The end of one team’s season will strength the roster of another Lady Pirate squad at North Central Missouri College, as the Lady Pirates added sophomores Kelly Warford and McKinley Hurley over the weekend, after those two had their basketball season end on Saturday, in a 79-70 loss to St. Louis in the Region 16 title game in St. Louis.
Warford and Hurley now turn their athletic focus to softball, where the Lady Pirates played a Sunday double-dip at Three Rivers Community College on Sunday. In that doubleheader, North Central lost the first game 8-2, but rebounded in the nightcap for a 5-4 triumph over the Lady Raiders.
On Thursday afternoon, the NCMC softball team split a doubleheader at the Ottawa (KS) University JV. North Central struggled in the first game, falling behind 8-0 after two innings, with Alison Hilsabeck giving up 10 runs in four innings of work in a 10-2 loss. Georgia Gibler and Jessica Stupar each had a base hit for the Lady Pirates offense.
In game 2 in Ottawa, the Lady Pirates fell behind 4-0 after the first inning, but rallied with four runs in the 3rd inning and five more in the 4th, for a 13-5 win, bolstered by a 15 hit offensive attack.
Stupar went six innings and gave up five runs in earning the victory. Jaclyn Weydert had a 3 for 3 game for North Central, with three runs scored and two RBI’s. Bethany Jacobsen, Rachael Balke, Amber Austin, and Stupar all had multi-hit games for the Lady Pirates.
The NCMC softball games originally scheduled for Thursday, March 9th against Kansas City Kansas have been cancelled and will be rescheduled for a future date. With the schedule change, the Lady Pirates will not have their home opener on Sunday (March 12th) against Southwestern Community College, with the first pitch for that doubleheader set for 2 o’clock at Mark Griffin Memorial Field.
