The Western Nebraska Community College softball team captured their third straight victory after getting two walk-off conference wins over Northeastern Junior College on Saturday at Volunteer Field.

                The first game saw the Cougars lead from start to finish in getting the 11-3 win behind a strong pitching performance from Katie McMillan and home runs from Erin Hanafin and Bailey Blanchard in just five innings.

                The second game was a back and forth contest as both teams scored in six of the seven innings. The seventh saw WNCC score the winnings runs on a walk-off Chloe Cronquist hit that score Mackenzie Bakel with the winning run for the 10-9 victory..

                “Today was a fantastic day. Everyone came out and played from the heart and continued to put up runs and make outs that were needed to be made,” right fielder Hanafin said. “I am super proud of our pitchers for staying tough in the games and our hitting team just did a fantastic job.”

                WNCC head coach Katie Groves said it was definitely a team win.

                “The whole team did well today (Saturday) from the starting nine to those that came off the bench to run or swing a bat or those that kept our energy levels up all day in the dugout,” Groves said. “We had two really great team wins today.”

                Both wins today saw different people step up in different roles. Groves said it wasn’t just Saturday, but all four games over the weekend saw great at bats. WNCC took three of four games from league-leading NJC over the weekend.

                “We had some great at bats all four games of this series, even in game one that we lost,” she said. “We are tracking the ball much better than we have been and making some solid contact. Our ability to pass the bat and move people around executing our game plan was great this weekend up and down the lineup and we had big moments from those coming in to pinch hit. I was really proud of our ability to string hits together and get big hits when we needed them from all over our lineup.:

                The first game saw the Cougars go out to an early 2-0 lead as Macyn Hartman drove in Victoria Wharton with the first run and then Bella Mumford scored Hartman on a sacrifice fly.

                WNCC pushed the lead to 8-0 after scoring six times in the second.  The inning started with Cronquist earning a walk and Hanafin launching a towering home run for the 4-0 lead.

                WNCC wasn’t through as WNCC loaded the bases as DemiRae Woolsey walked, Hartman was hit by a pitch and Blanchard had a bunt single. Taylor Klein then drove in two with a single and then Bakel scored two more with a 2-out double for the 8-0 lead.

NJC scored one in the top of the fourth inning before Blanchard started the bottom half of the inning with a home run to left field for the 9-1 lead.

The Plainswomen hit two homers in the fifth for their final runs of the game.

WNCC put the game away in the bottom of the fifth via the 8-run rule. Bakel started things with  a single. Bella Coffman singled in Bakel with two outs for a 10-3 lead. Blanchard then singled and Emma Schweitzer earned a walk to load the bass. Arianna Plorin, a pinch runner, scored the final run as she was forced home after Hartman earned a four-pitch walk to score the final run of the game.

WNCC out-hit NJC 11-8. Blanchard led the offense with three hits including a home run, two runs scored, and an RBI. Klein and Bakel each had two hits. Klein had a run scored and two RBIs while Bakel had a double with a run scored and two RBIs.

Katie McMillan picked up the win in the circle, pitching all five innings, giving up eight hits, three runs and two walks while recording two strikeouts.

Game two was a close game throughout with neither team able to get an edge on the other. Both teams got one run in the first. WNCC’s first inning run came from Bakel who singled home Wharton.

NJC went up 2-1 with another run in the second. NJC went up 3-1 with another run. WNCC matched that run as they sliced the NJC lead to 3-2 as Bella Mumford singled home Hartman.

WNCC took the lead in the fourth when Cronquist doubles followed by a Hanafin single. Schweitzer scored Cronquist with a sacrifice fly and then Wharton singled in Hanafin for the 4-3 lead.

NJC responded by tying the game with a run in the fifth. The tie was short-lived as Mumford blasted a solo home run in the bottom of the fifth for the 5-4 lead.

NJCC came back with two in the sixth for a 6-5 lead. WNCC had plenty of confidence in the sixth as they score three times. Lexi Butterfield led off with a double followed by Blanchard with a single. Then, with two outs, Hartman delivered a 3-run home run to left field to put the Cougars up 8-6 entering the seventh.

The seventh proved interesting as the first two NJC batters reached base via singles. WNCC pitcher Butterfield settled down and got the next two out. NJC scored one on an error and then scored the go-ahead run on a single for the 9-8 lead.

                WNCC kept the energy up as Mumford led off with a single followed by Bakel singling to right field to put runners on the corner. Bakel then stole second and Mumford score the tying run as the ball sailed into the outfield sending Bakel to third base. Cronquist then took a 2-2 pitch and ripped pitch to third base and the throw was not handled cleanly and Bakel came racing home for the game winner.

                “Chloe (Cronquist) did her job,” Hanafin said. “She went up to bat relaxed and ready to do what she can to get that last run in to win the game.”

                Three Cougars finished with a multi-hit game led by Mumford, who went 3-for-4 with a home run,  two runs and two RBIs. Hartman finished 2-for-4 with a home run, two runs scored and three RBIs, while Bakel finished 2-for-4 with an RBI and run.

                WNCC utilized four pitchers. McMillian picked up the win in pitching just a third of the inning. Also seeing time on the mound were Caley Leslie, DesaRae Woolsey, and Butterfield. The pitchers combined for eight strikeouts, led by Woolsey with five.

                The Cougars will face the Plainswomen one more time this week as they play a makeup game on Tuesday before facing McCook the same day. WNCC will then have their final regular season home games next weekend when they host Luna Community College.

