Month: August 2018

KCKCC opens women’s home soccer season Aug. 22

Sophomores, from left, Jasmine Blindt, Jessica Hill, Itzel Almanza and Shayla Lee and second row, Carmen Rush, Madison Plake and Trinity Rosberg will lead the way when Kansas City Kansas Community College plays host to State Fair in the season opener Wednesday, Aug. 22. (KCKCC photo by Alan Hoskins)

by Alan Hoskins, KCKCC

Sophomores will lead the way for this fall’s Kansas City Kansas Community College’s women’s soccer team.

Six sophomores and one transfer will be joined by 13 freshmen when the Lady Blue Devils open the 2018 season with a home contest with State Fair Wednesday, Aug. 22. The first kick will come at 6 p.m.

“We’ll be depending on the sophomores for leadership, that’s for sure,” said third-year Blue Devil head coach Shawn Uhlenhake. “We’ll have some growing pains but so far, this group has shown a real willingness to work for each other which is a great step in the right direction.”

The Blue Devils will have leadership at both ends of the field. Last season’s leading scorer, Itzel Almanza, returns at the forward position while Jessica Hill of Topeka Shawnee Heights will again be in goal.

“We expect Jessica to be a leader in the nets and most happy to have the return of Almanza at forward along with transfer Jasmine Blindt,” said Uhlenhake, who said the two sophs may be paired together at forward. A high school teammate of Hill at Shawnee Heights, Blindt transferred from Hutchinson Community College.

Two Shawnee sophomores, Madison Plake of DeSoto and Trinity Rosberg of Shawnee Mission North, will anchor the midfield while Carmen Rush of DeSoto and Shayla Lee of Shreveport, Louisiana, will head up the defense.

Where additional playing help will come will hinge on the progress of the big freshman class.

“Young players in new roles takes time and game experience,” Uhlenhake said. Take Alee Alter, a freshman from Kearney for example. “Alee can play every position on the field and we may play her at every position, maybe even in goal.”

Christina Alvarez from Seattle, Washington, and Sydney Guerra of Perry, Iowa, head a list of promising newcomeers along with a trio of area freshmen, Karleigh Enyart of Olathe Northwest, Alex Schemmel of DeSoto and Erin Williams of DeSoto, and the Liberal duo of Ruth Nunez and Arlene Ruiz.

Catherine Small of Wichita Maize will be joined at midfield by two Kansas City, Kansas, products, Fatima Rebollo of Harmon and Olivia Lainez of Sumner Academy while freshman Martina Glenn of Bonner Springs will back up Jessica Hill as goalkeeper.

“Position changes will be made,” Uhlenhake said. “With so many freshmen, they are going to get a chance to step in and see a lot of playing time. So far our freshmen have been a breath of fresh air. They’ve come in with a lot of energy and revived the sophomores with their enthusiasm to work with them.”

The Blue Devils will be without three freshman, Mable Mayes of Norman, Oklahoma, who is out with an injury, and Abby Peterson of Wichita South and Grace Ankrom of Van Horn, both of whom are being red-shirted because of injuries.

The Blue Devils, who are coming off seven wins – the most in KCKCC history – will play a home-and-home schedule with their five Jayhawk Conference rivals, Allen County, Neosho County, Johnson County, Coffeyville and Cowley College.

“It’s going to be tough, like it always is,” Uhlenhake said.

Uhlenhake is being assisted by former Avila University head coach Sara Matthews in her first season and goalkeeper coach Kenny Mayer in his second season.

Kansas City Kansas Community College
2018 WOMEN’S SOCCER SCHEDULE
Wed., Aug. 22 STATE FAIR, Home 6 p.m.
Wed., Sept. 5 Butler, Away 5:30 p.m.
Sat., Sept. 8 NEOSHO COUNTY*, Home 5 p.m.
Wed., Sept. 12 Cowley College*, Away 5:30 p.m.
Tues., Sept. 18 JOHNSON COUNTY*, Home 5 p.m.
Sat., Sept. 22 Allen County*, Away 2 p.m.
Wed., Sept. 26 Coffeyville*, Away 5 p.m.
Sat., Sept. 29 BUTLER, Home 5:30 p.m.
Tues., Oct. 2 Neosho County*, Away 5:30 p.m.
Sat., Oct 6 COWLEY COLLEGE*, Home 5 p.m.
Tues., Oct. 9 Blue River, Away 2 p.m.
Fri., Oct. 12 Johnson County*, Away 2 p.m.
Tues., Oct. 16 ALLEN COUNTY*, Home 5 p.m.
Sun., Oct. 21 COFFEYVILLE*, Home 5 p.m.
*Jayhawk Conference contest

T-Bones win with walk-off home run in extra innings

The T-Bones (51-31) went into Thursday’s match-up against Fargo-Moorhead (45-37) trying to end a three-game losing streak and avoid the brooms of the RedHawks in the final game of the three-game series.

It was a back-and-forth ball game all night long. The T-Bones led, trailed, led, trailed, then tied to take it into extra innings.

Noah Perio Jr. was the hero of the evening with two home runs, one of which allowed for a walk-off win in the bottom of the 10th with a final score of 9-8 Kansas City.

In the T-Bones half of the first, lead-off batter Ryan Brett hit a center-field single off RedHawks starter Brandon Barker (2-4, 4.43). Colin Walsh, for his 20th RBI since being signed July 13, dropped a well-hit ball into right field to score Brett and put the T-Bones up 1-0.

KC held the modest lead until the top of the third when Devan Ahart slapped a ground ball down the middle that brought home Yhoxian Medina, who had doubled to left field.

