Hutchinson CC Sports Information

Hutchinson Community College head softball coach Jaime Rose finally secured all-time coaching win No. 500 on Tuesday. It was a rough ride getting there, though.

Leading the Friends University JV by nine runs in Game 1 Tuesday at Fun Valley after three innings, the Blue Dragons saw that lead dwindle to one by the time the seventh inning rolled around. With the tying run at second and one out, pitcher Jordan Galliher finally secured No. 500 with a strikeout and groundout to third baseman Madison Grimes for a 9-8 victory over the Falcons.

Rose's 501st win was much less dramatic than her milestone victory as Hutchinson claimed the nightcap with a 9-1 six-inning run-rule victory.

Rose becomes the eighth coach in Jayhawk Conference softball history to reach 500 wins.

She earned the first 38 wins as Independence's head coach in 2003 and 2004. The other 463 have come with the Blue Dragons, where she is already the winningest coach in Hutchinson softball history. Rose's record at Hutchinson is 463-319.

The 2021 Blue Dragons snap a four-game losing streak and improve to 6-4 overall. Hutchinson will have a week off before playing host to Hesston College on Tuesday, March 9 at 2 and 4 p.m. at Fun Valley.

GAME 1 RECAP
How Game 1 was playing out had an eerily similar feel to this past weekend in Texas and Oklahoma where the Blue Dragons had sizable leads only to see the North Central Texas and Murray State come back and give Hutchinson three one-run losses.

The Blue Dragons led 9-0 after three innings after a four-run first and five-run third. Savannah Jackson's two-run homer in the top of the fourth didn't seem like much at the time, but it sparked a Falcon comeback. Hutch's defense didn't help its struggling pitching staff out committing four errors in the final four innings. Friends scored four runs in the sixth to pull within 9-8.

Galliher, who entered the pitching circle in the sixth, got a strikeout to end that inning, but she found herself in a jam after a Falcon hit and the fourth Dragon error of the game to put runners on first and second with one out.

Galliher then stepped up to strikeout Madison Smith for the second out and coaxed Ericka Baca to ground out to Grimes for the final out to earn her first save of the season.

Galliher allowed two unearned runs and three hits, but had two huge strikeouts in her two inning of relief work. Samarah Bailey (2-3) earned the win with four-plus innings of work. She allowed four runs and struck out five.

Offensively, the Dragons out-hit Friends 11-9.

Lexi Williams, Natalie Bevan and Easton Head all had two hits each. Bevan had a double for Hutchinson's only extra-base hit. Carley Sterneker and Caitlin Schumacher had two RBIs each.

The Dragons also stole five bases in the game.

GAME 2 RECAP
Williams, Bevan and Sterneker all had three hits each to lead Hutchinson in Game 2.

Williams' first-inning single extended her team record hitting streak that dates back to last season to 31 games. She went 3 for 4 with two runs and an RBI. Williams also stole two more bases to bring her season total to a team-high 13 and extend her career team record to 42 stolen bases.

Sterneker had a season-high three hits with her first home run of the season. She drove in three runs.

Cheyenne Collins, who earned her first two starts of the season on Tuesday in right field, hit her second homer of the season.

Galliher (2-1) pitched a six-inning complete game for the win in the circle for the Blue Dragons. She allowed four hits, one earned run and walked three while striking out six on 106 pitches thrown.

Grimes went 1 for 4 in Game 2 to extend her hitting streak to 10 games.