MCC Softball splits Saturday games; deciding game Sunday

LA JUNTA, Colo. – The McCook Community College softball team split a pair of games against Otero Junior College Saturday to send the best-of-three semi-final series into a deciding game Sunday. MCC won the first game 8-4 and lost the second game 16-15.

After 10 days since MCC played its last game, it took the Lady Indians a few innings to rev up the offense. Trailing 2-0 in the fifth inning of Game 1, freshman Laila Gutierrez hit a two-run home run to jumpstart the scoring and hit a key two-out, two-run single in the seventh to support the starting pitching effort of Ella Covill-Marter.

"We played well in Game 1 and Ella shut them down," said MCC Coach Mike Mendenhall.

In Game 2, MCC sent 14 hitters to the plate in the third inning of Game 2 and overcame a 3-1 deficit to turn into a 10-3 lead with nine runs.

"We were winning all of the second game and it was a heart breaker," said Mendenhall. "We had an obstruction call at the end of the game that gave them an extra opportunity and they took full advantage of it."

Otero outscored the Lady Indians 13-5 in the final four innings of the game, including a two-run home run with two outs in the ninth inning.

With the best-of-three series tied at 1-1, that sets up a winner-take-all game Sunday with the winning team advancing to the Region IX Championship Series next weekend.

"We have an opportunity for redemption tomorrow," said Mendenhall.

All the latest information MCC softball including up-to-date schedule and changes as well as statistics, rosters and photos can be found on the MCC Athletics website, www.mccindians.com

GAME 1 – McCook CC 8, Otero JC 4: Otero took the lead with an unearned run in the first and another in the third and led 2-0 until the top half of the fifth when MCC finally got on the scoreboard.

Freshman Ayana Goodwin (Broomfield, Colo.) led off the fifth with a single and Laila Gutierrez (freshman, Seminole, Texas) followed her with a two-run home run to left field to tie the game at 2-2. After one out, MCC repeated the formula with a single by sophomore Andie Suhai (Medicine Hat, Alberta) and a two-run home run by Lexi Knapp (freshman, Berthoud, Colo.). Freshman Sadie Kahl (Calgary, Alberta) then homered to give MCC a 5-2 lead.

Otero got its third unearned run of the game in the bottom of the fifth but MCC took advantage of two Rattler errors in the sixth to go up 6-3.

After a leadoff home run by Otero in the sixth, MCC was able to score two more runs in the seventh with a walk, back-to-back singles by sophomores Brylee Dean (Gering) and Ella Covill-Marter and a two-out two-run single by Gutierrez to put MCC ahead 8-4.

Covill-Marter picked up the complete-game win allowing one earned run and six hits, no walks and 10 strikeouts.

Gutierrez led the MCC offense with three hits and four RBIs. Kahl, Dean, Covill-Marter and Angela Banzet (Surrey, British Columbia) all had two-hit games as the Lady Indians outhit Otero 14-6.

GAME 2 – Otero JC 16, McCook CC 15: The Lady Rattlers took a 3-0 lead in the top of the first on an MCC error, a single and a two-run home run.

The Lady Indians got on the scoreboard in the bottom of the second on a walk, a single by freshman Rocio Mascorro (Brownsville, Texas), and a two-out RBI single from Brylee Dean.

After an Otero error to lead off the third, MCC tied the game on an Andie Suhai double and a two-run single by Lexi Knapp, who went to third on an error and later scored on a single by Sadie Kahl. Moscorro singled and later put MCC up 5-3 on a Rattler error. A passed ball, another error, a Suhai RBI-single and a two-run double by Knapp put MCC up 10-3.

Otero responded with four runs in the fourth on a hit batter and five singles to close the gap to 10-7. Ella Covill-Marter entered the game in the pitching circle but not before Otero made it a 10-9 game.

Kahl pitched 3.1 innings for MCC and allowed eight hits and seven earned runs, no walks and two strikeouts.

The Lady Indians took advantage of three Otero errors and a passed ball in the fourth to score four runs on RBI groundouts by Angela Banzet and Suhai and an RBI-single by Kahl to put MCC up 14-9.

After neither team scored in the fifth, the Lady Rattlers pushed three runs across in the sixth to trail 14-12. MCC scored a run in the bottom of the inning on a single by Suhai and an RBI-single by Knapp.

Otero's A. Mederios hit a three-run home run with two outs in the seventh and MCC went out in order in the bottom of the inning.

Covill-Marter pitched the final 3.2 innings, surrendering seven runs on eight hits, one walk and six strikeouts.

MCC had 17 hits with three hits and four RBIs from Knapp and three-hit games from Suhai and Kahl.