Katie Groves’ 11th home run of the season couldn’t have come at a better time for the Western Nebraska Community College softball team Wednesday in their conference doubleheader against Otero Junior College. Trailing 2-1 in the bottom of the seventh in the first game against Otero, Groves took the first pitch and sent it deep over the left centerfield fence. The blast helped the Cougars earn a 3-2 win against the Rattlers Wednesday at Volunteer Field in Scottsbluff.
WNCC carried the momentum of the first-game dramatics into a 9-1 5-inning defeat over Otero Junior College to move the Cougars to 10-4 in conference play and 25-15 overall. The Cougars will have two more conference games left against Trinidad State Ju
nior College on Saturday beginning at 11 a.m.
“I think if we would have lost that first game, the second game momentum would have changed drastically,” the freshman from Bluffdale, Utah, said. “We needed to win that first game to give our pitchers some support and show them that we want it and we are going to fight for them.”
The Cougars, trailing 2-1 in their final at bat, needed a rally. In the previous six innings, the Cougars managed to strand six runners in scoring position and manage to connect for five hits.
Groves was anticipating a pitch that she could take out of the ball park from Otero pitcher Jordan Hathorne. She got it.
“I was thinking, ‘Please throw me a ball that I actually can swing at’,” she said. “At some point, I knew she had to bring me something instead of just walking me. I didn’t get very many good pitches all game and then all of a sudden, come the seventh inning with the game on the line, she gave me a pitch that I could get a hold of. And, it went.”
That home run, though, only tied the game. Lauryn Smith followed Groves home run by getting plunked with a pitch on the elbow. A couple pitches later, freshman Adena Hagen burned the outfield, stroking a double to the fence that scored Smith from first with the winning run.
WNCC did have to fight from behind the entire game in the opener. Otero took a 2-0 lead in the first inning on just one hit and three walks. After that, though, Kelsey Garner settled in and shut down the Otero bats, allowing just three hits the rest of the way. Garner also struck out nine Rattlers, including five of six batters at one stretch.
The Cougars sliced the lead in half in the third inning. Groves led off with a walk and scored on Hagen’s double to left field. Neither team score again until the bottom of the seventh.
Hagen and Groves finished the game with two hits apiece. Groves went 2-for-2 with two runs scored, two walks, a RBI and a home run; while Hagen went 2-for-3 with two doubles and two RBIs. WNCC managed just three other hits after that.
The second game saw the Cougars start the offense from the get-go and never let up.
“The second game, we decided after our between games meeting, that we were going to go out there and take it to them. We were sick of coming back and pull it out. It was time that we made a statement,” Groves said. “They [Otero] were joking around and laughing a little bit in game one. They thought they had it won. Then all of a sudden there it was, the win was ours. You could see their entire faces the next game that they were down.”
WNCC scored two runs in the first inning. Groves led off by reaching on a throwing error. Smith then singled. Hagen then scored Groves with a sacrifice fly and Smith came around to score on a ground out for the 2-0 lead.
Otero sliced the lead in half in the second. With one out, Taylor Todacheene walked and scored on a Kristen Gretner double. That would be it for the Otero offense, as Casey Simpson shut down the Otero bats, tossing a five hitter, while striking out three.
WNCC also put the game away in the third inning by plating six runs on eight hits. Groves got things started by singling to left field, followed by Smith getting a single. Hagen scored both runners with a triple.
Sofia Gomez followed with a double that hit the fence to make the score 5-1. Kelly Pearson and Alyssa Hickey came through with singles before Garner was walked to load the bases with just one out. Tonya Atencia and Brittany Chacon followed with run-scoring singles to make the score 8-1.
WNCC put added another run in the fourth inning. Hagen led off with a double and scored on a sacrifice fly by Hickey to go up by eight runs.
WNCC finished the contest with 10 hits, including three extra base hits. Hagen finished 2-for-2 with three RBIs, two runs scored, a double and a triple. Smith ended the contest 2-for-3 with two runs scored, while Groves went 1-for-2 with two runs scored.
WNCC (25-15) will take its five-game winning streak into Saturday’s home finale against Trinidad State Junior College and Groves is hoping the team comes out ready to play.
“Every win is good and it is nicer to have a big lead and keep a big lead then hope we can pull it out at the end,” Groves said. “We are going to go out there [on Saturday] and give it our best shot for the crowd and the sophomores and hope to get two wins.”
First Game
Otero 200 000 0 – 2 4 1
WNCC 001 000 2 – 3 7 2
WP – Garner, LP – Jordan Hathorne; 2B – WNCC (Hagen), Otero (Regina Aragon, Ally Goniea); HR – WNCC (Groves).
Second Game
Otero (16-17) 010 00 – 1 5 1
WNCC (25-15) 206 1x – 9 10 0
WP – Simpson, LP – Shannon Traxinger; 2B – WNCC (Hagen, Gomez); 3B – WNCC (Hagen).
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