by Alan Hoskins
Kansas City Kansas Community College used some late inning dramatics to complete a doubleheader sweep of North Central College Wednesday.
A 4-1 winner in the opening game, the Lady Blue Devils trailed 6-1 before rallying to tie the game in the fifth inning and then winning in the bottom of the seventh 7-6.
The sweep came on the heels of 7-2 and 4-3 losses to Johnson County Tuesday, leaving the Blue Devils 10-4 overall and 6-4 in the Jayhawk Conference entering a four-game weekend home stand with Pratt Friday at 1 and 3 p.m. and Dodge City Saturday at noon and 2 p.m.
The Blue Devils rode the 3-hit pitching of Pitcher of the Week Leslie Ford to the 4-1 win over North Central. Ford struck out six and walked one and had a shutout until the seventh.
Justice Scales led a 9-hit attack with two doubles and a single while Amanda Holroyd drove in a pair of runs with two doubles.
KCKC jumped in front 1-0 in the first on a hit batsman, double by Scales and Maerra Morisette’s sacrifice fly and added two more in the third on singles by Lacey Santiago and Scales and Holroyd’s two-run double. The final run came on doubles b Emily Walsh and Scales in the fourth.
Tied 6-6 in bottom of the seventh in the nightcap, the Blue Devils won it by loading the bases on a walk to Morisette, a double by Ashley Henington and an infield single by Ford with one out.
Laura Vanderheiden then delivered the game-winner, a sacrifice fly to left with Morisette beating the throw to the plate.
Trailing 6-1, the Blue Devils tied the game with five runs in the fifth highlighted by a base-loaded double by Hanna Barnhart.
Singles by Vanderheiden and Scales sandwiched around a double by Santiago scored one run, Holroyd singled in another and Barnhart drove in three with her bases clearing double to right.
The rally made a winner out of Ford, who gave up a walk and then struck out two of the next three hitters in the top of the seventh in relief of Elizabeth Seimears and Myranda Ybarra. Johnson County used its sweep to improve to 9-1 in the Jayhawk and 12-3 overall.
Justice Scales gave KCKCC a 2-0 lead in the first with a two-run home run but the Blue Devils managed only two singles the rest of the way.
JCCC cut the deficit to 2-1 on a home run in the fourth and then went ahead to stay on a grand slam home run in the fifth off Ford.
The Cavaliers built a 4-0 lead in the nightcap and then held on as the Blue Devils rallied for three runs in the fifth.
Scales followed a single by Vanderheiden and a walk with a two-run triple and scored on one of Holroyd’s three singles.
Morisette added two hits as the Blue Devils collected nine hits but left eight runners on base. Seimars gave up eight hits in absorbing the loss including fourth in a 3-run third.
