Hughes strikes out 11 as Cougars move into Region IX championship game

                 LAMAR, Colo. – It was a battle between not only the top two teams in Region IX, but also two of the top pitchers in the league in the winner’s bracket of the Regon IX tournament in Lamar, Colo., on Saturday.

                Western Nebraska Community College’s Ashton Hughes outshined Trinidad State Junior College’s Jordyn Randolph. Hughes tossed a four-hitter and struck out 11 as the Cougars moved into the championship game with the 1-0 win against the Trojans.

                It was also the 20^th-ranked Cougars 50^th win of the season. WNCC is one win away from capturing its second straight regional title. The Cougars will play the winner of the Trinidad State and Lamar game at 1 p.m. in Lamar, Colo., with an if-necessary game slated for 3 p.m.

                Hughes, who battled tough, in collecting her second shut-out of the tournament, said that team had some hiccups, but in the end, found a way to get the job done.

                “We had some lumps and some bumps, but we pulled through when it counted the most,” the sophomore from Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada said. “We struggled defensively with the wind that was blowing in but we made sure we got outs when it counted.”

                Both pitchers kept each other’s hits to a minimum. Trinidad State lost out on a prime scoring position in the first inning after loading the bases with just one out and failed to scratch across a run. After that, the Cougar defense was pretty solid. Trinidad had just one other runner in scoring position in the fourth inning.

                Randolph and the Trojan defense was also getting out of jams early on. The Cougars had five runners stranded in scoring position through five innings.

                Things changed in the sixth as Jocelyn Stubbs hit a one-out triple to right field. Bree Bitton then walked to put two runners on. Aria Agle came through in the clutch, ripping a single through the leftside of the infield, scoring pinch-runner Chelsea Townsend with the only run of the game.

                Hughes said Stubbs blast awaken the offensive bats.

“It was really important and it made everyone excited,” Hughes said. “It kind of lit the fire under us a little bit. We just feed off each other and that is what we did.”

Hughes faced just 27 batters in the game, scattering her four hits. She hit just one batter and allowed no walks to pick up her 29^th win on the season.

Stubbs, Agle, Megan Bourdon and Sarah Hawryluk collected the hits for the Cougars.

Hughes said the Cougars want come out in the championship game and be ready to take care of business.

“We just need to go out there and play our hardest and leave it all on the field because that is the most important thing,” she said. “You just have to go out there and want to win it in one and go out and try to shut the other team down and play good defense and hit the ball well.”

In other scores from the regional tournament, Lamar dropped Dawson 6-0, Otero beat McCook 3-1, and Lamar defeated Otero.

Trinidad                000 000 0 – 0 4 0

WNCC (50-13)    000 001 x – 1 4 1

WP – Ashton Hughes; 3B – Jocelyn Stubbs.

WNCC softball opens regionals with win over Lamar, Bourdon set new school home run record

               LAMAR, Colo. -- Megan Bourdon set a school record and the Western Nebraska Community College softball team opened the Region IX tournament on a good note, stopping Lamar Community College 3-0 to advance in the tournament Friday in Lamar, Colo.

               Bourdon hammered her 18th home run of the season with a first-inning home run, breaking the record by Katie Groves set in 2009 and received a complete game, shut out performance from Ashton Hughes to stay in the winner's bracket of regionals.

               The 20th-ranked Cougars, 49-13, advance to play Trinidad State Junior College, who was a 9-1 winner over Otero Junior College. Other scores in the tournament saw Lamar drop McCook 13-5 in eight innings and Otero defeat Dawson 8-5.

               WNCC coach Maria Winn-Ratliff said they got the win, that is all that matters.

               "Ashton threw OK. She threw a lot of first-pitch strikes. Defensively we are still making mistakes. We just found a way to pull out another W," she said. "We are talking about going one pitch and one game at a time. We need to get good at bats and get a good performance in the circle."

               After Bourdon's first inning home run, the score stayed 1-0 until the fifth inning when the Cougars added two more runs. Mariah Faifer led off with a walk and scored on a single by Bourdon. Bourdon scored the third run of the game on a single by Sarah Hawryluk.

               WNCC managed seven hits in the contest. Bourdon went 2-for-4 with two RBIs, two runs scored and a home run. Amanda Saldivar and Hawryluk each collected to singles in the contest.

