WNCC softball opens regional with win over McCook

The Western Nebraska Community College softball team opened the Region IX softball tournament in impressive fashion against McCook Community College to advance in the winner's bracket with a 13-0 win Friday at Volunteer Field in Scottsbluff.

The Cougars scored all 13 of their runs in the first inning on 10 hits as they sent 19 batters to the plate.

WNCC coach Maria Winn-Ratliff said her girls came ready to play

"They were eager to play," she said. "We had a special guest as [former Cougar] Aylssa Hickey showed up to tonight and I thought it was nice for us to see her smiling face and support. But, they were just ready to play."

The 20th-ranked Cougars will need to be ready to play again today in the second day of the tournament as they face Otero Junior College, who won 1-0 over Trinidad State Junior College. That game is slated for a 3 p.m. start.

"We have to make sure we get ready to play tomorrow [Saturday]," Winn-Ratliff said. "Our motto is survive and advance and we are going to do everything we can to do that. I have been saying it all the time that it is not about who we play, it is how we play. We don't really focus on who our opponent is, we try to focus on the things that ew d well."

Against McCook, the Cougars wasted little time in taking control of the game. WNCC quickly loaded the bases in the opening inning. Jordan Schoepflin followed with a 2-run double. Two batters later, Ashton Hughes had a run-scoring triple four a 4-0 lead.

WNCC wasn't through as Allie Alverson and Megan Burditt each had run-scoring singles for a 6-0 lead. Katie Groves later roped a triple to right field to score another two runs. Brittany Chacon later had a 2-run scoring single to go 13-0 after the opening frame.

The 13 runs was all the Cougars needed as Taylor Anderson and Stephanie Townsend combined on a one-hitter. Anderson stated the game and faced just 10 batters, giving up one hit
WNCC pounded out 11 hits in the run-shortened contest. Groves, Adena Hagen, Alverson and Burditt each finished the contest with two hits. Groves was 2-for-2 with a double, triple, two walks, two RBIs and two runs scored, while Hagen was 2-for-3 with two runs scored. Alverson finshed the contest at 2-for-2 with a run scored and RBI, while Burditt was 2-for-2 with a RBI and a run scored.

McCook's only hit of the game came as Dani Minor started the game with a leadoff single. That, however was all the Indians mustered offensively in he win.

The Indians advanced with an upset win against Lama Community College, where the Indians Danae McCorkle had a huge game. McCorkle finished the contest with two home runs, two runs scored, two walks and four RBIs.

McCook won the game in the seventh inning as Jackie Stickley and Ashalia Dyer had back-to-back singles with two outs. Kali Lyons then came through with a double that scored the two to put McCook up 7-5. Hay Springs; Stephanie Kuhn added another run with a run-scoring single to put McCook up 8-5 in one of the first round games.

The other first round game sa2 Trinidad State dropped Dawson 4-2. Trinidad scored all four of their runs in the fourth inning on three hits, including a 2-run double by Katie Kerr. Dawson added single runs in the sixth and seventh inning to slice the led in half.

Action today in the Region IX tournament sees Lamar facing Trinidad in an elimination game at 11 a.m. followed by McCook taking on Dawson at 1 p.m. in elimination. Otero and WNCC will battle at 3 p.m. followed by in elimination game as the two earlier winners will battle.

The tournament continues through Sunday.

Game One
Dawson 000 001 1 - 2 8 2
Trinidad 000 400 x - 4 5 0
WP - Sara Permenter, LP - Jenna Will. 2B - Dawson (Inga Mead), Trinidad (Katie Kerr).

Game Two
McCook 130 100 3 - 8 10 1
Lamar 001 040 0 - 5 6 0
WP - Jennifer Zulkanycz, LP - Krystal Krietemyer; 2B - McCook (Kali Lyons); HR - McCook (Danae McCorkle.

Game Three
Trinidad 000 000 0 - 0 2 0
Otero 100 000 x - 1 4 0
WP - Shannon Traxinger, LP - Jordyn Randolph. HR - Otero (Mariah Griego).

Game Four
McCook 000 00 - 0 1 4
WNCC (13)00 0x - 13 11 0
WP - Taylor Anderson, LP - Jennifer Zulkanycz. 2B - WNCC (Katie Groves, Jordan Schoepflin), 3B - WNCC (Katie Groves, Ashton Hughes).