WNCC earned the B Bracket title with a 8-2 win over York College and then topped Lamar Community College 4-1 in the title contest. The Cougars were 1-2 on Saturday, defeating York College 2-0 behind Garner’s no-hit performance, while falling to Doane College 4-3 and Colby Community College 7-3.
“After our home tournament, it seemed as through everything was clicking. Our bats were hot and our defense and pitching was consistent and it seemed there were a lot of positive things happening,” Garner said. “After this weekend in North Platte, we got to see some better competition in junior colleges and four-year schools and it showed us some things we need to work on. In the end, this tournament will only prepare us to do well this weekend [in Ft. Collins, Colo.] against even better competition in four-year schools.”
The story of the tournament, though, was Degano, who saw her first action as a Cougar.
“I think we did a good job this weekend,” the transfer from Southwest Baptist University in Missouri said. “The girls worked hard and with that work we were able to still come in first place. It was exciting to play and have my first Cougar win and hope there will be more to come. I’m confident that we will have an awesome fall season and I’m looking forward to what spring has coming our way.”
The way the Cougars rebounded from Saturday’s action to Sunday shows the potential of this year’s team. In the bracket portion of the tournament, Garner struck out 11 and allowed four hits in getting the win against York, while Degano struck out 11 and allowed two first-inning hits in the win against Lamar.
Against York, Adena Hagen paced the Cougars with a 3-for-5 performance including getting a double and two runs scored. Kelly Pearson also finished with a 3-for-4 performance. Also getting multiple hits in the game were Tonya Atencio going 2-for-4 with a double, and Alec Voci, going 2-for-4 with two singles.
Hagen, who is the lead-off hitter for the Cougars and had some clutch hits, said they definitely played better on Sunday.
“Over the weekend, our team really started to come together,” the freshman outfielder from Birch Hills, Saskatchewan, said. “The second day of play we made adjustments and started linking hits together. We had an important game against Lamar and came out and finished with a win.”
In the championship game against Lamar, WNCC allowed the Runnin’ Lopes to score a single run on two hits in the first inning. After that, Degano shut down the Runnin’ Lopes while not allowing a hit, while striking out nine. In fact, the Surrey, British Columbia, pitcher allowed just three base runners the final six innings.
While Degano was sizzling in the circle, the Cougar bats were clicking in getting clutch base hits in scoring their four runs. WNCC started the hitting early in the first inning as Katie Groves smacked a run-scoring double, and Alyssa Hickey had a run-scoring single.
WNCC added two more runs in the sixth inning as Hickey, Pearson and Megan Burditt each had singles in the inning for the win.
On Saturday, the Cougars had some bad luck in going through pool play with a 1-2 record. Against Colby, the Cougars managed just three hits as freshman Casey Simpson took the loss in the circle. The Cougars were paced offensively by Hickey with a 3-for-2 game.
WNCC rebounded against York College as Garner tossed a no hitter, allowing just two base runners on errors. Garner struck out six in facing 23 batters.
Offensively, the Cougars scored their only two runs in the seventh inning as Brenda Hearn led off with a single. Pounds followed with a one-out single to score pinch runner Jaclyn Bourdon. Pounds later scored on Atencio’s second hit of the game.
WNCC finished pool play with a heart-breaking 4-3 loss to Doane College. WNCC scored three times in the second inning on five errors by the Doane players. WNCC couldn’t hold the lead as the Tigers scored twice in the fourth and fifth inning for the win.
Degano took the loss in the circle, striking out nine batters and allowing six hits.
Offensively, the Cougars finished with just three hits, all singles from Pearson, Sofia Gomez and Hagen.
WNCC, 6-2 during the fall season, will be back in action this weekend when they head to the Triple Crown tournament in Ft. Collins, Colo. Saturday’s action will see WNCC facing Montana State-Billings at 10:30 a.m., Colorado School of Mines at 12:30 p.m., and Chadron State at 2:30 p.m. Sunday, the Cougars will face Metro State at 12:30 p.m. and Regis University at 2:30 p.m.
No comments:
Post a Comment