Category: KCKCC

KCKCC wins regional; faces JCCC re-match in super-regional Friday

by Alan Hoskins

Kansas City Kansas Community College is headed for the NJCAA super-regional baseball tournament opening in Lawrence-Dumont Stadium in Wichita Friday.
An 8-2 winner in the third and final game of a best-of-three regional series at Colby Sunday, the Blue Devils (36-20) will play the opener of the 8-team super-regional against 15th ranked and No. 1 seeded Johnson County (44-11) at 10 a.m. Friday. A double elimination tournament, games between first round winners and losers will be played starting Saturday.
“We wanted a chance at either Johnson or Neosho because we hadn’t got everything straightened out when we played earlier,” said KCKCC Coach Steve Burleson. Swept in four-game series by both Neosho and JCCC in mid-March, the Blue Devils rebounded to win 21 of their final 24 Jayhawk Conference games.
Geoff Birkemeier got the Blue Devils in front in the regional with a nifty 5-hitter in a 5-3 opening game win Friday only to have Colby take the second game 12-2 and force Sunday’s showdown finale.
Sophomore catcher Garrett McKinzie delivered the game’s biggest blow in the final game, a two-out, three-run home run that put KCKCC ahead to stay 4-1 in the fifth inning. “The home run was huge,” said Burleson. “It gave us the separation we were needing to allow us to survive a mistake in the field or on the mound.”
Scattering four hits including a second inning home run, E.J. Merlo took a 5-1 lead into the sixth only to load the bases on a walk, hit and hit batsman with one out. Derek Watkins came on and after getting one out, wild pitched a run home but slammed the door the rest of the way, allowing just one hit and walking two the final three innings. He was helped in the seventh when shortstop Zane Mapes’ throw to third baseman Daniel LaMunyon cut down a potential leadoff triple on a ball hit to leftfielder Alex Thrower. “That was a difference maker and very uncharacteristic of Colby’s team making the first out of an inning at third base,” said Burleson.
Mapes paced a 14-hit KCKCC attach with three singles while Luke Norton doubled and singled and Tanner Thibodeau, Christian Arnold and Tanner Foerschler singled twice.
Norton doubled and scored on a McGarrett’s ground ball for a1-0 lead in the first while hits by Mapes and Thibodeau set the stage for McGarrett’s 3-run homer in the fifth. A wild pitch after a hit batsman and a Norton single made it 5-1 in the sixth and the Blue Devils put the game out of reach in the ninth, scoring three times on hits by Foerschler, Mapes and Thibodeau and McGarrett’s sacrifice fly, his fifth RBI of the game.
Birchmeier allowed only one hit over the first six innings before Colby bunched its final four hits for a pair of runs in the seventh of KCKCC’s 5-3 opening win. The Blue Devils jumped in front 3-0 in the second, scoring twice on a double by LaMunyon, triple by Thibodeau and single by Thrower and then added a third run on a bunt single by Mapes and Norton’s squeeze bunt. Two-out run-scoring singles by Norton in the fourth and Mapes in the sixth scored the final two runs.
Pounding out 16 hits, Colby never trailed in the 12-2 win, scoring twice in both the first and third innings and six times in the eighth. LaMunyon doubled and singled, Arnold singled twice and Sam Baxter doubled for KCKCC.

Two Lansing state basketball champion stars sign with KCKCC

Zach Jackson, right, a 5-10 guard who averaged 14.1 points in leading unbeaten Lansing to a state championship, signs a letter of intent to attend Kansas City Kansas Community College where he’ll play for coach Kelley Newton. (KCKCC photo)
The second leading rebounding for Lansing’s Class 5A state championship team, Joe Lendway, left, was one of Kansas City Kansas Community College coach Kelly Newton’s first signees for the 2014-15 basketball season. (KCKCC photo)

by Alan Hoskins
Two standouts on this year’s Lansing undefeated state championship team have signed letters of intent to attend Kansas City Kansas Community College this fall.

Guard Zach Jackson and forward Joe Lendway who helped the Lions finish 25-0 and sweep to the Kansas Class 5A state championship are the first 2014-15 recruits announced by KCKCC head coach Kelley Newton.

“A great way to start – recruiting winners,” Newton said. “It’s always good to bring in players who are accustomed to winning. It’s important in building a program.”

