The North Central Missouri College Lady Pirates took a pair of 9-8 victories on Wednesday afternoon, against the rival Maple Woods Monarchs in North Kansas City.
The Lady Pirates dominated the first three innings of the opener, grabbing a 5-0 lead, while Jessica Stupar fired three shutout innings. Maple Woods got on the board with two runs in the bottom of the 4th inning, before grabbing the advantage with a six-run fifth-inning. Stupar walked 12 batters in five innings, directly leading to North Central’s loss of the lead.
Down 8-5 going into the sixth inning, the Lady Pirates ripped the advantage away from the Monarchs, with four sixth-inning tallies. Allison Hilsabeck slammed the door on the home team with two shutout innings to close out the contest.
Third baseman Jaclyn Weydert smacked a home run in a 4 RBI game, while Aubrey Nelson homered in a 2-for-4, 3 RBI game. McKinley Hurley, out of the lead-off spot, had a 2-for-4 effort with a stolen base, a triple, and two runs scored.
Game #2 featured plenty of scoring on a frigid afternoon, but lacked the huge rallies of the first game. Over 14 half-innings with the bats, NCMC and Maple Woods scored runs in 11 of those times at bat, although all of the runs tallied came in one-or-two run rallies.
Both teams scored twice in the first inning, with North Central surging to a 7-4 lead after four innings. The next three runs, tallied over the 5th and 6th innings, drew the Monarchs even at 7. In the 7th frame, the Lady Pirates scored two runs to Maple Woods one.
The “power bats” remained on display for the Lady Pirates, with Bethany Jacobsen, Georgia Gibler, and Rachael Balke all going deep. Jacobsen was 2-for-4 with 3 RBI’s, with Weydert going 2-for-4 with 2 RBI’s. For the second straight game, Hurley, the Trenton native, served as the catalyst for the Lady Pirates offensive attack, with three hits and three runs scored over four at-bats, while stealing five bases.
Allison Hilsabeck pitched all seven innings for North Central, scattering 14 hits and giving up eight runs (six earned). The victory improves Hilsabeck to 6-2 on the season.
The wins move the team to 5-1 in region play so far this year, with a 9-3 overall mark.
