Lady Indians sweep Friday games over Kansas City CC

KANSAS CITY, Kan. – The McCook Community College women's softball team improved to 9-1 on the season winning a pair of games over Kansas City Kansas Community College Friday. MCC won by the scores of 8-1 and 9-5.

"We had two great pitching performances for us today. We beat them in all aspects of the game," said MCC Coach Mike Mendenhall. "We were very good defensively and offensively."

Sophomore Sadie Kahl (Calgary, Alberta) started Game 1 in the pitching circle and kept the Blue Devils off the scoreboard in the final six innings as MCC got home runs from sophomore Anna Elliott (Calgary, Alberta) and freshman Paige Warren (Victoria, British Columbia).

Laila Gutierrez (sophomore, Seminole, Texas) had three hits in Game 2 as MCC hit three homeruns and banged out 13 hits to back the pitching of freshman Kaliyah St. Amand (Duncan, British Columbia)

"They were a tough team and we locked in at the plate," said Mendenhall.

These were the first games of the season for the Blue Devils, who are coming off a season where they went 36-20.

MCC improves to 9-1. The team will travel to Highland Community College Saturday for a doubleheader starting at 1 p.m. The Scotties are 1-1 heading into the weekend.

GAME 1 – McCook 8, Kansas City Kansas CC 1: The Lady Indians took a 1-0 lead in the first on a one-out double by sophomore Laila Gutierrez (Seminole, Texas), who stole third base and scored on a Blue Devil error. KCKCC tied the game in the bottom of the inning on a hit batter and a two-out triple of MCC starting pitcher Sadie Kahl.

MCC loaded the bases in the third when sophomore Angela Banzet (Surrey, British Columbia) was hit by a pitch, Paige Warren singled and Gutierrez reached on an error. Payton Kinsley (freshman, Didsbury, Alberta) drove in the go-ahead run on a single and the Lady Indians scored twice more on a wild pitch to go up 4-1. Kahl drove in a run on a groundball RBI and Anna Elliott knocked a two-run home run to center to give MCC a 6-1 lead.

Kaliyah St. Amand singled with one out in the sixth and scored on a two-run homer by Warren.

After surrendering a first-inning run, Sadie Kahl pitched six scoreless innings to pick up the complete-game win, allowing three hits with three walks and four strikeouts.

MCC outhit the Blue Devils 10-3. Warren, St. Amand and sophomore Rocio Mascorro (Brownsville, Texas) all had two-hit games for the Lady Indians.

GAME 2 – McCook 9, Kansas City Kansas CC 5: The Lady Indians struck quickly in the first with a one-out single by Laila Gutierrez, an RBI-double by Payton Kinsley and a two-run home run by Lexi Knapp (sophomore, Berthoud, Colo.).

The teams traded runs in the second with the Lady Indians scoring on back-to-back two-out singles by Paige Warren and Gutierrez and a Blue Devil Error. Anna Elliott hit a solo homer in the third to put MCC up 5-1. KCKCC scored twice in the bottom of the inning off starting pitcher Kaliyah St. Amand to close the MCC lead to 5-3.

MCC freshman Audrey Reeves (Sterling, Colo.) powered a solo homer in the fourth and the Lady Indians added two more runs in the frame on an RBI-double by Warren and an RBI-single by Gutierrez to lead 8-3.

The Blue Devils pushed two runs across in the fifth, but MCC was able to get one of those back in the sixth on a two-out RBI single from Gutierrez.

St. Amand kept KCKCC off the scoreboard in the sixth and seventh to pick up the win in the circle. She allowed eight hits and five runs on four walks and three strikeouts.

MCC had 13 hits in the game with three by Gutierrez and two each by Warren, Kinsley, Knapp and Elliott.