               Hughes stifled the Lamar hitters, scattering four hits while striking out seven.

               Saturday's tournament schedule has Dawson facing Lamar at 11 a.m., McCook facing Otero at 1 p.m., Trinidad facing WNCC at 5 p.m., and the winners of the 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. game facing each at 5 p.m.

               The tournament championship is slated for 1 p.m. Sunday. Tournament games are being video streamed live at www.lamartvcolorado.com.

Lamar                   000 000 0 -- 0 4 1

WNCC (49-13)    100 020 x -- 3 7 3

WP -- Ashton Hughes; HR -- Megan Bourdon.

WNCC baseball team set for Regionals at Lamar this weekend

                 A week ago, the Western Nebraska Community College baseball team was on the blink of ending their season with no playoff possibility.

 But, with their backs against the wall, the Cougars found a way to take three of four games from Trinidad State Junior College last weekend. Because of those wins, the Cougars find themselves in the Region IX playoffs.

                The Cougars will open the first round of the Region IX playoffs facing the No. 1 seed Lamar Community College Saturday at 1 p.m. in Lamar, Colo. The series is best two of three games. The second game is slated for 1 p.m. Sunday with an if-necessary game to follow.

                WNCC, who finished the regular season with an 18-31 record, know their record doesn’t show just how good they can be. And, last weekend’s contests against Trinidad State gives the Cougar players much needed confidence.

                “The past weekend against Trnidad was huge for us because it is a huge confidence builder for the coming weekend,” sophomore pitcher Carlos Luzon said. “The regular season finale against Lamar on Monday really didn’t mean a lot because we knew who we were facing in the playoffs and we knew they are No. 1 in the region.

“Now, we have to play the best that we can to get two wins to make it to the regional finals. We are in pretty good shape We have been playing great and we have that confidence going on. I think with good pitching and good defense, those two 9-inning games can affect us in a good way.”

Lamar enters the regional playoffs with a 42-14 record. They finished the Empire Conference play at 25-4 and won the conference by 6 ½ games over Otero Junior College. Otero will face Trinidad State in the other first round contest. The winner of both first-round series will face each other May 13-15 in a best 2-out-of-3 series.

Sophomore Jake Stutzman of Wood River, said it won’t be easy this weekend. But, the team knows, since they beat Lamar once at their place, they have a chance.

                “They have a really good number one pitcher and we just have to scrap a couple runs across,” he said. “We just need a really good outing by [Carlos] Palomo in game one and play solid defense behind him.   We know that us going back to Lamar knowing that we won and easily could have been two, definitely gives us a confidence boost and we definitely can take two games from them.”
                The Lopes have two guys with earned run averages below a two. Arturo Maltos-Garcia enters the playoffs with an 11-0 record with an ERA of 1.27. Maltos-Garcia has struck out 126 this season. Shane Zaruba has an ERA of 1.74 and a record of 8-4. Tim Zufalt also boasts an impressive record coming in at 10-1. The Lamar pitching staff has a team 3.41 ERA.

                WNCC has seen a mixture of talent this season. It’s pitching staff is anchored by Luzon and Palomo as the top two hurlers. They also have great outings from Stutzman, Jeff Schmitt, trevor Kriesel, and Terry McNabb.

                The Cougars, however, don’t have a lot of power. Instead, they have to rely on getting the base hit at the right time, while utilizing their speed. And, in a ball park such as Lamar’s, where teams have said it is a batter’s dream park for home runs, Luzon said that pitchers have to stay in control.

                “We know they go out there really aggressive at swinging because they know they have a small field,” he said. “Us, pitchers, know we have to do a better job of locating our pitches, and pitching smarter than how we pitch at our field or another field. We know they will come out swinging the bats hard because one good swing and they can hit some balls out. We know they are going to go out aggressive so we have to be smart.”

                WNCC, however, has beaten the Lopes at their field already 5-4 back on April 17. They almost took a second game losing a 6-2 lead in the seventh and falling 7-6. The Cougars have dropped 11 one-run games this season. Stutzman said this team usually finds a way to stay in contests.

