Lady Indians get comeback win to sweep Lamar
After winning the first three games of the four-game series with Lamar, No. 21 McCook Community College overcame a 4-2 deficit in the fifth inning of the final game to pull on a 9-4 win. MCC won the first game 10-1 in five innings.
“Day 2 of a double header is always challenging especially when it is cold and windy like it was today,” said MCC Coach Mike Mendenhall.
After going two-for-three and picking up a complete-game win in the pitching circle in Game 1, sophomore Paige Warren (Victoria, British Columbia) hit home runs in the fifth and sixth innings of Game 2 and picked up the win in relief.
“We did a nice job defensively in the first game. Game 2 was more of a battle for us,” said Mendenhall. “We were down the majority of the game and just kept chipping away and had a huge home run by Paige to take the lead.”
Warren went 3-0 in the circle for the series, allowing one run and eight hits in 12 innings with 12 strikeouts. At the plate she had nine hits in 14 at bats (a .643 batting average), scoring nine runs with 10 RBIs, three home runs and four stolen bases.
In Game 1, MCC also got home runs Lyndsay Keogh, Marleigh Mitchell, Audrey Reeves and Josie Wright. Keogh also hit a homer in Game 2, her 11th of the season. Warren’s two homers in Game 2 give her six for the year.
With the four-game sweep, MCC leads the Region IX standings with a 19-1 mark and the Lady Improve to 34-4 on the year.
Lamar falls to 10-10 in the standings and 15-25 overall.
MCC will take a short break from Region IX play. On Thursday the Lady Indians travel to Colby for a pair of games then host Fort Hays Tech Northwest for two Sunday games, April 12 starting at 2 p.m. MCC hosts Colby April 13.
The next Region IX game will be in Las Vegas, N.M. on April 18-19 when MCC takes on Luna Community College.
GAME 1 – McCook 10, Lamar 1 (5 innings): Paige Warren singled to lead off the MCC first inning and freshman Lyndsay Keogh Surrey, British Columbia) hit a two-run homer to put MCC ahead 2-0.
With two outs in the MCC third, freshman Josie Wright (Calgary, Alberta) ignited a five-run rally with a single and scored on a Lamar error. After freshman Brooklyn Gillen (McCook) singled, sophomore transfer Marleigh Mitchell (Mission, British Columbia) launched a two-run home run and sophomore Audrey Reeves (Sterling, Colo.) made it back-to-back homers to give the Lady Indians a 7-0 lead.
Lamar got their only run of the game in the fourth inning after two quick outs on four pitches, then hit four straight singles to make it a 7-1 game.
MCC closed out the offense with three runs in the fourth. Freshman Lacyn Keller (McCook) walked, Warren singled and Wright lifted a three-run home run to left field to make it 10-1.
Warren allowed seven hits, walked three and struck out three.
MCC had 10 hits in the game with two each by Warren, Wright, Gillen and Reeves.
GAME 2 – McCook CC 9, Lamar 4: A Lamar error, a walk and an RBI-single by Lyndsay Keogh put MCC up 1-0 in the first.
The Lopes took the lead in the fourth inning on a leadoff double, a passed ball, two walks, an RBI-single and a fielder’s choice RBI to give Lamar a 3-1 lead off starting pitcher Hannah Schneider (freshman, Alliance, Neb.).
Warren hit a solo home run with two outs in the bottom of the fourth to make it a 3-2 MCC deficit.
Lamar scored a run in the fifth on a double and a single to go up 4-2.
Keogh popped the first pitch of the bottom of the fifth over the center field fence to close the gap to 4-3.
Schneider pitched one batter into the sixth inning and after allowing a leadoff single she was relieved by Warren in the pitching circle. Schneider gave up four earned runs in five innings, walked two and struck out three. Warren struck out all three batters she faced in the inning.
Trailing 4-3 in the sixth, freshman Ellie Baca (Greeley, Colo.) and pinch hitter Hayley Smith both singled with one out and then Warren put MCC up 6-4 with her second home run of the game. Wright singled and Keogh walked, then with two outs, Marleigh Mitchell doubled in two runs and Audrey Reeves singled in another to make it a 9-4 game.
Warren issued a leadoff walk in the seventh but struck out two of the final three hitters to pick up the win in relief, to improve to 17-2 this season.
MCC had 14 hits in the game with three by Keogh and two each by Warren, Wright, Mitchell, Reeves and Baca.
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