The North Central Missouri College Pirates are in the busiest stretch of their season, with a flurry of games backed up to the regular season finale this coming weekend.
The Pirates, on Saturday, earned a split against rival Maple Woods, moving into a 7th place tie in the Region 16 standings. At 8-20 in region play, NCMC is preparing to host the St. Louis Archers on Saturday, April 28th and Sunday, April 29th, with start times for the doubleheaders at Burleigh Grimes Field set for 1 PM Saturday and 12 noon on Sunday.
This past Saturday, NCMC took a 5-4, 8 inning victory in the opener against Maple Woods. Trae Brownell fire 6 1/3 effective innings for the NCMC pitching staff, relieved in the top of the 7th inning by Lucas Hampton. Despite giving up the game-tying run, Hampton got the victory, his 2nd of the season. Michaelle Collado was 3 for 4 for the Pirate offense, with the game-winning run scored by Collado via a wild pitch in the 8th inning.
With three wins in two days against the Monarchs, the Pirates were aiming for the four-game sweep on Saturday, but came up short in the finale by a score of 8-4. Tristen Sewell took the loss for NCMC, giving up four runs over 5 innings of work.
On Sunday, the Pirates traveled to Shaffer Park in Chillicothe to play Riverland Community College. After a 9-4 Game 1 win bolstered by a complete game winning effort from Amexem Hamm, the Pirates offense went cold in the nightcap, a 2-0 win for RCC.
On Monday, the two teams played two more games in Chillicothe, with the Pirates pitching staff struggling, as RCC took a pair of victories by scores of 13-9 and 16-8.
