Lady Indians split pair of one-run games
ENID, Okla, – The McCook Community College softball team split a Saturday doubleheader against Northern Oklahoma College – Enid. The Lady Indians dropped the opener 3-2 and came back to win the second game 5-4 in extra innings.
“It was good pitching and a pretty good defensive day for us,” said MCC Coach Mike Mendenhall.
All the runs in the first game came in the fourth inning as the Jets picked up their first win of the season in a pitcher’s duel with MCC sophomore starter Sadie Kahl (Calgary, Alberta) taking the loss despite not allowing an earned run.
“Sadie did a nice job in the circle first game,” said Mendenhall. “We made a few costly mistakes that they capitalized on.”
MCC scored twice in the second inning of Game 2 and held NOC-Enid scoreless until the Jets pushed across three runs in the sixth inning. The Lady Indians got a pair of two-out hits to push across the tying run in the seventh and broke the 3-3 tie with two runs in the eighth to make a winner of freshman starting pitcher Kaliyah St. Amand (Duncan, British Columbia).
“In Game 2 Kaliyah was locked in and threw a heck of a game,” said Mendenhall. “Our approaches at the plate were much better game too.”
NOC-Enid falls to 1-5, with four of those losses by one run and the other by two runs.
“That was a good team. They recently beat the No. 16 team in the country and have competed with the top teams,” said Mendenhall.
MCC improves to 3-1 on the season. The Lady Indians continue their 24 games on road to start the season. They will be in Kansas Friday and Saturday with a doubleheader at Garden City Friday and another in Liberal Saturday against Seward County Community College.
MCC will open Nebraska Community College Athletic Conference play Feb. 19 with two games at North Platte.
The Lady Indians are not scheduled to play their first home game March 16 against Northeastern Junior College.
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 – NOC-Enid 3, McCook CC 2: All the scoring in the game came in the fourth inning. Freshman Payton Kinsley (Didsbury, Alberta) lined a double to centerfield and sophomore Lexi Knapp (Berthoud, Colo.) followed with a two-run home run to put MCC up 2-0.
In the bottom of the inning, NOC-Enid scored three unearned runs on a one-out single, an MCC error, then a two-out single to tie the game 2-2, followed by a walk and then what turned out to be the game-winning hit, an RBI-single.
Sadie Kahl pitched a complete game, yielding seven hits, two walks, three unearned runs, and two strikeouts.
Knapp was the only player with two hits. MCC committed two errors.
GAME 2 – McCook CC 5, NOC-Enid 4 (8 innings): Lexi Knapp started the scoring for MCC with a leadoff walk in the second. Sophomore Anna Elliott (Calgary, Alberta) doubled then with two outs Kaliyah St. Amand drove home both runners on a double.
St. Amand started the game in the circle and shut out the Jets through five innings. After the first batter in the sixth reached on an MCC error, the next two popped out in the infield but three straight hitters kept the rally alive with a single to put the first run on the scoreboard, a double to tie the game and a single to put the Jets up 3-2.
With one out in the MCC seventh, St. Armand lined a single to left field, then with two outs MCC got a single by Kahl and sophomore Laila Gutierrez (Seminole, Texas) tied the game on an infield single.
St. Amand retired the side in the seventh to send the game to the eighth tied 3-3. With a courtesy runner at second, Knapp walked after fouling off five straight pitches on a 3-2 count. Elliott bunted both runners up a base and freshman Cassidy Fenske (Gibbons, Alberta) singled in the lead run and sophomore Rocio Mascorro (Brownsville, Texas) delivered a pinch-hit RBI single to give MCC a 5-3 lead.
The Jets got three singles to lead off the eighth to close the gap to 5-4, but after one runner was picked off base at second base, St. Amand induced a flyout to center field and struck out the final hitter with the tying run left stranded at second base.
“I was proud of the girls because they didn’t give up,” said Mendenhall. “We could have folded at the end of the game, but we had some clutch hits at the right time.”
St. Amand recorded the complete-game win in eight innings, allowing 11 hits, two walks, no earned runs and seven strikeouts.
MCC had 10 hits in the game with St. Amand, Gutierrez and Fenske all having two-hit games.