,” said Mendenhall.
In both games Mendenhall and Assistant Rachel Conroy used sophomore starting pitcher Sadie Kahl (sophomore, Calgary, Alberta) into the fourth inning and used freshman Kaliyah St. Amand (Duncan, British Columbia) to close out the game in the final innings.
“We are putting McCook on the national sports map,” said MCC Coach Mike Mendenhall. “It has been a tremendous experience and some great ball.”
With Wednesday’s games broadcast on ESPN3, MCC coaches and players are getting a lot of calls and texts from friends and family watching over the globe.
MCC’s freshman Payton Kinsley (Didsbury, Alberta) was named ESPN3’s Player Of The Game against Trinity Valley while St. Amand was named Player of The Game against Butler.
“This is fun,” said Mendenhall.
With MCC’s 50th and 51st wins of the season, the Lady Indians ended the season and the tournament for Trinity Valley State who finishes the year 50-14 and for Butler, who goes home with a 45-9 record.
GAME 1 – McCook 8, Trinity Valley 3: The Cardinals took a 2-0 lead after two outs in the first inning on a hit batter, a triple and an error on the throw in.
Freshman Paige Warren (Victoria, British Columbia) reached first base on an error by the third baseman to lead off the third. She stole second and came home on a one-out single by Payton Kinsley to cut the deficit to 2-1.
Kaliyah St. Amand walked to lead off the MCC fourth and when sophomore Anna Elliott (Calgary, Alberta) laid down a bunt it ended up giving MCC a 3-2 lead when Elliott reached base safely on the bunt single but a throwing error allowed both St. Amand and Elliott to score.
The Lady Indians added another run in the fifth on a one out double by Kinsley and a two-out RBI-single by starting pitcher Sadie Kahl to put MCC up 4-2.
After Trinity Valley’s Kiara Wiedenhaupt homered to lead off the Cardinal, fifth, St. Amand came on in relief for MCC and retired the side striking out the first two hitters and getting the final batter to pop out.
In four-plus innings, Kahl allowed three earned runs on five hits, two walks and two strikeouts.
Sophomore Rocio Mascorro (Brownsville, Texas) was hit by a pitch to lead off the MCC sixth and Warren singled on a shallow fly ball over the shortstop and the runners moved to second and third on an error by the centerfielder.
Laila Gutierrez (sophomore, Seminole, Texas) worked a 16-pitch at bat for a walk to load the bases for Kinsley who drove in all three runners to put MCC up 7-3. With two-outs, Kahl singled home Kinsley for the final score of the game.
St. Amand hit a batter with one out in the bottom of the sixth but induced back-to-back infield popouts to get out of the inning.
In the bottom of the seventh after Trinity’s first batter popped to shortstop, the Cardinals rallied to put two batters on base with an MCC error and a single, but St. Amand struck out the final two batters to send MCC on to a second elimination game Wednesday.
Kahl was credited with the win, but St. Amand picked up a three-inning save allowing no runs or walks with one hit and four strikeouts.
MCC out-hit the team from Athens, Texas 10-6. Kinsley and Kahl both had three hits with Kinsley driving in there and Kahl two. Warren also had two hits for MCC.
GAME 2 – McCook 6, Butler Community College 3: The Grizzlies took advantage of a two-out MCC error to lead 1-0 in the second and made it 2-0 with a leadoff single in the third inning, a stolen base, a passed ball and a sacrifice fly.
Sophomore Lexi Knapp (Berthoud, Colo.) walked to lead off the MCC fourth and Sadie Kahl followed with a single. An unsuccessful fielder’s choice put runners on first and third. Elliott attempted a sacrifice bunt which advanced the runner Kaliyah St. Amand to second but an error by the pitcher loaded the bases.
Rocio Mascorro lined a single to drive in two and tie the game 2-2 and went to second on the throw home. With two outs, MCC took advantage of infield errors on back-to-back plays to push home two more runs and gave the Lady Indians a 4-2 lead.
