Lady Indians sweep North Platte for 14th straight win

The McCook Community College softball team won its 14 straight game and completed a season sweep over North Platte Wednesday winning 9-2 and 16-0.

"We did what we needed to do to win," said MCC Coach Mike Mendenhall. The win puts MCC in first place in the Nebraska Community College Athletic Conference standings at 6-0 and gives the Lady Indians a 26-4 record.

Freshman pitcher Paige Warren (Victoria, British Columbia) struck out 13 Knights in Game 1 and sophomore Anna Elliott (Calgary, Alberta) went three-for-four with three RBIs to pace the offense.

The Indians broke open a 2-0 lead in Game 2 with seven runs in the third and fourth innings to back the pitching of sophomore
Lexi Knapp (Berthoud, Colo.) who tossed four innings of one-hit ball. Warren led MCC with a pair of doubles and a triple, freshman Kaliyah St. Amand (Duncan, British Columbia) drove in four with two hits and sophomore Laila Gutierrez (Seminole, Texas) launched a home run that hit the left field scoreboard and had three RBIs.

"It was good getting Paige and Lexi some innings," said Mendenhall. "They did a terrific job."

North Platte falls to 0-6 in the Nebraska conference and 4-14 overall.

"We got a lot of girls in and now we have a couple days off from playing to get locked back in where we need to be," said Mendenhall.

The Lady Indians will take the weekend off and return to action Tuesday at Hastings when they take on the JV team in two games starting at 2 p.m. On Wednesday MCC returns to the Jaycees Sports Complex (where they are 10-0 on the season) for a doubleheader with Central Community College. Those NCCAC games will start at 1 p.m.

GAME 1 – McCook 9, North Platte CC 2: The Lady Indians took a 3-0 lead in the first on three walks to lead off the inning, an RBI-ground out by sophomore Rocio Mascorro (Brownsville, Texas) and a two-run, two-out RBI-single by Anna Elliott.

MCC scored the fourth run of the game in the second after a walk and two-singles when freshman Payton Kinsley (Didsbury, Alberta) was hit with the bases loaded. Mascorro drove in a run on an infield groundout and Elliott doubled home two giving and a wild pitch made it an 80 game.

North Platte finally got to starting pitcher Paige Warren in the fourth on three singles and a sacrifice fly.

The Lady Indians pushed a run home in the fourth on a one-out single by sophomore Ayana Goodwin (Broomfield, Colo.), a two-base outfield throwing error and a double-play to put MCC up 9-2.

Warren picked up the complete-game win to improve to 5-1 on the season. She allowed five hits, didn't walk a hitter and struck out 13 Knights.

GAME 2 – McCook 16, North Platte CC 0: Paige Warren led off the first with a triple and put MCC up 1-0 on a steal of home. A North Platte error and a sacrifice fly by Kaliyah St. Amand put MCC up 2-0 in the second.

MCC sent nine hitters to the plate after two were out and scored seven runs in the third, highlighted by Kaliayah's bases-loaded triple and an RBI-double by Warren.

Gutierrez hit a three-run home run in the seven-run fourth inning which also included a two-run double by freshman Peytann Weiland.

Lexi Knapp picked up the win in the pitching circle, allowing one hit, no walks and four strikeouts. She improves to 3-0 on the season.

MCC had 10 hits in the game with three by Warren and two-hit games by Weiland and Anna Elliott.