NORTH PLATTE – The McCook Community College softball team picked up a pair of wins Wednesday over North Platte in two distinctly different ways. Freshman Angel Valdez (West Jordan, Utah) tossed a complete game three-hitter in Game 1 to give MCC a 3-1 win and a seventh-inning grand slam off the bat of Hannah Jensen helped secure a 15-10 win in Game 2.
The wins put MCC in the driver’s seat in the Nebraska Community College Athletic Conference standings with a 5-1 mark (all on the road) and will play each of the three conference teams twice more at home. The win also puts MCC at 22-22 on the season.
This weekend the Lady Indians will travel to Sterling, Colo. for a doubleheader with Northeastern Junior College Saturday at 1 p.m. (MT) and to Scottsbluff Sunday to play Western Nebraska in a doubleheader at 1 p.m. (MT).
The Lady Indians will be home for the final 10 games of the season with a doubleheader Tuesday against Otero Junior College (11 a.m.), Wednesday against Central Community College (1 p.m.), and Friday against Trinidad State Junior College (11 a.m.).
You can stay up to date with all MCC Indian Athletics including live-streaming games, news, photo galleries, schedules and more at MCC Indians Athletics web page at:
https://mccindians.com/index.aspx?tab=softball&path=softball
NCCAC Standings
W-L (Overall)
McCook 5-1 22-22
Southeast 5-3 11-13
Central CC 3-3 8-18
North Platte 1-7 11-21
REMAINING NCCAC CONFENCE GAMES
April 24: Central Community College at MCC, 1 p.m., 3 p.m.
April 29: Southeast Community College at MCC 1 p.m., 3 p.m.
April 30: North Platte at McCook, 1 p.m., 3 p.m.
GAME 1 – McCook CC 3, North Platte CC 1: Down 2-1 in the third inning, the Lady Indians scored two runs which would be all the runs they needed to back the three-hit pitching of Angel Valdez.
Emily Charchuk (Victoria, British Columba) led off the MCC third with a single to right. Sophomore Sieara Price (Greeley, Colo.) delivered a two-out RBI-single followed by a Taylor Ford (McCook) RBI-single.
In the sixth inning MCC manufactured a run with a hit batter, a passed ball and a North Platte error.
The Lady Indians were held to four hits in the game including a double from Jerusha Miner (Gunnison Valley, Utah) and the three singles in the two-run third by Charchuk, Price and Ford.
GAME 2: – McCook CC 3, North Platte CC 1: The Indians scored three runs in the first inning, five in the second and another in the third inning to lead 9-0 but had to hold on to outlast North Platte.
A couple North Platte errors and a Taylor Ford sacrifice fly helped the Lady Indians get off to a 3-0 start. Kassidy Powers lifted a three-run homer to centerfield in the second inning to give MCC a 6-0 lead. The Lady Indians extended the lead with RBI singles from Jerusha Miner and Sarah Willier to put McCook up 8-0. Powers drove home a run in the third with a sacrifice fly.
North Platte chipped away with a pair of runs in the third and two more in the fifth inning to close within 9-4. MCC got one of those runs back in the sixth but the Knights came up with six runs in the sixth inning to tie the game at 10-10.
Emily Charchuk broke up the tie in the top of the seventh with a bases-loaded walk and the next batter, Hannah Jensen (Aurora, Colo.), powered a grand-slam home run to center to give the Lady Indians the final margin of victory.
Freshman Sarah Willier (Ponoka, Alberta) started in the circle for MCC and went 4.2 innings, allowing six hits and four earned runs. Sophomore Kayla Harrison (Richmond, British Columbia) pitched two-thirds of an inning and gave up three hits and four earned runs. Freshman Etta Van Burgsteden (Kinistino, Saskatchwan) came on to pitch the final 1.2 innings and picked up the win, allowing one hit, a walk, a strikeout and one unearned run.
MCC outhit NPCC 12-10. Miner and Jade Hollands (Effington, Kan.) each had three hits, and Powers two.