“We won this game because of pitching and defense,” said Mendenhall. “It was a grind, and it took us a while to get going, but we did what we needed to go once again.”
The Grizzlies got one run back in the fifth with a leadoff double, a sacrifice bunt and an RBI single to make it a 4-3 MCC lead.
Kahl went 4.1 innings, allowing one earned run on five hits, a walk and a strikeout.
St. Amand went to the pitching circle in the sixth inning and retired the side in order.
Back-to-back one-out errors in the bottom of the sixth provided another scoring opportunity for the Lady Indians who took advantage with a bunt single by Laila Gutierrez to load the bases and a two-base error with Peyton Kinsley batting brought home two runs to put MCC up 6-3.
St. Amand retired the side in order in the seventh to pick up the save. She went 2.2 innings, allowing no runs, no hits, no walks and two strikeouts.
MCC took advantage of six Grizzlies errors leading to four unearned runs.
The Lady Indians had six hits in the game.
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
FIRST ROUND GAMES
MONDAY RESULTS
At Pacific Avenue Athletic Complex
Yuma, Ariz.
Game 1 – Crowder College 4, McCook Community College 2.
Game 2 –Navarro College 5, College of Southern Idaho 1
Game 3 – Rose State College 3, Lake Land College 1 (8 innings)
Game 4 – Southern Union State CC 4, Arizona Western College 0.
Game 5 – Butler 3, Paris 0
Game 6 – Chipola 2, Chattanooga State 0
Game 7 – Odessa 6, Wallace State 2
Game 8 – Gaston College 6, Trinity Valley, 2
TUESDAY SCHEDULE
CHAMPIONSHIP BRACKET
Game 9 –Florida SouthWestern 11, Crowder College 8
Game 10 –Navarro 2, Grayson 0
Game 11 – Rose State 6, McLennan 4
Game 12 -- Northwest Florida 2, Southern Union State 0
ELIMINATION BRACKET
Game 13 – Crowder 6, Lake Land 5 (Lake Land eliminated)
Game 14 – Grayson 8, Arizona Western College 0, (6 innings), (Arizona Western eliminated)
Game 15 – McCook 11, McLennan 6, (McLennan eliminated)
Game 16 – Southern Union State 5, Southern Idaho 1 (Southern Idaho eliminated)
WEDNESDAY RESULTS
ELIMINATION BRACKET
Game 17 – Crowder 2, Chattanooga State 1 (Chattanooga State eliminated)
Game 18 – Grayson 7, Paris 5 (Paris eliminated)
Game 19 – McCook 8, Trinity Valley 3 (Trinity Valley eliminated)
Game 20 – Wallace State 6, Southern Union State 2 (Southern Union State eliminated)
CHAMPIONSHIP BRACKET
Game 21 – Florida Southwestern State 7, Butler Community College 6
Game 22 – Chipola 4, Navarro 3
Game 23 – Northwest Florida State 5, Odessa 4
Game 24 – Gaston College 11, Rose State 5 (5 innings)
ELIMINATION BRACKET
Game 25 – Wallace State 10, Navarro 1 (Navarro eliminated)
Game 26 – McCook 6, Butler Community College 3 (Butler eliminated)
Game 27 – Grayson 6, Odessa 0 (Odessa eliminated)
Game 28 – Crowder 4, vs. Rose State 1 (Rose State eliminated)
THURSDAY GAMES
ELIMINATION BRACKET
Game 29 – No. 16 McCook vs. No. 11 Wallace State 11 a.m.
Game 30 – No. 4 Grayson vs. No. 17 Crowder, 1:15 p.m.
CHAMPIONSHIP BRACKET
Game 31 – No 12 Chipola vs. No. 1 Florida SouthWestern, 3:30 p.m.
Game 32 – No. 7 Gaston College vs. No 3 Northwest Florida, 5:45 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