The North Central Missouri College Lady Pirates softball squad traveled to Branson over the weekend to compete in the Branson Softball Bash. The Lady Pirates faced some of what Head Coach Max Mothersbaugh called “as good of teams as we will see all year,” and finished with an 0-5 record.
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Game one saw the Lady Pirates fall 1-0 to Southeasten Community College. The Lady Pirates managed just three hits in the contest, coming off the bats of Mandy Monkman, Lana Dunning and Raschel Hoeflicker. Kallie Walczak took the loss on the hill. Walczak held Southeastern scoreless for the first six innings before giving up the game’s only run in the bottom of the seventh.
“We had opportunities to win the game,” Mothersbaugh said. “Their pitcher did a good job of slamming the door when we got runners on, though.”
North Central lost another one-run contest in game two, falling 3-2 to Iowa Central Community College. Lauren Cain pitched a strong game for the Lady Pirates, but took the loss in the end. Erica Carr gave the NCMC offense a boost in the game, going two-for-four with a triple.
Game three saw the Lady Pirates fall 2-1 to Iowa Western Community College. NCMC held a 1-0 advantage going into the sixth inning, but gave up two runs, one an earned run on Walczak, and one as a result of mental errors by the Lady Pirates’ defense. Carr was a bright spot again in the loss going three-for-three at the plate. Hoeflicker added two hits.
NCMC fell in their fourth game of the weekend series to Illinois Central Community College by a final score of 5-2. The Lady Pirates’ bid for a win ended in the next game, where a big first inning allowed Indian Hills Community College to take an 8-0 win.
“We didn’t play bad in terms of making errors,” Mothersbaugh said. “We just didn’t hit the ball well all weekend. We didn’t get embarrassed by any means. We played tough competition and were close in every game.”
The Lady Pirates will return to the field on Tuesday when they travel to Marshall to face Missouri Valley’s junior varsity squad. The Lady Pirates will also be in action on Thursday when they host Central Methodist in a make-up game. The first pitch for the Missouri Valley game is set for 4 p.m. while the Central Methodist game is set to go off at 2 p.m.