                “All year there were games where we have been out of it or down early, and we come back late in the game to at least make a game out of it and make it interesting,” he said. “That is how we have been all year. We just scrap a lot. We never quit and we have a lot of fight in our team until the game is completely over.”

WNCC softball ready for regional tournament which begins Friday in Lamar

                 The Western Nebraska Community College softball team will take aim a repeating as Region IX champions when they head to the regional tournament this weekend in Lamar, Colo.

                The 20^th-ranked Cougars, 48-13, enter the tournament as the overall No. 1 seed and will open play Friday at 5 p.m. against the winner of the McCook Community College and Lamar Community College contest in the double elimination tournament.  If the Cougars win, they will play Saturday at 3 p.m.

                For the Cougars, they are playing some of their best softball after taking four from Luna Community College last weekend. WNCC ran through the conference slate with a 17-3 record. WNCC sophomore Megan Bourdon, who tied a school record for home runs in a season with her 17^th dinger on Sunday, said this team is ready for the tournament.

                “I think we are playing really good. Our hitting is definitely good. Our defense has been strong. Ashton [Hughes] and [Amanda] Jones has done a really good job on the mound. If our hitting is good this weekend, I think we will be fine.”

                At the same time, the Cougar players are entering the tournament with caution, realizing that every team will bring their A game.

                “I think a lot of our team thought people would hand us the win and those losses told us that these teams are there to play us knowing that we are the best team there,” Bourdon said. “These teams want to get us. We are the top team that they want to beat.”

                The Cougars have stumbled three times in conference play, falling to Trinidad State 4-3, Lamar Community College 2-1, and McCook 5-3. It is those losses that have awakened the team.

Since the McCook loss on April 6, the Cougars won their next six conference games, sweeping Trinidad State 6-0 and 3-2, dropping Otero Junior College 8-0 and 9-1, and topping Lamar 10-2 and 6-0.

                Bourdon said the key to the recent success was playing well together, including getting clutch hits.

                “All we have to do is play our game and have fun,” Bourdon said. “When we relax, that is when we play the best. If our hitting is like it has been, then we will be fine. I am not worried about any other team but our own.”

                WNCC has put up some huge numbers offensively this season. The team set a new school record in home runs with 74 hit so far this season.  Bourdon leads the team with 17 dingers this season, but right behind her are Jocelyn Stubbs with 16 and Jacqui Cappuccilli with 15. Bree Bitton, Mariah Faifer and Ashton Hughes all have five or more home runs on the season.

                Bourdan, who was named the NJCAA softball Player of the Week on Wednesday, said their power is what can scare teams as anyone can crank one at anytime.

                “Pretty much our whole team has hit at least one home run,” she said. “I just know if I go up to the plate and get on, I know someone will score me.”

                The Cougars definitely racked up the extra base hits this season with 217, with 120 doubles. Jordan Schoepflin leads the way with 21 doubles followed by Cappuccilli and Aria Agle with 16, and Stubbs and Bourdon with 15.

                “I think our hitting is what most people are scared of because when we are on, we are on,” she said. “Our hitting seems like it contagious. It seems like when one person gets a hit, the next person gets a hit. Hopefully we hope our bats are hot this weekend if they are we could be in.”

                The key to winning back-to-back Region IX titles will come down to defense and pitching.

                “If our pitchers have a good weekend, which I am sure they will, that will be a huge relief,” Bourdon said. “If we can go this weekend without getting runs scored on us, then will be a big thing.”

                In the circle, the Cougars have been led by Ashton Hughes and Amanda Jones all season. The two have delivered the one-two punch. Hughes has a 27-4 record with 186 innings pitched. The sophomore right hander has struck out 235 with an earned run average of 1.88. Jones has also has a 20-win season at 20-8. Jones, a freshman from Las Vegas, Nev., has thrown 162 innings, striking out 81, and posting a 2.72 ERA.

                Bourdon said they just need to put everything together to capture the berth to the national tournament May 19-21 in St. George, Utah. The championship is slated for Sunday afternoon.

                The softball tournament will be video broadcast online at www.lamartvcolorado.com.

Friday’s Schedule

1 p.m. – McCook vs. Lamar

3 p.m. – Otero vs. Dawson

5 p.m. – McCook/Lamar winner vs. WNCC

7 p.m. – Otero /Dawson winner vs. Trinidad