by Alan Hoskins, KCKCC
The home season winds down this week for Kansas City Kansas Community College’s up-and-down softball team.
The Lady Blue Devils will wrap up home Jayhawk Conference play Tuesday, hosting Neosho County at Piper High School at 5 and 7 p.m. and then finish league action with a single game at Highland Thursday at 2 p.m.
The annual Sophomore Day will come Saturday when KCKCC entertains Cottey College at noon and 2 p.m. at Steineger Field adjacent to Turner Middle School. The Blue Devils are also scheduled to be the host of a University of Missouri club team Sunday, also at Steineger Field at noon and 2 p.m.
KCKCC got its final Jayhawk road trip started with an 8-0 win at Coffeyville Friday only to drop the nightcap 7-3 and then lose 10-0 and 9-2 at Labette Saturday. The series left the Blue Devils 21-18 on the season.
Tiffany Killam blasted a KCKCC record 14th home run of the season and Brittany Gustin allowed just two hits while striking out seven in the 8-0, five-inning win at Coffeyville. Killam’s home run came in the fourth inning, a 3-run shot following two walks and a run-scoring single by Mekayla Guerrero, all with two outs. The runs gave KCKCC a 7-0 lead.
The Blue Devils’ first three runs came in the second on a two-out, bases-loaded triple by LaTisha Thomas. Geena Harris ignited the rally with the first of her three hits in the game before a Gustin single and a walk loaded the bases for Thomas’ triple. KCKCC’s final run came in the fifth on a pinch single by Katherine Stringer, a double by Savannah Dungan and a single by Gustin.
A 6-run third inning foiled KCKCC in the 7-3 nightcap loss. Guerrero and Dungan each drove in a run with a double and single and Morgan Oroke doubled in a run for KCKCC. Coffeyville managed just seven hits off Elizabeth Seimears and Killam but five of the seven came in the 6-run outburst.
The Blue Devils were limited to just five singles in each game in the 10-0 and 9-2 losses at Labette. Gustin, who took the pitching loss, had two of KCKCC’s five hits in the 10-0, 5-inning opener while LaTisha Thomas had a pair in the 9-2 nightcap. The Blue Devils only scoring in the doubleheader came in the third inning on two hit batsman, a run-scoring single by Thomas and a Guerrero ground ball. Labette put both games out of reach in a hurry, scoring three runs in th first and second innings of both contests.