                Groves said they just need to take it one game at a time and that every game is important the rest of the way.

                At this point of the season, all games are big games and they are as big as we make them,” she said. “We need to take care of us and focus on Western Nebraska and Cougar softball. If we control the controllables and focus on what we do, we will be in games and have the ability to capitalize at any moment. We need to see pitches to the barrel, hit through the balls, see balls to the leather, play catch with teammates, hit our spots and pitch with authority, and most importantly continue to take care of each other. Together we go.”

 

Game 1

NJC        000 12 -- 3 8 0

WNCC   260 12 -- 11 11 2

WP - Katie McMillan.

2B - Victoria Wharton, Mackenzie Bakel

HR - Bailey Blanchard, Erin Hanafin

 

Game 2

NJC        111 012 3 -- 9 12 3

WNCC   101 213 2 -- 10 12 3

WP – Katie McMillan.

2B -- Chloe Cronquist, Lexi Butterfield.

HR -- Macyn Hartman, Bella Mumford.

Fabricus powers Cougars to 14-3 win over NJC

               Dillon Fabricus was one of just four players to register at least three hits in Saturday’s Empire Conference game with Northeastern Junior College at Cleveland Field.

                Fabricus’ 3-run home run in the eighth inning was the clincher as the Cougars earned a 14-3 run-ruled 8-inning win over the Plainsmen.

                WNCC has now won five of their last six games, including taking the series against NJC 2-1 over the weekend. WNCC is now in second place in the North Empire Conference standings with a 12-11 conference record behind Southeast, who is 24-1 in the conference.

                WNCC head coach Mike Jones said this was a good team win with everyone doing their job.

                “It was a really good team win. We had some guys that really stepped up in our batting order,” Jones said. “Our offense is really starting to get better and becoming more of a complete lineup all the way through. Everybody is finding their way to contribute, and it is making us a much better team and giving us more scoring opportunities.”

                The Cougar offense outhit NJC 15-8 with four players recording three hits. Fabricus had the big day going 3-for-5 with a home run, two runs scored and four RBIs. Quinn McCafferty went 3-for-6 with a double, three runs scored, and two RBIs. Max Adam went 3-for-4 with a home run, two runs scored and two RBIs, while Eli Hernandez went 3-for-5 with a RBI.

                Ethan Johnson also had two RBIs with a triple in the game.

                While the offense was there for the Cougars, so was the defense as the pitching staff controlled the game in combining on 12 strikeouts.

                “Harold (Baez) came out and did a nice job and really commanded the outside part of the plate. I thought he kept his fastball low in the strike zone and mixed in the slider from there. He created some tough at bats for them,” Jones said. “Then, we played really good defense behind him. We tracked down some ball and played defense behind and gave ourselves a full team win today.”

                Baez went six strong innings in scattering seven hits and allowing three runs while striking out 10 NJC batters. Noah Baumann finished off the game, tossing two innings in allowing just one hit, walking one, and striking out two.

                WNCC trailed just once in the game when they were behind 2-1 after 3 ½ innings. After that, the Cougar offense took control of the game, scoring 10 runs in the fourth, fifth, and sixth innings.

                WNCC started the scoring with one in the second as Jordan Rollins singled to score McCafferty to put the Cougars up 1-0. NJC answered in the top of the third and fourth with single runs to lead 2-1.

                WNCC retook the lead for good with four in the bottom of the fourth as Fabricus and Adam singled and came in to score on a Johnson triple to take a 3-2. WNCC wasn’t through as Rollins walked and Johnson would later score for a 4-2 lead. Hernandez followed with a single to score Rollins and a 5-2 lead.

                NJC came back with a home run in the fifth to cut the lead to 5-3, but WNCC immediately answered with two in the fifth to lead 7-3. After McCafferty singled, Adam delivered a 2-out, 2-run home run to expand the lead.

                WNCC pushed the lead to 11-3 with four in the sixth as Jack Jones walked and Hernandez singled. Drew Book had a 2-out RBI single to make it 8-3 with two outs. WNCC kept going as McCafferty doubled in Dalton Nelson and Book and then Fabricus single in McCafferty for the 11-3 lead.

                The eighth inning saw the Cougars get three runs to end the game via the run rule. Nelson reached on an error and then Book was hit by a pitch. With two outs, Fabricus took the first pitch and sent it over the left field fence and the ball hit the side mirror of a pickup in the softball parking lot for the game winner.

                WNCC will have some big games this week as they travel to face Northeastern in a doubleheader on Wednesday before traveling to Beatrice to face North-leading Southeast Community College in clutch games.

                “Right now this team has put in a whole lot of work. They had some struggles there in the middle of the season and they got through all that and showed up to practice every day wanting to get better,” Jones said. “A lot of that hard work is starting to pay off for them.

                “Every conference game from here on out becomes an important game. Wednesday’s game is north on north so every time you get a win and hang a loss on another team it moves you up in the standings. So, they will all be pretty big for us. The last time we went to Sterling and played NJC, it was a tough day with their short ballpark and the wind was blowing out. We will see what it looks like on Wednesday.”

 

NJC                        001 110 00 – 3 8 2

WNCC                   010 424 03 – 14 15 2

WP – Harold Baez.

2B – Quinn McCafferty.

3B – Ethan Johnson.

HR – Max Adam, Dillon Fabricus