 |
| Jocelyn Stubbs |
The Western Nebraska Community College softball team hopes its recent offensive surge continues this week when they play six home games in four days, beginning with the home opener Thursday afternoon against Black Hills State University.
The Cougars are 15-6 on the season and have won nine of their last 11 games. WNC C enters its first home contest with plenty of muster, sweeping both Otero and Colby on the road, while racking up 46 runs and belting six home runs.
Jocelyn Stubbs, a freshman from Roosevelt, Utah, leads the team with nine dingers., including three this past weekend. The team, through 21 games, has hit 32 home runs as a team. Stubbs, who had a grand slam against Colby on Sunday, said the team’s home run swing is because of the number of good hitters on the team.
“It is awesome of how many home runs our team has been able to hit so far this season,” she said. “It is always exciting to see my teammates succeed because home runs motivate me to paly better. I know that we are good hitters and more home runs are coming.”
The Cougars will hopefully add to the home run total on Thursday when they face Black Hills State in a doubleheader beginning at 1 p.m. at Volunteer Field. WNCC will then host Dawson Community College on Saturday and Sunday in doubleheaders.
Stubbs said the team is looking forward to playing on its own field and said they need to come ready to play.
“It will take a lot of focus to win all six games this week,” she said. “As long as we all remain on the same page with the same goal in mind, we will be fine.”
The Cougars have been turning the season around since opening up 5-4 in the first two weekends of the season. The team’s two losses were games they should have won, falling 4-3 to Trinidad and 7-5 to Luna.
“I think the team is coming together very well, Stubbs said. “We are getting better every day. Our pitchers are working hard in the circle but our batting is what has kept us ahead. We are all swinging the bat very well.”
WNCC is hitting at a clip of .338 this season, including ripping 76 extra base hits of its total 202 hits. Jordan Schoepflin is one of the top hitters on the team at .433 with seven doubles and one home run. Schoepflin is second on the team in RBIs with 26 behind Stubbs’ 27.
Sarah Hawryluk comes into the home series with an impressive .391 batting average followed by Bree Bitton at .368, Mariah Faifer at .365 and Jacqui Cappuccilli at .356. Stubbs is hitting .344 on the season.
Stubbs and Cappuccilli have a combined 16 home runs between the two followed by Megan Bourdon with six and Faifer with four.
The Cougars, however, will need an all-around game against Black Hills State, a team that they split with a year ago, falling 8-0 before winning 14-2 at Spearfish, S.D. Black Hills comes into the contest with a 6-8 record at the Tucson, Ariz., Invitational. The two squads faced each other in the fall at the Triple Crown Classic with the Yellow Jackets taking an 8-7 win.
Black Hills State brings a potent offense to the field as well, having scored double figure runs in three of their games this season. The Yellow Jackets have hit nine home runs and 14 doubles this season. Kelzie Chambers is the team’s big hitter, having hit five round-trippers and leads the team with 10 RBIs.
Chadron’s Brooke Grant will also be returning to the Panhandle as a member of the BHSU team. Grant has appeared in just seven games this season from her outfield position.
After this weekend’s home slate of games, the Cougars will hit the road to face McCook Community College on Wednesday in Region IX contests. The team won’t return home again until April 5 when they host North Platte Community College.
No comments:
Post a Comment