The Western Nebraska Community College softball team is one win away from capturing its second Region IX championship in three years after getting by Otero Junior College in the Region IX tournament at Volunteer Field on Saturday.
The 20th-ranked Cougars rode the strong-armed pitching of Taylor Anderson and some clutch defensive plays, including a running catch by the fence by Adena Hagen, to drop Otero 4-1.
WNCC moves into today’s 1 p.m. title game against the winner of the 11 a.m. game that pits Trinidad State Junior College against Otero. The winner of the tournament advances to the national tournament May 20-22 in St. George, Utah.
WNCC coach Maria Winn-Ratliff is proud of the way her team scraped and stayed focused to send them into the championship game.
“I am extremely proud of them and this is huge momentum going into [today’s championship],” she said. “We just need to continue what we are doing and that is get a nice performance out of the circle, play good defense, and have good plate appearances.”
What made Winn-Ratliff pleased was the way they stayed in the game, from clutch base-running, good plate appearances, and clutch defensive plays.
“I felt like we had opportunities to score early but we just couldn’t push a run across. I told the kids to keep doing what they are doing and something will happen for us. They scored first and I think that gave them some momentum. We came right back; we had good plate appearances and found a way to put up some runs. Taylor did what she needed to do. She started to work ahead in counts later in the game. She worked out of jams early in the game, but in the fifth, sixth and seventh she did what we needed her to do and that was to get outs.
WNCC’s win Saturday was a win that plenty individuals stepped up in, whether it be offensively or defensively. On the offensive side, Ashton Hughes went 3-for-3 on the day, but it was her head-first slide into first base that ignited the team in the fourth inning. Hughes said this team did the things they needed to win.
“The little things are the most important and we have to keep coming out and doing the little things to win,” the freshman catcher said. “It really is about getting into the game. We have to start off a little harder each time.”
Another player that stepped up big defensively was centerfielder Hagen, who snagged a fly ball from going over the fence for a clutch out in the second inning. It was a play that was a big momentum swing for the Cougars, that saw pitcher Anderson strike out the next two batters to thwart a prime scoring opportunity for the Rattlers.
Winn-Rartliff lauded, not only Hagen’s play, but all the players that stepped up in different situations.
“Adena gets a ball hit out to her and she gets it in quickly,” the coach said. “She then gets another out and probably saves it from going out of the park, and then she has a diving catch that she almost makes. She covers a ton of ground and I don’t think she gets enough credit sometimes of how valuable she is and our outfield and what she brings to the table. I am just proud of everyone. Everyone on the team contributed and hope tomorrow we can get the same performance out of them.”
While it wasn’t the Cougar’s best offensive performance – they stranded seven runners in scoring position – it was a game where they shut down an explosive Otero team. Anderson struggled early, but came on strong in the end. The sophomore right-hander scattered five hits, while walking three and striking out six.
Neither team could generate runs across the plate in the early innings. WNCC had plenty of opportunities as back-to-back singles by Hagen and Katie Groves in the first went for naught. WNCC also stranded Brittany Chacon and Megan Bourdon in the second and third innings after each had towering doubles.
Finally, Otero broke the ice with a run in the fourth. Taylor Todacheene singled and later came around to score on a Laura Abellanida 2-out single up the middle that almost was caught by a diving Hagen in centerfield.
WNCC wasted little time in coming back as they plated three runs in the bottom of the inning. Hughes started things by reaching base on her head-first slide into first to beat the throw. Then, with two outs, Otero pitcher Shannon Traxinger had trouble finding the strike zone as she plunked Chacon and then walked Megan Burditt to load the bases.
Bourdon then earned her way on base by a walk, scoring Hughes with the tying run. Bourdon, in her at bat, fouled off a number of pitches to keep her plate appearance alive. Traxinger then walked Hagen to force in the go ahead run before Groves reached on an error to score another run for a 3-1 lead.
The Cougars added an insurance run in the fifth inning as Jacqui Cappuccilli led off with single followed by a perfectly educated bunt by Hughes that caught the Rattlers off guard. Later, pinch runner Amanda Saldivar scored on a Chacon grounder for the 4-1 lead.
WNCC managed eight hits in the contest, led by Hughes with her three singles. Hughes, the freshman from Regina, Saskatchewan, was the only player with more than one hit.
Hughes said they need to play their game to come away with a regional title.
“We definitely have to executing play and getting runners around the bases,” she said. “Our bats have to come alive and we have to play really solid defense. We have to do the little things right.”
In other games in the tournament, Trinidad eliminated Lamar 8-2 as they finished with 11 hits, including a solo home run from Vanessa Brogdon to help tie the game at 2-2 after three innings. Trinidad then scored single runs in the fourth and fifth inning and then opened the game with a four-run sixth inning on doubles by Shelbi Long and Brailey Freed.
Dawson then squeaked by McCook 10-9. The Bucs enjoyed a jumped on top 8-4 before McCook cut the lead to 8-7 with three runs in the fourth inning. Dawson added two more runs in the bottom of the inning to go up 10-8.
The Bucs had two doubles each from Jenna Will and Allison Roper in the win, while McCook Dani Minor had three doubles and three runs scored.
The final game of the day saw Trinidad State eliminate Dawson 16-4 with the Trojans pounding out 11 hits in the game, including a 3-for-3 performance from Long, including three runs scored.
Game One
Lamar 002 000 0 – 2 4 1
Trinidad 002 114 x – 8 113
WP – Jessica Apodaca, LP – Krystal Krietemeyer; 2B – Trinidad (Shelbi Long, Cherray Blan); HR – Trinidad (Vanessa Brogdon).
Game Two
Dawson 431 200 0 – 10 11 2
McCook 130 301 1 – 9 13 2
WP – Megan Ries, LP – Emily Schweikert; 2B – Dawson (Jenna Will 2, Bre Grewe), McCook (Dani Minor 3, Kali Lyons, Steph Kuhn, Danae McCorkle).
Game Three
Otero JC 000 100 0 – 1 5 1
WNCC 000 310 x – 4 8 1
WP – Taylor Anderson, LP – Shannon Traxinger; 2B – WNCC (Megan Bourdon, Brittany Chacon), Otero (Taylor Todacheene).
Trinidad 430 81 – 16 11 3
Dawson 102 01 – 4 4 5
WP – Jordyn Randolph, LP – Jenna Will; 2B – Dawson (Will, Allison Roper 2), Trinidad (Long, Leah Hanson).
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