The Western Nebraska Community College softball team battled back from an 8-2 deficit in the second game of a doubleheader with Miles Community College on Wednesday at Volunteer Field to claim the 10-8 victory to earn a split on the day.
WNCC dropped game one 12-6 after Miles scored eight times in the fifth inning.
WNCC will be back in action this weekend at home when they host Dawson Community College Saturday and Sunday in doubleheaders both days.
Faythe Lafirenza, who went 7-for-8 on the day with three doubles and a triple. The freshman from Kingman, Arizona, said the comeback win was a team win as the team did what they needed to get the win.
"I think the second game we picked up our talk and picked up the energy," Lafirenza said. "We were like we all need to come together because this is game. We just talked and we were having fun. This is something we want to do and we all played since we were little and now we are in college. It is a fun sport."
WNCC was on the brink of dropping the second game after Miles went up 8-2 in the fourth inning. That was when the Cougars decided to wake up and play the way they know how offensively and defensively.
"Everyone came together. The talk, while many people outside of sports doesn't think talking is important, but talk in a huge thing in sports," Lafirenza said. "We held that energy and we played together and really came together. It started coming and coming with all the talk and all the hype, we all felt like we could do it."
Both teams scored in the first inning and then the pitchers settled in. Jenika Fuentes, got the win going all seven innings in scattering 15 hits but only allowing eight runs, walking just two, and striking out two.
For Miles, they picked up in the second game where they left off in the first game with three runs. WNCC answered in the bottom of the first. JoLee Huffaker got things started with a 2-out single and scored on a Lydia Tibbals double. Tibbals scored on the next batter as Tina Horton had a double to make it 3-2.
It was the fourth inning when Miles took the 8-2 lead on seven singles. The Cougars knew they had to regroup and they did, with six runs in the bottom of the fourth to tied the score at 8-8.
The fourth inning started with Randi Mitchell earning a walk and then Ellie Soper singled home Mitchell for the first run. Lafirenza followed with a double. WNCC made it 8-4 when Soper scored on a passed ball. Huffaker than singled to score another and Tibbals doubled to score two runs to make it 8-7 with just one out. WNCC loaded the bases and tied the score on a sacrifice fly by Mitchell.
Neither team scored in the fifth and WNCC held Miles scoreless in the sixth and seventh as well. WNCC won the game with two runs in the bottom of the sixth when Tibbals led off with single. Mykah Klumpp than came up with a huge hit as she had two strikes on her and went the opposite field to leftfield for a double, scoring Tibbals with the go-ahead run. Klumpp would score later on a Mitchell single for the 10-8 lead.
Lafirenza led the Cougars with a 4-for-4 game with a run scored and two doubles. Tibbals finished with three hits with two doubles, three runs scored, and three RBIs. Huffaker and Klumpp each had two hits.
The first game was also a close contest until one innings, the fifth-inning when Miles scored eight runs and WNCC just three.
Up until that time, both teams scored one run in the first and two runs in the fourth for a 3-3 tie. In the first for WNCC, Mitchell doubled and scored on a 2-out single by Kallie Stocking.
The third inning was started as Alyssa Albaugh reached second on a dropped flyball. Albaugh scored on a Huffaker single and then Huffaker scored on a Adi Duke single.
The fifth inning saw Miles score eight times to grab an 11-3 lead. WNCC tried coming back as Lafirenza tripled and then Klumpp walked. With two outs Huffaker reached first on a dropped third strike that saw Lafirenza score. Duke then singled to score two more to make it 11-6.
Lafirenza led the way with a 3-for-4 day with a double and triple with a run scored. Duke and Huffaker each had two hits. Duke had three RBIs.
WNCC will have two days to rest before they host Dawson on Saturday and Sunday. Lafirenza said they know what they need to work on and they need to stay together and continue to talk.
"I think we know what we have to adjust on, what we need to work on," she said. "In the next couple of practices we are going to go; we are hungry for it. We are going to fix what we need fixed and we know Dawson will be ready. It should be a nice couple of days to do softball and everyone will come out and five 100 percent
Game 1
Miles 100 280 1 – 12 11 2
WNCC 100 230 0 – 6 9 5
LP – Kallie Stocking.
2B – Faythe Lafirenza, Randi Mitchell.
3B – Faythe Lafirenza, JoLee Huffaker.
Game 2
Miles 300 500 0 – 8 16 0
WNCC 200 602 x – 10 16 0
WP – Jenika Fuentes.
2B -- Faythe Lafirenza 2, Lydia Tibbals 2, Adi Duke, Mykah Klumpp, Tina Horton.