The Western Nebraska Community College softball team put together two complete contests and swept past Trinidad State College Saturday during 38-degree weather in Region IX conference action.
The first game on Saturday saw Gracie Holm and Alyssa Albaugh each go 3-for-4, combining to score five runs as the Cougars scored three times in the sixth inning to take the 11-9 win.
The second contest saw Mia Migliaccio toss a complete game with four strikeouts while shutting down the Trojan offense for the 11-7 win.
The four wins over Trinidad this weekend were the first time the Cougars have swept the conference regular season games against Trinidad since the 2014 season. The wins locked the Cougars into the Region IX tournament that will start May 6 at McCook. The Cougars are sixth in the conference standings at 13-15 while Trinidad State falls to 11-21 with only the top six teams making the tournament.
WNCC will wrap up the regular season next week against North Platte Community College with two games at North Platte on Friday and then sophomore recognition day on Sunday.
"Sweeping Trinidad was a big thing for us to do," Migliaccio said. "I am very excited to play in the regional tournament. I think we can go far."
Albaugh, who had a nice offensive day on Saturday, going 6-for-8 in the two games with five RBIs, five runs scored, with a triple and a home run, said they had goals for this weekend and they exceeded those expectations.
"Winning all four was huge for us," Albaugh, from Torrington, Wyoming, said. "We knew we needed three, but we knew we were capable of taking all four. It says a lot about our team and what we can do when we play Cougar softball. It also means we get more time together which is really important to us, so that made it even more special."
Holm, who had a big day offensively in the opener, said the team is playing for the love of the game right now and never gave up all weekend.
"We are playing for the love of the game. Knowing we only have a short time left together makes us play even harder for each other. I know that we can sweep North Platte and continue to improve for regionals," Holm said. " Saturday, on defense, we really went all out, we had diving catches, great pitching, and hard plays which really got our energy up and ready for our offense. Our bats were hot and always had people on base, which helped us score almost every inning."
The two wins Saturday, in less than ideal temperatures, were a team effort victory. The Cougars never lost focus and battled back from deficits to get the wins with timely hitting and playing strong defense in the final three innings of each game.
"I think overall we played really well together as a team," Albaugh said. "We all had the same goal of making the regional tournament, and we knew we had to get the job done. Our pitchers threw great games and our defense backed them up by making the plays we needed. Offensively, we had a lot of quality at-bats, came up with big hits, and did a great job being aggressive in the box and on the base paths. It was just a complete team effort."
Another thing that made the wins stand out is how the team stayed focused while having fun in the game and coming back each time Trinidad State had one of those big innings.
"We're playing really well right now and just having fun competing together," Albaugh said. "I think that's a big part of our success. We are continuing to work hard in practice and focusing on the things we need to win. But we are also preparing for what the others might bring. If we stay focused and use this as momentum, we will be in a really good spot going into regionals."
The first game saw the Cougars score in five of the six innings and they had to battle back after falling behind 8-3 through two and a half innings. WNCC and Trinidad were knotted at 3-3 after two when the Cougars scored two in the second. Albaugh and Viktoria Sarkanyova singled and both scored on a Tina Horton single.
Trinidad then scored five in the third for the 8-3 lead. WNCC kept battling, getting two back in the third and three in the fourth to trail 9-8. The fourth started with Tori Travers reaching on an error followed by a single by Abbey Arntsen. Adi Duke and Gracie Holm each scored one. Albaugh then lines a shot to centerfield that rolls to the fence and Albaugh scores Holm with a triple to make it 9-8.
The Cougars went ahead with three in the sixth, scoring all the runs with two outs. Arntsen led off with a walk followed by Duke's single. With two outs, Albaugh hits a ball that was booted by the second baseman to score two and Albaugh takes second when no one was covering second base. Albaugh stole third and scored the final run on a passed ball.
WNCC and Trinidad combined for 26 hits in the contest. WNCC was led by Albaugh and Holm with three hits each. Albaugh had a triple, three runs scored and two RBIs, while Holm had a double with two runs scored.
Holm also got the win in the circle in relief of Arntsen, going 5 2/3 innings. Holm scattered 10 hits and allowed six runs while striking out three. What she did, however, was hold Trinidad scoreless in the last three innings.
The same kind of pitching performance occurred in game two with Migliaccio, who went the distance and allowed seven runs, but shut down the Trojans in the final three innings, allowing just one run in the seventh inning
WNCC jumped out to a 6-1 lead after three innings in the second game, scoring twice in the first, one in the second and three in the third. The first saw a run-scoring double from Abbey Arntsen and a run-scoring single by Jasmine Castro.
The second inning saw Horton double in Sarkanyova. The third saw Albaugh nail a two-out, three-run home run that was a line shot that cleared the fence in left field by the scoreboard.
Trinidad had a single run in the third and then plated five in the fourth to tie the game at 6-6. WNCC answered in the bottom of the fourth with two runs. The big hit was a two-out, two-run home run from Gracie Holm for the 8-6 lead.
The Cougars added three more insurance runs in the sixth, Arntsen and Castro each singled and came in to score on an Adi Duke ground out. Sarkanyova singled in Albaugh for the 11-6 lead.
WNCC finished with 15 hits in the contest. Castro led the way with a 4-for-4 performance with two runs scored. Sarkanyova and Horton each had three hits, while Arntsen and Albaugh had two hits apiece. Arntsen had a double while Horton had two doubles, and Albaugh had a home run.
Albaugh said these two wins were special to her because of how the team stayed focused and never gave up.
"I think what stood out to me the most was how we didn't let up, everyone contributed in different ways," she said. "It really showed the depth of our team and how much we trust each other and wanted to win for each other."
Game 1
Trinidad 215 100 0 – 9 14 5
WNCC 122 303 x – 11 12 3
WP – Gracie Holm.
2B – Gracie Holm, Tina Horton.
3B – Alyssa Albaugh.
Game 2
Trinidad 001 500 1 – 7 7 3
WNCC 213 203 x – 11 15 0
WP – Mia Migliaccio.
2B – Tina Horton 2, Abbey Arntsen.
HR – Gracie Holm, Alyssa Albaugh.