The North Central Missouri College softball team, after being scuffled in a one-hit shutout effort by Jefferson College’s Kristina Bettis in the opener of Saturday afternoon’s doubleheader in Hillsboro, bounced back effectively in a 5-1 victory, salvaging a split of the games.
NCMC suffered its fifth loss of the season in the opener, the program’s third in region competition, in an 8-0 defeat, as JeffCo scored three runs in the 3rd and sixth innings to provide the decisive margin. Second baseman Danielle Lindsey had a homer and double in a 2-for-4 effort for Jefferson College, with Jessica Veselske and Kenadie Suddarth adding homers.
Tied at 1-1 heading into the fifth inning of the second game, North Central scored four runs in the top of the 5th inning, winning 5-1. Lady Pirate pitching held JeffCo to four hits, including a pair from leadoff hitter Riley Eagan, who scored a first-inning run to give the home team a brief 1-0 lead.
The split leaves the Lady Pirates record at 27-5 heading into the first full week of April.
North Central baseball, playing a wild extra-inning affair at Lewis & Clark College on Saturday, gave up a run in the bottom of the 10th inning, falling 12-11. The Pirates dominated play with the exception of one nightmarish inning, as a nine-run bottom of the 6th inning gave L&CC a 9-6 lead. The Pirates scored four runs to regain the lead in the 7th inning, and sent the game to extra innings with a 9th inning tally.
Billy Beckham had a home run and four RBI’s for Lewis & Clark, with both Max Ringering and Nick Wilke adding home runs (Wilke with two), three runs scored, and three RBI’s.
