by Alan Hoskins, KCKCC
Unfortunately runs can’t be stored in a bank and then withdrawn when needed because Kansas City Kansas Community College’s young softball teams scored a bunch of them Wednesday – 31 in all in a sweep of Missouri Valley College.
The Blue Devils rode Shannon Greene’s one-hit pitching performance to a 9-0 win in the opener and then got a three-hitter from Katelyn Kittrell in a 22-0 nightcap win. Both games were stopped after five innings.
The wins boosted KCKCC’s record to 5-1 heading into Jayhawk Conference play next Tuesday when the Blue Devils play host to No. 5 nationally ranked Johnson County in a doubleheader starting at 1 p.m.
A sophomore from McLouth, Greene (2-1) allowed only two baserunners, a third inning single and a fourth inning walk, while the Blue Devils backed her with errorless defense.
Kittrell, a freshman from Lansing, gave up three hits and struck out four in recording her third win of the season in the second game.
KCKCC took a 2-0 lead in the second inning of the first game without a hit and then broke it open with a 6-run third inning.
Lindgren’s triple following a Kali Jacobson single scored the first run and after a single by Jenny Mullins, Shannon Brown delivered a two-run single. A single by Brittney Beck and a two-run single by Aspen Salinas made it 8-0
Ignited by an inside-the-park leadoff home run by sophomore second baseman Natalie Cowan of Basehor-Linwood, the first eight Blue Devils to come to bat reached base in the 22-0 nightcap.
Jacobson was hit by a pitch, Lindgren singled and both scored on a single by Kaylee Arnzen. After a walk, Brown, Paris Forshey and Beck delivered singles for a 9-0 first inning start.
Arnzen, a freshman from Pampa, Texas, paced a 23-hit attack with two singles, a double and a 3-run home run that capped an 8-run third inning.
Brown and Beck each added three singles, Forshey singled and tripled in two runs in a 5-run second inning; Cowan added a single to her home run; and Logan Tucker and Salinas each singled twice to lead the hit parade as 12 Blue Devils hit safely.