DRAGON BATS RELENTLESS IN SWEEP OF SAINTS
Hutchinson CC Sports Information
The Hutchinson Community College softball team's high-scoring offense lived up to its reputation on Thursday in a Jayhawk Conference doubleheader sweep of the Seward County Saints.
The Blue Dragons combined for 22 runs and 28 hits as Hutchinson run-ruled the Saints twice – 12-4 in six innings and 10-1 in five innings – at Fun Valley.
The Blue Dragons have won a season-high eight games in a row and reach the 20-win plateau with a 20-12 overall record. The Dragons are in second place in the Jayhawk East at 10-6 with six-straight KJCCC wins. Hutchinson travels to Barton on Saturday for a KJCCC doubleheader in Great Bend.
Noteworthy in the offensive onslaught on Thursday, Blue Dragon freshman shortstop Madison Grimes went 5 for 6 with a pair of home runs. That performance moved Grimes' season batting average to .594 for the season. Grimes now leads the NJCAA in batting average.
GAME 1 RECAP
Hutchinson's 3-4-5 hitters – Grimes, Natalie Bevan and Carley Sterneker – all had multi-hit games and combined to go 8 for 10 with five extra-base hits, including two homers, eight RBIs and nine runs scored as Hutchinson produced 17 total hits in the first game.
Grimes went 2 for 3 with a double and home run. She drove in three runs with a single in the first, solo homer in the third and double in the fourth. Grimes' double in the fourth broke a 4-all tie
Bevan was 2 for 3 with a pair of doubles that produced runs in the first and fourth innings. She also scored two runs.
Sterneker capped a four-run fourth with a two-run home run. She also singled home a run in Hutch's three-run sixth that brought the game to a run-rule finish. Sterneker had her second game of the season with three or more hits, going 3 for 4. She tied a season high with three RBIs.
Haley Miller was 2 for 4 with a pair of bunt singles. Kylee Dunn and Alexis Way also had two-hit games. Way's second inning double was one of six extra-base hits by the Blue Dragons in Game 1.
Blue Dragon pitcher Jordan Galliher (9-2) earned her ninth victory with her third complete game of the season. She struck out five and walked two with five hits and four runs allowed.
GAME 2 RECAP
Seward County took an early 1-0 lead with a run in the top of the first. That quickly changed when Grimes launched a two-run home run to right-center in the bottom of the first for a 2-1 Dragon lead. Grimes now has a team-high eight home runs.
The Blue Dragons led 3-1 through three innings and then broke the game up with a seven-run fourth inning. Miller's bases-loaded triple was the big hit of the inning and gave Hutchinson a 6-1 lead. Sterneker also had an RBI single and Way doubled in two runs with an opposite-field hit down the right-field line.
Hutchinson had 11 hits in the second game. Miller, Grimes and Sterneker had two hits each. Lexi Williams and Bailey Pennycuff both had doubles.
Samarah Bailey came out of the bullpen to pitch 3 1-3 innings of scoreless relief and earn her seventh pitching victory of the season. She struck out two and walked one while allowing just two singles and no runs.