Category: KCKCC

by Alan Hoskins, KCKCC sports information

Kansas City Kansas Community College’s unbeaten women scored early and the defense made it stand up in a 1-0 soccer win over Butler County in El Dorado Monday.

The win was the 10th in a row and assured the No. 8 ranked Blue Devils of no worse than a first place tie in the Jayhawk East with three games to go – home games against Johnson County Thursday (5 p.m.) and Hutchinson Saturday (2 p.m.) before the regular season finale at Coffeyville May 15.

Taking advantage of a gusty wind, the Blue Devils got a goal from sophomore Melissa Siegel on an assist from Maddie Broeker in the first five minutes of play. With freshman Susie Lopez in goal, it was the sixth shutout scored by the Blue Devils, who have given up only five goals in 10 games.

“The wind was a factor…again,” KCKCC coach Shawn Uhlenhake said. “We were under a lot of pressure in the second half; it was very difficult to get clearance because of the wind. You would think we would get used to games like this because it seems like every game this spring has some sort of wind element.”

Defensively, the Blue Devils gave up very few shots on goal.

“Grace Runyon and Latrina Sargent did a great job in the middle of our back line chasing forwards and winning balls in the air,” he said. “Sammy Wohjan came in midway through the first half and stayed at outside back for the remainder of the game, giving us the speed we needed on the outside. Paige Liston also played outside back and did a good job of defending throughout the match. Our midfielders, Kaylee Pedersen, Kaylee Shaw, Kennia Acuna and Melissa Siegel, did a great job in keeping Butler out of the box.

“Overall it wasn’t the prettiest of wins but these young ladies are finding ways to win tough games. I’m proud of them, they’re a fun group to watch.”

by Alan Hoskins, KCKCC sports information

Kansas City Kansas Community College will hold a first-round NJCAA Division I baseball playoff series. Whether it’s as the No. 3 seed or No. 4 will be determined by the Blue Devils season-ending four game series with Coffeyville this week.

The Blue Devils moved closer to a third place finish with a 10-5 win at Allen County but dropped the nightcap 17-4.

At 16-8, the Blue Devils can’t overcome co-leaders Johnson County and Cowley College (both 20-4) but one win over Coffeyville (14-14) will wrap up third place in the series that starts Thursday in Coffeyville and concludes Saturday at KCKCC. First placed will be decided when JCCC and Cowley collide in four games.

Back-to-back home runs by Raymond Paniagua and Brendyn Bard broke a 5-5 deadlock in the top of the seventh inning in the 10-5 opener. The Blue Devils then tacked on another three insurance runs on singles by Cole Dawson, Brock Stewart and Camden Karlin, Beau Grable’s sacrifice fly and a two-out, two-run single by Caleb Adams.

Chase Terrell (5-0) got the win, retiring the Red Devils in order in both the sixth and seventh innings after starter Gabriel Ramos had given up five runs on six hits in five innings. Dawson led a 16-hit KCKCC attack with three hits while Adams, Paniagua, Bard, Stewart and Karlin had two each.

The Blue Devils scored in just two innings, rapping out five hits in taking a 5-0 lead in the first. After a hit batsman and walk, Adams singled in the first run and Bard doubled in two more. Singles by Dawson, Karlin and Grable added the final two.

KCKCC led the nightcap 4-3 early and trailed only 6-4 before Allen scored 11 runs in the final two innings.

All four Blue Devil runs came on Paniagua’s grand slam home run in the third inning. Limited to seven hits, Cole Silbowski was the only Blue Devil with two. KCKCC used five pitchers in seven innings and each of the five gave up at least two runs.

by Alan Hoskins, KCKCC sports information

Kansas City Kansas Community College’s softball hopes of a top two finish in Division A in the Jayhawk Conference came to an end with a thud Thursday.

No. 8 ranked Highland, the leader in Division B, swept the No. 10 Blue Devils 7-3 and 11-1 to drop the Blue Devils to fifth in the overall Jayhawk standings.

Highland (19-3) and Cowley College (17-7) lead Division B; Labette (17-3), Johnson County (19-5) and KCKCC (16-8) are atop Division A. The top seven teams in the two divisions will advance to the regional playoffs.

At 37-11 overall, the Blue Devils have just four games remaining. They’ll be at Allen County next Thursday and then play host to Johnson County at Sophomore Day Saturday, May 8.

The outcome of the 7-3 opening game swung on one inning.

The Blue Devils loaded the bases with none out but failed to score in the bottom of the fourth; Highland scored four times in the top of the fifth for a 4-0 lead.

KCKCC bounced back to close to 4-3 in the bottom of the fifth. After singles by Devin Purcell and Alexis Rymer, Lindsey Gettle doubled in two runs and scored on Hannah Maurer’s single. However, the Blue Devils left two runners on in both the fifth and sixth before the Scotties put the game out of reach with four runs in the seventh.

Breanna Droge (14-6) went the 7-inning distance, allowing seven runs on 11 hits. She struck out six, walked four. Four Blue Devils had two hits each – Purcell, Gettle, Mauer and Bradi Basler.

Basler’s 14th home run of the season was the lone highlight of the 5-inning, 11-1 loss. Basler’s homer gave KCKCC a 1-0 first inning lead but Highland homered twice in scoring seven runs in the second. Basler (18-5) gave up 11 hits and nine runs (seven earned) in four innings. Nerida Elson pitched the fifth, allowing two runs on two hits.