Softball team wins two on Sunday

The Western Nebraska Community College softball team quickly put the losses to Otero Junior College behind them Sunday as the Cougars defeated Air Force Academy in a doubleheader 4-2 and 6-5 in an extra-inning.

Both contests were nail-biters. In the opener, the Cougars struck for four first-inning runs and then cruised to the 4-2 win behind the four-hit pitching of Natasha Dypchey.

The second contest saw Jessie Ventoza go 4-for-4 from the plate and Jessie McNabb blast a 2-run, fifth-inning home run to propel WNCC to the sweep of Air Force.

“Defensively we played really strong, committing few errors,” freshman Lauren Mills said, who made some eye-popping defensive plays Sunday. “Offensively we struggled. We are usually very strong with our bats and we didn’t have them on the day.”

The Cougars, who had just four hits in the opening game, benefited from four straight walks followed a 2-RBI double by Lauren Bourdon to put the Cougars up 4-0. After that, the Cougar bats went silent registering just three hits over the next six innings.

WNCC didn’t need the bats in the first game, really, as Dypchey, the freshman pitcher from Canada, was mowing down the Air Force batters with seven strikeouts. Air Force managed lone runs in the first and seventh innings. Dypchey scattered four hits through the seven innings.

Bourdon continued her torrid hitting going 2-for-4 with two RBIs and a triple. Mills also provided some pop, going 1-for-2 with a double and an RBI. The other Cougar hit came off the bat of McNabb, who went 1-for-2 with two walks.

The nightcap was a barnburner. WNCC scored single runs in the first and second innings to grab a 2-0 lead and led 4-1 after four and a half innings off of McNabb’s 2-RBI inside-the-park home run.

McNabb said those runs proved beneficial as the freshman from Saskatchewan Canada motored around the bases for the inside the park home run on a 225-foot fence.

“It was a clutch home run and we needed to get some runs,” Mills said.

The Air Force Academy came back tying the contest in the bottom of the seventh on two hits and an error. WNCC bolted right back and struck for the winning run in the eighth inning. Dypchey led off the inning after being plucked by a pitch. Amanda Hensley then sacrificed before Amanda Torimaru singling in Dypchey with the go-ahead run.

Pexton picked up the win going all eight innings. The Douglas, Wyo., product scattered 13 hits, but only allowed five runs. She also struck out four and walked one.

Offensively, Ventoza went a perfect 4-for-4 with a double, three singles, a stolen and a run scored. Torimaru also was 2-for-5 with an RBI and the game-winning hit. McNabb, besides her home run, was 2-for-3 with a single, a walk and two runs scored.

Winning the game like they did gives the team confidence in close games. But, the players also realize that they need to play better then they did Sunday.”

“It allows us to learn never to give up until the game is over,” McNabb said. “It is good that we won [after the Otero losses on Friday] because it brought our record back even.”

The Cougars, 7-7, will be back in action Sunday when they open the home campaign against Lamar Community College in a triple-header beginning at 12 noon. McNabb said the team is looking forward to the home-opener at Volunteer Field, located behind Cleveland Field.

“It will be exciting to have all our fans [cheering us],” McNabb said. “We won twice against Lamar [two weeks ago] and we can beat that team. We just have to show up to play.”

First Game
WNCC 400 000 0 – 4 4 2
Air Force 100 000 1 – 2 4 0
WP – Dypchey; 2B – Bourdon.

Second Game
WNCC 110 021 01 – 6 13 4
Air Force 001 020 20 – 1 13 1
WP – Pexton, 2B – Ventoza; HR – McNabb.