Jackson and Lendway will be joining a former teammate, 6-4 forward Clay Young, who finished second in both scoring (10.0) and rebounding (5.6) for KCKCC this past season.

A 5-10 combo guard, Jackson was second in scoring with 14.1points per game along with 2.2 assists and 2.3 rebounds while the 6-5 Lendway was second in rebounding with 4.5 per game while averaging 9.4 points.

Lansing coach Rod Briggs says both Jackson and Lendway will make major contributions to the KCKCC program.

“Zach is really deceptive for 5-10 because he’s a strong and crafty player who can get inside and score while being a very good shooter from the perimeter,” Briggs said.

“Joe, I think, will just get better and better. He didn’t play much as a junior but worked very hard over the summer, taking Clay Young’s spot and really developing into becoming very important to our season. A hard worker and very coachable, he gave us a presence to our inside post game.”

Newton couldn’t agree more about the talents he’s bringing in.

“Zach brings a lot of toughness, grit and know how – a real smart player which is what attracted me to him,” Newton said. “What a lot of people didn’t know is that he led in scoring for about 80 percent of the season.

“Joe Lendway is very intriguing because he kind of flew under the radar and was one of the big reasons Lansing won the state championship. A big guy at nearly 6-6 and 220, he’s really a product of his hard work last summer. He brings a lot of intangibles that don’t show in the scorebook – the ability to score around the basket, defend and rebound.”

 

Five Lady Blue Devils earn all-Jayhawk recognition

Five KCKCC players earned All-Jayhawk softball honors this spring, from left, shortstop Hanna Barnhart and outfielder Mierra Morrisette, first team; third baseman Lacey Santiago, second team; and pitcher Leslie Ford and outfielder Justice Scales, honorable mention. (KCKCC photo by Alan Hoskins)

by Alan Hoskins

Five Kansas City Kansas Community College players have been named to the All-Jayhawk Conference softball team for 2014.

Sophomores Hanna Barnhart of Bishop Ward and Mierra Morrisette of Olathe were selected to the first team and Lacey Santiago to the second team while freshmen Leslie Ford of Garden City and Justice Scales of Shawnee Mission South earned honorable mention.

“I’m really proud of our Kansas kids, four of the five all-conference picks are from Kansas,” said KCKCC coach Kacy Tillery. “In fact, Lacey Santiago, our Flyin’ Hawaiian, is the only player on the squad not from Kansas and she’s been a great representative of our team in her two years.”

An outfielder who played at Notre Dame de Sion, Morrisette hit a torrid .500, led the Lady Blue Devils in runs batted in (49) and doubles (19) and for the second straight year, played the entire season without an error.

“She has incredible hand-eye coordination and hit better than .450 for the second straight year,” Tillery said.

A shortstop who anchored the infield, Barnhart batted .421 with 17 doubles and 25 RBI.

“I think it’s great to see a local athlete from Bishop Ward get recognized when so many all-conference players are from out of state,” Tillery said.

Santiago, a third baseman from Molokai, Hawaii, repeated as a second team selection after hitting .494 and stealing 14 bases from the leadoff spot. Batting second, Scales was second in hitting (.497), RBI (41) and doubles (18).

“I don’t think there’s a better one-two leadoff combination anywhere,” Tillery said. “Lacey is an incredible leadoff hitter with great game knowledge and no better third baseman anywhere; Justice Scales is perfect for the No. 2 spot because she can bunt, slap hit and hit for power along with being a flawless centerfielder.”

A righthander, Ford was the workhorse of the Blue Devil pitching staff with 172 innings, third most in the nation. Completing all of her 27 starts, she finished with a 21-6 record and 1.76 earned run average. Her seven shutouts included three no-hitters.

“I’m not sure any other pitcher in the conference had three no-hitters and statistically she was ranked nationally all season,” Tillery said. “It’s exciting that we’ll have Leslie and Justice back next season.”

Seventh in the Jayhawk this season with a 17-13 record, the Lady Blue Devils were 14-0 against non-conference opposition in taking a 31-13 record into the Region VI semifinals.

Emma Hill of No. 8 ranked Highland was selected as Most Valuable Player and Independence’s Tori Hawk Freshman of the Year.