Then the go-ahead run came home when Chris Jacobs hit a ground ball sharply to third to score Brennan Metzger. That would be the last play before the game was delayed roughly 40 minutes because of rain.

The RedHawks added to their lead in the fourth, but barely. With runners at the corners and one out, Tim Colwell hit the ball to first for the second out, but Charlie Valerio scored from third while the T-Bones chased down the runner between first and second for the third out. With that run that squeaked in, the RedHawks went up 3-1.

Despite five strikeouts to this point of the game, Tommy Collier (9-3, 3.15) sent back-to-back batters to the bases with walks to Devan Ahart and Chris Jacobs in the fifth.

A double to left field by Leobaldo Pina then brought home Ahart to make it 4-1 Fargo. Collier stayed off any more damage, striking out the last batter of the inning for strikeout number six of the night.

Colin Walsh, for his second RBI of the night, hit the ball into center in the bottom of the sixth. Both the shortstop and center fielder raced for the ball, but it dropped between them and allowed Mason Davis, who had singled and advanced on a passed ball, to score and make it 4-2.

With bases loaded, the RedHawks changed pitchers, but Keith Curcio lined the ball into right, allowing Colin Walsh and Todd Cunningham to score and tie up the game 4-4.

Another pitching change for the RedHawks meant another run for the T-Bones. Alay Lago hit an RBI sacrifice fly to left field, bringing home Adrian Nieto, who had singled earlier. The T-Bones grabbed the lead 5-4.

As quickly as the lead happened, it went away. In the top of the seventh, a three-run home run to right field by Kerry De La Cruz also scored Devan Ahart and Derrick Fox. It was 7-5 RedHawks.

Fargo tacked on another run in the eighth to make it 8-5 RedHawks. Tim Colwell, who had walked and stole a base, scored on an RBI double by Brennan Metzger.

But then the seesaw went back in favor of the T-Bones with another big inning. In the eighth, Noah Perio Jr. slammed a home run over the right field wall to cut into Fargo’s lead 8-6.

Adrian Nieto and Keith Curcio continued the T-Bones rally in the eighth, hitting back-to-back singles. Alay Lago once again came up to bat after a pitching change.

This time, he hit a double to right field to bring home Nieto and Curcio for his second and third RBIs of the night – and to once again tie the game – now 8-8.

That sent the game into extra innings. The stakes were high, with Kansas City battling to retain their second place standing in the league, which they’ve kept for 79 consecutive days going into the game.

A one-two-three top of the 10th quickly sent the T-Bones to the plate. Noah Perio Jr. took a ball for the first pitch, then connected with the second pitch, launching it over the fence for his second home run of the game, and the walk-off run.
The spectacular hitting by Perio Jr. gave Kansas City the walk-off win 9-8 over Fargo. Tommy Collier, the starter, got six strikeouts, and leads the American Association at 112 for the season.

Cody Winiarski (2-1, 1.84), who worked the ninth and 10th innings, got the win for Kansas City, and reliever Reese Gregory (3-3, 3.43) is charged with the loss for Fargo.

Kansas City begins a three-game series against the Cleburne Railroaders (28-55) Friday night at T-Bones Stadium.

Season, group tickets, mini-plans and nightly party suites are on sale now and can be purchased by visiting the box office at T-Bones Stadium. Call the box office at 913-328-5618 or purchase and print at www.tbonesbaseball.com. Box office hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday – Friday and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday.

– Story from T-Bones

KCKCC installs environmentally friendly hydration stations

by Kelly Rogge, KCKCC

As students, faculty and staff begin filtering onto the Kansas City Kansas Community College main campus for the start of a new semester, they may notice some new, more eco-friendly additions to the hallways.

The college recently purchased hydration stations at the request of the KCKCC Sustainable Environments Committee.

So far, four have been installed – one in the administration hallway, one in the Wellness Center, one in the KCKCC Field House and one in the science hallway. More will be installed as time and funds become available. Each hydration station costs between $500 and $1,000 with the goal of decreasing the amount of plastic bottles used on a daily basis throughout the main campus.

“We chose this effort for several reasons,” said Penny Mahon, chair of the Sustainable Environments Committee and the media-reference librarian in the Learning Commons. “It did not require a great amount of planning, approval or funding, but it does make a big forward step. Many people on campus have requested filtered water due to the taste and-or health benefits, so in obtaining the stations we are able to provide this service as well as make the college more sustainable by reducing the amount of disposable plastic water bottles.”

Hydration stations provide the opportunity for individuals to fill their own refillable water bottles with filtered water – a more sustainable option to purchasing disposable plastic water bottles. A bottle counter is located on each station showing the number of plastic water bottles saved by refilling reusable bottles at the station.

“People have been very positive about the machines,” Mahon said. “They are being used as well – the one in the Wellness Center already has had more than 2,500 uses.”

According to the International Bottled Water Association, in 2016 “bottled water surpassed carbonated soft drinks to become the largest beverage category by volume in the United States,” representing more than 9 billion gallons of bottles each year. However, only one in five plastic water bottles are recycled. In addition buying bottled water is an expensive habit. A gallon’s worth of single-serve bottled water costs almost $9.50 – nearly 2,000 times the price of tap water.

“Producing a plastic water bottle requires three times the amount of water than it does to fill it. Liquids are very heavy, so transporting bottled water uses a lot of fuel, and 17 million barrels of oil are required annually to produce plastic bottles (the equivalent of fueling a million cars),” she said. “Chemicals can leach from the bottles into the water itself, especially if the bottle becomes hot at any point in the process. Finally, most tap water is more heavily tested and regulated than bottled water even before filtering.”