Lady Indians top 40-win mark with Sunday sweep
LAS VEGAS, N.M. – The McCook Community College softball team picked up their 41st win of the year Sunday in doubleheader sweep over Luna Community College. The Lady Indians won 11-2 and 8-3.
“It was nice to get two today after yesterday’s split,” said MCC Coach Mike Mendenhall.
The 41 wins is just four shy of last year’s record of 45 regular season wins. The Lady Indians have eight games remaining on the regular season schedule.
On Sunday, in Game 1 the Lady Indians scored five runs in the second and sixth innings to record their 40th win of the season as sophomore pitcher Paige Warren (Victoria, British Columbia) struck out 11 and fueled the offense with a three-run home run.
MCC broke open a 2-0 game in the fourth inning of Game 2 with six runs highlighted by freshman Lyndsay’s Keough’s team-leading 14th home run of the season as freshman pitcher Hannah Schneider (Alliance) picked up the win in the pitcher’s circle with relief help from Warren.
“We had two really good pitching performances from Paige and Hannah,” said Mendenhall. “I was a lot happier with our approaches at the plate too.”
The No. 24 Lady Indians go to 41-7 and 22-2 in the Region IX standings.
Luna goes to 19-29 overall and 12-12 in Region IX.
MCC will be in North Platte Friday to start a split-series with the Knights coming to McCook Sunday for a doubleheader starting at noon.
GAME 1 – McCook CC 11, Luna CC 2 (6 innings): Paige Warren singled to lead off the game, stole second base and scored on a single by freshman Josie Wright (Calgary, Alberta).
The Roughriders scored the game with a solo home run in the bottom of the inning, but MCC came back to score five runs in the second. Sophomore Audrey Reeves (Sterling, Colo.) led off the rally with a single and went to third on an error. The Lady Indians took a 2-1 lead for good with a Luna infield error on the next play. Warren had a 10-pitch at bat which ended in a three-run home run to make it a 5-1 game. Wright followed with a single, a swipe of second base and scored on an RBI-groundout from Lyndsay Keogh (freshman, Surrey, British Columbia).
Luna scored a run in the fifth but again MCC responded with a five-run inning. After three MCC walks loaded the bases in the sixth inning, Wright drew a fourth walk to put MCC ahead 7-2 and Keogh’s three-run double made it 10-2 and she scored the final run on a double by freshman Brooklyn Gillen.
Warren followed her 11-strikeout game Saturday with 12 on Sunday as she improved to 21-2 on the mound for her 17th complete game of the year. She allowed four hits and walked two.
Warren, Wright and Gillen all had two-hit games to pace the nine-hit MCC offense. Warren and Keogh both had three RBIs.
GAME 2 – McCook CC 8, Luna CC 3: Paige Warren walked to lead off the game, stole second and with two outs scored on an RBI-single by Brooklyn Gillen. Gillen came home on an RBI-double by sophomore Marleigh Mitchell (Mission, British Columbia) to put MCC up 2-0.
Sophomore Kashlin Beck (Claflin, Kan.) singled to lead of the MCC fourth. Freshman Hayley Smith (Chestermere, Alberta) walked and freshman Lacyn Keller (McCook) moved both runners up a base. With two outs, Josie Wright singled and Lyndsay Keogh hit a three-run home run to put MCC up 6-0. Gillen followed up hitting a triple and she scored on an RBI-single by Mitchell to make it a 7-0 game.
Beck and Smith walked to lead off the fifth inning and after a passed ball, Beck scored on a sacrifice fly by Warren to put MCC ahead 8-0.
Luna finally got to MCC starting pitcher Hannah Schneider in the fifth inning scoring three runs on two singles a walk and a double to cut the deficit to 8-3.
Warren came on to pitch the seventh in relief of Schneider, who picked up the win to improve to 12-3 on the season. In her six innings of work she allowed three earned run on eight hits, three walks and four strikeouts.
Warren struck out three in the seventh inning to give her 26 for the weekend in 14 innings pitched.
Gillen and Mitchell both had two-hit games for MCC. Keogh had three 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