The North Central Missouri College Lady Pirates battled their way through the consolation bracket to within one win of a championship series duel with Crowder College, before falling on Monday night to Jefferson College in a 4-3 loss, ending the season with a record of 33-18.
The final game of the season ended a grueling three-game day for North Central, with the loss against JeffCo coming in 11 innings. Facing elimination throughout the day, the Lady Pirates responded superbly, with a 8-2 victory over State Fair and a 6-2 win over Three Rivers, ending the seasons of the Roadrunners and the Raiders.
The Lady Pirates opened the Division 1, Region 16 tournament at St. Charles Community College on Saturday with a dominant 8-1 win over Metropolitan Community College, scoring four runs in the bottom of the first inning and two each in the 2nd and 6th frames in the victory.
The tournament’s top seed, the Crowder College Roughriders, bounced NCMC into the consolation bracket with a second-round shutout of the Lady Pirates, in a 9-0, five inning no-hitter. Crowder put the game out of reach with four runs in the 2nd and three more runs in the 3rd inning.
Receiving first-team All-Region XVI honors for the Lady Pirates softball program was infielder Zoey Chrisman. Four NCMC players were named 2nd-team All-Region, in infielder Caragan Baker, pitcher Chloe Buckallew, pitcher Sammi Bradshaw, and catcher Madison Cowman.
Photo credit – NCMC Athletics / NCMCPirates.com / St. Charles, MO
