by Alan Hoskins, KCKCC
Blanked 7-0 in the first game of a softball doubleheader with State Fair, Kansas City Kansas Community College quickly bounced right back with a 10-2 win in five innings.
The split left the Blue Devils at 3-3 heading into a doubleheader Wednesday with North Dakota School of Science.
Held to just three hits in the opener, the Blue Devils put five runs on the board in the first inning of the nightcap and cruised behind the 3-hit pitching of Girard freshman Shaylun Grosstephen (2-0) and a 12-hit attack.
Britney Smith and Brittney Beck each had three hits in three times at bat to lead the way. A freshman from Basehor-Linwood, Smith drove in four runs while Beck, a sophomore from Bushton, drove in one. Freshmen Hannah Redick of Shawnee Mission North and Alaina Howe of Eudora both drove in two runs with Redick collecting a pair of hits.
State Fair’s Madison Love struck out 14 in her 3-hit pitching performance in the opener. The Roadrunners led only 1-0 until the fifth inning when Braleigh Johnson followed a hit batsman and an error with a two-out three-run home run to center. Freshman Mackenzie Pinkerton (1-2-1) took the loss, allowing eights while striking out six. Redick had two singles and Smith one for the Blue Devils.
The Blue Devils will continue their present home stand this weekend, as host of Ellsworth Friday, Cloud County Saturday and Southwestern Iowa Sunday. The Cloud County twin bill opens Jayhawk Conference play for KCKCC.