The North Central Missouri College softball team continued its blistering start to the 2021 season on Monday afternoon, taking a pair of victories over South Carolina-Salkehatchie by scores of 14-3 and 3-0 in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. North Central, after losing in Sunday afternoon’s opener to USCS, has won three games in a row, improving to 13-3 on the season, with the Lady Pirates taking on Caldwell Tech in a doubleheader (10 AM and 12 Noon) on Tuesday.
Stats are not yet available from Monday’s sweep. However, on Sunday, in the Lady Indians 3-0 victory, the North Central offense ran into difficult situational hitting, as the Lady Pirates amassed nine hits but zero runs. Maycee Edgar, Rylee Sensenich, and Madi Cole all had two hits for NCMC, but the offense left a much-too-high number of 13 runners on base. USC-S scored three runs off of Lady Pirate starter Casey Stout in the bottom of the fifth inning for the winning margin. Sammi Bradshaw tossed a perfect sixth inning for NCMC.
The bats came alive for NCMC in Sunday’s nightcap, as a four spot in the top of the third inning gave the Lady Pirates a brief 4-3, with four more tallies in the fifth breaking a 5-5 tie, in a 10-5 victory for Steve Richman’s team. The Lady Pirates rolled up 15 hits in the victory, with a 3 for 4 effort from right fielder Erica Sandoval. Stout and Bradshaw each had two base knocks, along with Trenton’s McKayla Blackburn and Princeton’s Lindsey Batson. Blackburn added a pair of RBI’s for North Central.
Bradshaw earned the win from the circle for North Central, tossing four shutout innings to open the game. Stout gave up five runs in three innings out of the bullpen, but none of the tallies were earned, as the Lady Pirates defense was leaky, with four miscues in the game.
The 13-3 start to the season on-the-field has led to continued recruiting success for North Central, as Gallatin High School senior Caragan Baker and Chillicothe High School senior Mollie Ellis have both committed to play for the Lady Pirates over the past week. Lexi Hutton of Cameron High School has signed a national letter of intent with the NCMC girl’s golf program, with that signing occurring on Tuesday, March 9th.
