The North Central Missouri College softball team continued a superb weekend for Lady Pirate athletics with a doubleheader sweep of the visiting Ellsworth (IA) Community College Panthers on Sunday afternoon at Mark Griffin Memorial Field.
The Lady Pirates took the opener, 3-2 in eight innings, with Coach Steve Richman praising his teams’ ability to “close a tight game out”. In a higher-scoring second game, North Central rolled to an 11-6 win. With a 7-1 non-region record in tow, the Lady Pirates head to Sedalia on Wednesday afternoon to play the State Fair Community College Roadrunners, with first pitch times scheduled for 2 and 4 o’clock.
While the Lady Pirates enjoyed the home field this weekend, their counterparts on the NCMC baseball team faced a stern four-game challenge with their Region 16 opening series against the Mineral Area Cardinals.
Although playing competitively, the Pirates record dropped to 1-11, with a four-game sweep doled out by Mineral Area. Assistant Coach Ryan Suttenfield said although the losses were tough, the improvement in the pitching was encouraging, with the Pirates allowing only two earned runs in Sunday’s games.
Sophomore shortstop Enrique Madera went 6 for 15 on the weekend in Park Hills with three runs scored, leaving his season average at a robust .486. Sophomore Austin Satterfield hit the Pirates only homer of the series.
On the bump, Blake Collister and Moses LaFontaine threw the baseball well on Sunday for the Pirates, with Collister throwing five innings of one-run ball, while LaFontaine throwing 2 2/3 innings of no earned-run action. Out of the bullpen, Lucas Hampton had four innings, allowing only one earned run, while Austin Wren threw 3 innings of one earned-run ball.
The Pirate defense was leaky in the series, giving up seven errors, leading to 7 of the 22 Mineral Area runs being of the un-earned variety. The final scores from Saturday were 7-6 and 7-4, while Sunday’s defeats were lower scoring, coming by 4-2 and 4-3 margins.
The Pirate baseball team will travel to Fayette, MO to play the Central Methodist JV on Wednesday afternoon at 4 o’clock, before returning to Burleigh Grimes Field to battle Three Rivers Community College in a four-game series this coming Saturday and Sunday afternoons.
Photo credit – NCMC Athletics / NCMCPirates.com / Harrison, AR
