MCCOOK
– The 19th-ranked Western Nebraska Community College softball team
smashed six home runs and earned a berth in the Region IX championship series
on Sunday with an 18-3 win over McCook Community College Friday afternoon in
McCook.
The
Cougars will now face Otero Junior College in the best 2-out-of-3 series at
Volunteer Field. Game times are slated for 5 and 7 p.m. with an if-necessary
game slated for Monday.
Otero
earned a berth to face the Cougars with a 4-1 win over Trinidad State Junior
College on their side of the bracket. Otero and WNCC enter with almost
identical records. The two squads are combined 105-16 record. WNCC enters with
a 54-8 mark, which ties the school record for most wins in a season. WNCC also
has won 14 straight games.
WNCC
coach Maria Winn-Ratliff said it is an honor to tie the season record for wins,
but Sunday’s regional championship series will be a battle between two good
teams.
“It’s
a huge honor to get to 54 wins and be able to tie the record. It shows how hard
the team has been working,” she said. “Sunday will be competitive I think. Both
teams are playing well and it is always exciting games versus Otero.”
WNCC’s
offensive attack was hitting on all cylinders Friday against McCook, belting
out 20 hits. The Cougars also smashed six home runs and five doubles.
Winn-Ratliff
said she was pleased with the team’s offense from top to bottom.
“We
hit the ball well today,” she said. “That is always nice when you start off
with a home run,” “We had a lot of young ladies come up big for us today.”
Duran had the hot bat, going
4-for-4 with two home runs, a double, three RBIs and three runs scored.
Duran
led off the game with a solo shot in the first inning and then had another solo
no-doubter to lead off the fourth inning. Duran now has 24 home runs on the
season. She also came within one of tying the school record for doubles in a
season, hitting her 27th of the year on a lead-off two-bagger in in
the second. Duran also had a run-scoring single in the third.
Besides
Duran, seven other Cougars had multiple hits. Danielle Hearn also had
tremendous plate appearances, going 3-for-3 with a double, home run, two RBIs
and two runs scored. Hearn hit her 2-run jack in the first inning to make the
score 6-0. She also had a double and a single in the third inning.
WNCC
also received home runs from Jennifer Cottle, Mariah Shepherd, and Lindsey
Shiels-Brophy. Cottle blasted her 2-run home run in the third inning. She also
had a run-scoring double in the first inning. Cottle finished the game with
three RBIs and two runs scored.
Shepherd
and Shiels-Brophy each had a solo home run came in the third. Shepherd went
2-for-3 with two RBIs and two runs scored. Shiels-Brophy went 2-for-2 with two
RBIs and two runs scored.
WNCC
also had multiple hits from Kasey Cash, Angel Council, and Kayla Romey. Cash
finished with a double, two RBIs and three runs scored, while Council had a
double, three RBIs and a run scored. Romey had two singles with a run scored.
WNCC
led 6-0 after one period and pushed the lead to 8-0 after two innings. The
Cougars put the game away with a 9-run third inning that saw the Cougars lead
17-0. McCook got on the scoreboard with home runs in the fourth and fifth
inning.
Duran
picked up her 34th win of the season with another dominating
performance. Duran faced just 12 batters in three innings of work, allowing a
hit and striking out one. RaVae Herrera and Shelby McGraw each tossed one
inning. Herrera struck out three in allowing three hits and two runs, while
McGraw allowed two hits and a run.
McCook 000
21 – 3 6 0
WNCC (54-8) 629
1x – 18 20 3
WP – Bianca Duran; 2B – Duran, Kasey Cash, Angel Council,
Jennifer Cottle, Danielle Hearn; HR – Duran 2, Cottle, Mariah Shepherd, Lindsey
Shiels-Brophy, Danielle Hearn.
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