Ashton Hughes tossed a five-hitter and leading the Cougar women to a 9-1 win in the opening game. The second game was a lot tighter with the Cougar women squeaking out a 6-3 win. The wins pushed the No. 18 Cougars to 19-6 on the season and 5-1 in Region IX play.
"I told the kids, like Pat Summit always says, they are Ws," WNCC coach Maria Winn-Ratliff said. "We just didn't play very well; just well enough to win. If we continue to play like that, we are not going to get victories. We have to show up to play every day with the capabilities of our team. Offensively, I didn't think we had good approaches at the plate. Ashton and Amanda weren't as sharp as they have been in the circle. It is just about getting better. We don't worry about wins and losses, we just try to worry about the process and the outcome, and for us it is success. We got two wins today but on the the coaching side it wasn't what we were looking for. When you play conference, anybody can win and we have to get better. The two squads will hook up for another conference doubleheader Sunday at Volunteer Field. First pitch is slated for noon. Winn-Ratliff said they need to come out ready to play.
"If I am Dawson's coaches, I am pleased," she said. "They went six innings in game one went seven innings in game two and had opportunities to win game two. They are going to come in with some confidence and I assume they would and they should. We just need to go out and put up some runs early and be able to support our pitchers. Six runs is not enough. We need to do a better job of executing when we have runners in scoring position. We didn't have timely hits when we needed to."WNCC opened up the doubleheader well, scoring four runs in the first inning on three hits. The big hit of the inning was a 2-run scoring double by Aria Agle. After that, the Cougars sputtered in scoring runs, touching home plate twice in the fourth and fifth, but also also leaving runners in scoring position. In the fourth, WNCC got 2-out singled from Allie Alverson and Sarah Hawryluk and both came around to score on passed balls and errors.
In the fifth, WNCC plated two runs on four hits. The Cougars finally ended the game via the run rule as Jacqui Cappuccilli ended the game with one swing of the bat, sending the ball about 50 feet over the centerfield fence.
Hughes picked up the win in the circle, allowing four hits and striking out seven. The lone run that Dawson scored was unearned as Allison Roper scored on a passed ball in the fourth inning.
Offensively, WNCC pounded out 11 hits. Hawryluk, Cappuccilli, and Jocelyn Stubbs
all collected two hits apiece. Hawryluk went 3-for-4 with two runs scored and three stolen bases, while Cappuccilli went 2-for-3 with two runs scored with a home run and two stolen bases.
Dawson outhit the Cougars in game two 10-6 as WNCC stranded five runners in scoring position in escaping with the win. WNCC went up 4-0 with a single runs in the first and third and two runs in the second. Stubbs started things in the big second inning with a lead-off home run, her 10th of the season, over the centerfield fence. Hughes followed with a double down right field followed by an Agle single. Hughes was the only one to score after Stubbs' home run.
Dawson came back, slicing the lead to 4-3 through 4 1/2 innings. The Buccaneers scored one in the fourth as Roper led off with a single and scored on a Julia Robinson single. Dawson scored two more in the fifth as Terin Old Elk had a 1-out single. Nicole Miller followed with a double and then Jenni Pehler had a run-scoring single. Roper than had the big play, executing a suicide squeeze to perfection in scoring Miller from third to cut the deficit to one.
WNCC came back with single runs in the fifth and sixth innings. Amanda Jones led off the fift with a single and scored on a sacrifice fly to increase the lead to 5-3. The Cougars added another run in the sixth as Mariah Faifer walked and scored later. WNCC, however, left the bases juiced as they managed just one hit -- a single by Hughes.
Jones picked up the win, tossing the complete game. Jones allowed 10 hits, three runs and struck out four.
Agle paced the Cougars with a 2-for-3 game, including a double. Faifer also chipped in a double and two runs scored.
The Bucs first three batters, Pehler, Roper and Miller all had two hits each. Miller was 2-for-3 with a run scored and a double, while Pehler was 2-for-4 and Roper was 2-for-3 with a run scored.
First Game
Dawson
WNCC 400 221 -- 9 11 0
WP -- Ashton Hughes, LP -- Nicole Miller; 2B -- DCC (Lauren Binkoski); HR -- WNCC (Jacqui Cappuccilli).
Second Game
Dawson
WNCC (19-6) 121 011 x -- 6 6 0
WP -- Amanda Jones, LP -- Binkoski; 2B -- WNCC ((Mariah Faifer, Aria Agle), DCC (NIcole Miller); HR -- WNCC (Jocelyn Stubbs).
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