The Western Nebraska Community College softball team split a conference doubleheader with Trinidad State College Sunday afternoon at Volunteer Field in Scottsbluff.

                The first game saw the Cougars pound out 14 hits with just one extra base hit when Bella Mumford homered to register a come-from-behind 9-6 win over Trinidad State.

                Game two was a contest the Cougars let split away as Trinidad scored five times in the seventh inning to break a 4-4 tie to get the 9-6 win.

                Morgan Dustin, a freshman catcher, who went 2-for-4 in the opening game, said the team played alright, but not perfect.

                "I think we played really good as a team today," Dustin said. "We did really good on defense and transferred that on offense as well. I think we did really well on defense and I think we could give ourselves a little room for error since our bats and hitting was doing so well."

                Trinidad struck first with three runs in the first inning on just two singles. All three runs were unearned.

                WNCC tied the game with three in the third as Victoria Wharton and Taylor Klein had back-to-back singles. Wharton scored on a Mumford single. Klein and Mumford each scored on a Chloe Cronquist single.

                WNCC went ahead with another three runs in the fourth for a 6-3 lead. Wharton had a one-out single and scored on a passed ball. Erin Hanafin then walked and Mumford had the only extra base hit for the Cougars as she towered a home run to centerfield for the lead.

                Trinidad sliced the lead to 6-5 with two in the fifth and had the bases loaded and threatening to score more. Cougar second baseman Bailey Blanchard stopped the threat as she made a diving catch going to her right for the third out.

WNCC answered with three more in the fifth. This time Dustin and Blanchard singled. Pinch runner Erin Hurst and Blanchard each scored on a Macyn Hartman single. Hartman came in to score on a Wharton single for the 9-5 lead.

                WNCC outhit Trinidad 14-9 in game one. Wharton led the team with a 4-for-4 game with all singles. Wharton scored twice and had an RBI. Wharton also had two stolen bases.

                Four other Cougars finished with two hits each. Mumford had a home run with three RBIs and two runs score. Also, Klein had two singles with an RBI, and Dustin and Cronquist each had two singles.

                Katie McMillan picked up the complete game win, allowing nine hits and six runs. She also struck out three.

                The second game saw a very tight and intense game for the first six innings. Trinidad scored one run in the first. WNCC came back to tie the game with a single run in the second as Hanafin tripled and scored on a Mumford fielder's choice hit.

                Trinidad came back with three in the third to lead 4-1. WNCC evened the score with three in the fifth. Wharton scored on a Klein single. Hanafin and Mumford followed with singles to load the bases. Klein came in to score on a Cronquist sacrifice fly and Hanafin scores later as Emma Schweitzer earned a walk to force in a run to knot things at 4-4.

                The lead stayed that way until the seventh when Trinidad scored five times on five hits for the 9-4 lead. WNCC tried making a comeback in the bottom of the frame as Dustin doubles and scores on a Schweitzer single, but that was all they could manage.

                The two teams combined for 26 hits with Trinidad outhitting WNCC 15-11. Wharton led the way with a 3-for-3 game with 1 run scored. For the day, Wharton was 7-for-7.

                Hanafin also had multiple hits with two, including a triple and two runs scored.

                Schweitzer had two RBIs in the contest.

                Lexi Parker pitched well, going six innings in scattering 12 hits and giving up seven runs. She held Trinidad to just four runs through six innings. Lexi Butterfield finished the game, allowing three hits and two runs. Both pitchers struck out two.

                WNCC will be back in action next weekend when they travel to face Otero College in a four-game series on Saturday and Sunday.

Game 1

Trinidad                300 020 1 – 6 9 1

WNCC                   003 330 x – 9 14 3

WP – Katie McMillan.

HR – Bella Mumford.

Game 2

Trinidad                103 000 5 – 9 15 1

WNCC                   010 030 1 – 5 11 1

LP – Lexi Parker.

2B – Morgan Dustin.

3B – Victoria Wharton. Erin Hanafin.