The Western Nebraska Community College softball team captured their seventh straight win in a doubleheader with Northeastern Junior College on Friday at Volunteer Field. The doubleheader took less than three hours to play as the Cougars moved to 8-6 in the conference and 17-21 overall.
The first game was a sterling pitching performance from Kayli Cooper, who tossed a one-hitter in five innings of work with just three strikeouts as the Cougars won 10-0. The second game was another was just as impressive as Cooper got the win in the circle as the Cougars downed NJC 9-1. Both games lasted just five innings because of the 8-run rule.
WNCC and NJC were slated to play Sunday in Sterling, Colorado, but those games were moved to Monday because of weather concerns.
WNCC is fourth in the Region IX standings at 8-6 and are just a game out of third place, which is held by Trinidad at 9-5. Trinidad split a pair of games with Otero on Friday, winning the first 2-0 and dropping the second 10-6.
Adi Duke, who went 4-for-6 on the day with two doubles, said the team played well to get the wins.
"We have set goals for ourselves and have been actively working towards them," the sophomore from Santaquin, Utah, said. "We know what action steps we need to take to win games and implementing them has been huge to our success. Today's (Friday's) games were a lot of fun. It was a warm day at Volunteer Field and we were all very excited to be out playing some softball."
Mykah Klumpp, a sophomore from Valley Center, Kansas, was 3-for-3 in the first game with a home run and four RBIs. Klumpp said, once again, they had energy and played great defense to get the two wins.
"We contained great energy every inning which allowed us to continue to back our pitcher up and string hits together. We have been going hard at practices, and it just shows when we go out to play," Klumpp said. "I mean, it's always about effort, but not only defensively. We put a lot of effort in all aspects of the game today. This includes fielding, pitching, catching, and hitting. We knew that no matter if a batter got on, we would lock in and work for the next batter, which was executed well."
The seven-game win streak is the longest since 2019 when they won 12 straight games at the end of the season.
Both Duke and Klumpp said the team is playing well right now on both ends.
"The team is playing well. We are all having fun which is super important, especially for us because we play harder that way," Klumpp said. "We just need to bring our high energy and all our effort to these next games. This will help us move towards our goal."
Duke said the team is building chemistry and that is helping right now.
"I would say the team is playing well and consistently at our level," Duke said. "We have great chemistry and lots of fun as well as a competitive spirit which showed in our first two games against NJC. It is essential for us to carry this energy to Sterling to take the series. The series is a pivotal point in determining who advances to the regional tournament so we are ready to fight hard."
WNCC took control of the first game from the start and never looked back as they scored in three of the four innings that they batted.
WNCC went up 3-0 after one inning and then 8-0 after two innings. The first inning saw back-to-back singles from Tina Horton and Randi Mitchell and then both scored on a Sierra Hilgner single for the 2-0 lead. Klump later singled to score Hilgner for the 3-0 lead.
NJC got their only hit of the game in the second inning, but nothing came of it.
The Cougars came back with five in the third. Mitchell starts the frame by reaching on an error. Then, with two outs, Klumpp doubles home Mitchell. Duke followed with a run-scoring single. After that, Tori Travers, JoLee Huffaker and Ellie Soper all had run-scoring singles for the 8-0 lead.
The fourth inning saw Hilgner score and then Klumpp took the fourth pitch she saw and calmly put it over the rightfield fence for a 2-run home run. It was Klumpp's fourth home run of the season, which leads the team.
The fifth inning saw Cooper get the first two NJC batters to strike out and then induced an easy infield fly to end the game in just an hour and 10 minutes of playing time.
WNCC finished with 12 hits in the contest, led by Klumpp with three hits. She was a triple shy of hitting for the cycle. Duke and Hilgner each had two hits in the contest.
NJC scored in the first inning on just one hit and a sacrifice fly. WNCC came back with four in the first. Tina Horton led off with a walk and came in to score on a Hilgner single. WNCC loaded the bases for Hilgner and the sophomore from Divide, Colorado, delivered a run-scoring single. Travers then scored two on a hit that resulted in an error for the 4-1 lead.
WNCC added a single run in the second and then adds four in the fourth. The fourth started when Lydia Tibbals singled. With two outs, Hilgner drew a walk and then Kallie Stocking came through with a 2-out single to score one run followed by Klumpp hitting a deep fly ball that wasn't fielded properly to score two more runs. Klumpp came in to score the final run on a Duke double.
The second game saw the Cougars get seven hits as Duke and Kallie Stocking each had two hits. Stocking, Klumpp, and HIlgner all scored two runs in the game, while Duke and Travers all had two RBIs.
Game 1
NJC 000 00 – 0 1 4
WNCC 305 2x – 10 12 1
WP – Kayli Cooper.
2B – Adi Duke, Mykah Klumpp.
HR – Mykah Klumpp.
Game 2
NJC 100 00 – 1 5 3
WNCC 410 4x – 9 7 1
WP – Kayli Cooper.
2B – Adi Duke.