MCC Softball splits Friday games with Luna Community College

The McCook Community College softball team split a pair of games with Luna Community College Friday at the Jaycees Sports Complex. The Roughriders won the first game 8-0 and MCC won the second game 15-0. Both games were five inning games.

"It's been a roller coaster," said MCC Coach Mike Mendenhall. "We need to learn how to play two full games in a day rather than going through the motions like we did in the first game and then turning the jets on."

MCC was held to two hits in Game 1 then responded with 16 hits and seven for extra bases to back the solid pitching of freshman Ella Covill-Marter (Queensland, Australia). She allowed one hit in five innings, giving her 10 innings against Luna in this series, allowing four hits, no earned runs, two walks and 16 strikeouts.

"We hit well one through nine in the lineup in that second game and Ella kept us in the game," said Mendenhall. "We need those types of pitching performances."

The Roughriders are now 3-5 in Region IX and 6-18 overall.

MCC goes to 3-15 on the season and 2-6 in the Region IX standings.

The two teams will conclude their five-game set with a doubleheader Saturday starting at noon.

For all the up-to-date information on MCC softball this season including up-to-date scheduling changes, statistics, rosters and photos, please visit the official website of MCC Athletics at mccindians.com

GAME 1 – Luna CC 8, McCook CC 0: The Roughriders led 2-0 in the third inning before scoring four times, then added one in the fourth and two more in the fifth to put the game away in five innings on the eight-run rule.

"After winning that first game Thursday night, we just kind of went through the motions in that first game today," said MCC Coach Mike Mendenhall. "We had too many mental mistakes and mistakes in the field."

MCC committed three errors and offensively was limited to two hits in the game – a second inning single by Nevaeh Ogden (sophomore, Littleton Colo.) and a fourth-inning single by freshman Graci Nelson (McCook).

"I have to give them credit, their pitcher was pretty good," said Mendenhall.

Sophomore Hailee Ruble (Delta, Colo.) pitched the first four innings for MCC yielding six hits and four earned runs on four walks and a strikeout. Isabella Robertson (freshman, Las Alamos, N.M.) pitched one inning and gave up two runs on a hit, two walks and a strikeout.

GAME 2 – McCook CC 15, Luna CC 0: MCC came out with two runs in the second on a leadoff triple by Hailee Ruble, a Roughrider error, and an RBI-groundball off the bat of Katie Taylor (freshman, McCook).

MCC exploded for nine runs in the third, sending 13 batters to the plate and producing four singles, two doubles, a triple and two home runs. Sophomore Madisyn Simms (Maple Ridge, British Columbia) doubled and homered in the inning, Ruble had the other round tripper.

The hosts closed out the scoring with four runs in the fourth, leading off with back-to-back singles by sophomore Cassidy Fife (Provo, Utah) and freshman Ava Martinez (Houston, Texas). A fielder's choice made it a 12-0 game, an RBI single by Nevaeh Ogden gave MCC its second run of the inning and Simms delivered a two-run single for the final runs.

Simms led the 16-hit MCC offense with four hits including two doubles and a home run with five RBIs. Ogden had three hits, Ruble had a triple and a homer, and freshman Andie Suhai (Medicine Hat, Alberta) had a two-hit game.

Covill-Marter (Queensland, Australia) picked up the five-inning win, allowing one hit and one walk while striking out nine.