WNCC, Black Hills State split softball games

The Western Nebraska Community College and Black Hills State University softball teams each collected big hits as the two teams split a doubleheader Tuesday at Volunteer Field in Scottsbluff.

WNCC’s Jessica McNabb slapped a fifth-inning triple to help the Cougars and Natasha Dypchey struck out eight Yellow Jackets as the Cougars came back for a 4-3 in game one.

In the nightcap, Black Hills pounded out eight hits in the sixth and seventh innings, including a solo home run from Brittany Montgomery, to register a 7-4 win.

WNCC coach Maria Winn-Ratliff and Black Hills State coach Amy Gurney both saw some good things out of the doubleheader.

“The good thing was we played well against their No. 1 pitcher (Jessica Clark) who was coming off being the DAC pitcher of the week,” WNCC coach Maria Winn-Ratliff said. “I thought in the second game Jessica Pexton threw a great game up until the sixth inning. We just couldn’t play enough defense behind her. Good teams, when you make mistakes will make you pay for it. That is what they did to us. They are a little shell-shock. We have always been the comeback team and today, we couldn’t do what we needed to do.”

Gurney said her team never gave up and kept fighting to the end.

“We played pretty solid. They are fighters and they kept battling back even when they were down. It was a good game for us,” she said. “I told them they need to start off the games that way instead of waiting until the end of the innings to do that. But it worked. I think hitting is contagious and one hit led to another, so that was good for us.”

Actually, both teams had big hits to jumpstart the offenses. In game one, WNCC took a 2-0 lead in the second inning on a two hits by Lauren Mills and Jessica McNabb, and two walks and an error.

Black Hills came back to grab a 3-2 lead in the fifth inning. With one out, Liberty Bell reached base on a fielding error. Then, with two outs, Amber Vidger was hit by a pitch followed by a run-scoring single by Kelli Graham and a 2-run double by Montgomery.

WNCC came right back in the bottom of the frame. Jessica Ventoza led off with a slap single followed by McNabb’s triple down the rightfield line. Two batters later, Ashley Eichelberger singled to score McNabb with the go-ahead run.

Dypchey picked up the win for the Cougars allowing three hits, while walking two and striking out eight. Jessica Clark, who was the DAC pitcher of the week with 25 strikeouts in 35 innings last week, took the loss. Clark allowed eight hits, while striking out five.

WNCC’s McNabb and Mills led the way at the plate with 2-for-3 performances. McNabb had a triple, run scored and RBI, while Mills had two singles. No other player on either team had multiple hits.

The second game was a pitcher’s dual between WNCC’s Pexton and BHSU’s Vidgar. Vidgar picked up the win allowing just three runs on seven hits, while striking out five. The only damage the Cougars managed against Vidgar was in the third inning. After McNabb and Ventoza reached base on a hitsbatsman and a single, Eichelberger blasted a home run over the leftfield fence to put WNCC up 3-0.

The lead stayed that way through 5 2/3 innings as Pexton was throwing a gem shutting out the Yellow Jackets until Montgomery blasted a solo home run over the leftfield fence. That opened the flood gates as the Yellow Jackets had four straight hits, including run-scoring doubles by Clark and Sam Lore to tie the game at 3-3.

Black Hills came back with four more runs in the seventh inning on three hits, three walks and an error. The big hit was a Montgomery single that scored the go-ahead run.

WNCC had one last ditch hope in their last at bat. With two outs, Amanda Hensley hit a solo home run that hit the scoreboard, but it wasn’t enough.

Kara Ryman led the Cougars with a 2-for-3 performance, while Lore, Montgomery and Jaime Bentley each collected two hits for the Yellow Jackets.

Gurney said these were two good games. "Both are two very good teams and I credit Western Nebraska, they put a good team on the field with strong hitters in the batter’s box,” she said. “It was a good contest for us.”

Winn-Ratliff said that her team will have to learn from Tuesday’s contest and get ready for the rest of the games this week.

“Hopefully, we will get our games in with Wyoming on Thursday. The weather is a little scary right know and then we have Trinidad on Friday,” she said. “We have to mentally prepare ourselves and whoever is on the mound, we have to play defense behind them and support them with run production and defensive plays.”

Friday’s contests are Region IX games, and WNCC is still in the hunt for winning the league title.

“We are sitting in a good spot and that is a little bit hit or miss a little bit,” Winn-Ratliff said. “They hit the ball real well and they have a real nice pitcher. If we don’t do what we are suppose to do, they will come up and beat us.”

Game One
Black Hills 000 030 0 – 3 3 1
WNCC 020 020 x – 4 8 1
WP – Dypchey, LP – Clark; 2B – WNCC 1 (Ryman), BHSU 1 (Montgomery); 3B – WNCC 1 (McNabb).

Game Two
Black Hills (9-11) 000 003 4 – 7 11 0
WNCC (18-11) 003 000 0 – 4 7 2
WP – Vidgar, LP – Pexton; 2B – BHSU 2 (Lore, Clark); HR – WNCC 2 (Eichelberger, Hensley), BHSU 1 (Montgomery).