The Western Nebraska Community College softball team is one win away from securing a ticket to the NJCAA National Softball Tournament for the first time in school history after registering a dominating 7-0 win over Otero Junior College in the second day of the Region IX Softball Tournament at Volunteer Field in Scottsbluff on Saturday.
The Cougars received another stellar pitching performance from Kelsey Garner as the sophomore tossed a two-hitter and struck out 10 Rattlers in propelling the Cougars to the win. The victory sends the Cougars into the championship game today at 2 p.m.
Today’s tournament action will get underway at 10 a.m. with Dawson Community College taking on Lamar Community College in an elimination game. That winner will take on Otero at noon for the right to face WNCC in the championship.
Garner’s pitching performance on Saturday wasn’t the only thing that the Cougars benefited from as the WNCC offense exploded for 13 hits, including a pair of first-inning home runs by Lauren Mills and Lauren Bourdon that quickly pushed the team in front 3-0.
“This win is huge for the kids. We just preached to the kids this whole time to survive and advance to put us in a good situation going into day three where someone has to beat us twice,” said WNCC coach Maria Winn-Ratliff. “The kids fought hard. Kelsey was amazing in the circle. What a way to play in front of our fans. We had great community support and we couldn’t ask for anything better.”
Winn-Ratliff said Mills’ leadoff homer set the tone.
“She is not the typical leadoff batter. When she did that, I knew that put us in a good situation and gave us a little bit of momentum,” Winn-Ratliff said. “We carried it on from there and had a great first inning.”
After Mills’ 13th dinger of the season, the Cougars continued to hit Otero starter Jessie Lessard. Jessie McNabb followed with a triple before Bourdon’s two-run homer put the Cougars in front 3-0.
WNCC added another run in the second inning as Mandy Pounds led off with a bunt single, followed by Mills reaching base on a bunt. With two outs, McNabb lofted a deep fly ball to leftfield that scored Pounds for a 4-0 lead.
The Cougar defense also shined, especially in the third inning when Mills laid out for a diving catch in centerfield to thwart a Rattler scoring opportunity.
“Lauren Mills came up with a huge diving play in centerfield and we made plays when we had to,” Winn-Ratliff said. “That is what we preach to them — play defense, get a good outing in the circle and push runs across. We found a way to do that. We hope we can carry that over to tomorrow.”
WNCC wasn’t through scoring as it added single runs in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings. In the fourth, McNabb connected on a run-scoring double to push the lead to 5-0. In the fifth, Amanda Torimaru singled and scored on a Whittany Foster single.
The Cougars’ final run came after McNabb doubled and scored two batters later on a Kara Ryman infield single for the final margin.
“This is one of the biggest wins of our season and now we have one more win to go,” said Mills. “Our defense did an excellent job. Kelsey pitched well in the circle and we backed her up. They only got two hits, one was a blooper and the other was a legit hit.”
WNCC had four players finish with multiple hits. McNabb went 3-for-3 with a triple, two doubles, two runs scored and two RBIs. Mills finished the game going 2-for-4. Ryman went 2-for-4 with a double and a RBI, while Foster finished the game 2-for-3 with a double and a RBI.
Games earlier in the day saw North Platte Community College defeat McCook Community College 8-3, Otero defeat Trinidad State 5-4 in 10 innings, Dawson top North Platte 7-5 and Lamar nip Trinidad State 4-3.
Otero 000 000 0 – 0 2 1
WNCC 310 111 x – 7 13 1
WP – Garner, LP – Lessard; 2B – WNCC (McNabb 2, Ryman, Foster), Otero (Lessard); HR – Mills, Bourdon).
1 comment:
Go Cougars! YOU ROCK! Love from Crowell, TX!
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