LAKE, DRAGONS ROLL TO 1ST WORLD SERIES WIN IN PROGRAM HISTORY

Dakota Lake fires a pitch during a two-hit shutout as Blue Dragon softball wins its first-even game at the NJCAA Softball World Series, winning 8-0 over Connors State on Monday in Oxford, AL. (Steve Carpenter/Blue Dragon Sports Information)

May 20, 2024

Hutchinson CC Sports Information

OXFORD, Alabama – It took the Hutchinson Community College softball team 38 years to play in an NJCAA Softball World Series game.

It took only one game for the Blue Dragons to earn their first World Series victory.

Powered by freshman Dakota Lake's two-hit complete-game shutout, the 15th-seeded Blue Dragons rolled to a five-inning run-rule 8-0 victory over No. 19 Connors State in an opening-round game on Field 4 at Choccolocco Park.

BLUE DRAGON SOFTBALL
No. 15 Hutchinson (47-10) vs. No. 2 Indian River State (51-9)
NJCAA Division I Softball World Series – Winner's bracket 2nd round
When: Tuesday, May 21, 2024
Where: Choccolocco Park-Field 2, Oxford, AL
Time: 1 p.m.
Video: NJCAA TV (pay-per-view)
X: @bluedragonsport

The Blue Dragons (47-10) advance to play No. 2 Indian River State (51-9) at 1 p.m. Tuesday on Field 2 in a second-round winner's bracket game.

Lake was dominant and efficient in twirling her ninth complete game and third complete-game shutout this season. Lake allowed just four baserunners on two hits and two walks.

She gave up a two-out triple in the opening inning, only to get a strikeout to end that threat. She allowed a two-out walk in the second inning. Lake gave up a walk and a single in the top of the five. Her last pitch of the game was a nicely-turned 4-6-3 double play – Tamara Lozoya to Bailey Backhaus to Brooke Backhaus – to end the inning.

Lake (12-3) needed only 66 pitches to navigate the Connors State lineup. She retired 10 of 11 Cowgirls from the first through the end of the fourth inning, including seven-straight batters. Lake had five strikeouts.

This was Lake's third start with a complete-game shutout of two hits or less.

Leading 7-0 after 4 1/2 innings, sophomore Olivia Sandoval capped a four-hit, three-RBI game with a walk-off single to left that scored Lozoya with the eighth run of the game.

The Blue Dragons out-hit Connors State 12-2, all 12 hits where singles.

Sandoval had her team-high seventh four-hit game of the season, going 4 for 4. She posted her eighth three RBI game of the season and tied Jessica Glenn (2009) for second in the Blue Dragon single-season hits list with 96.

Madi Divis and Korri Lies got the Blue Dragons off to a fast start as both players were 2 for 3 with two RBIs.

Divis and Lies had-back-to-back RBIs singles in the first inning to give the Blue Dragons a 2-0 lead. The Nos. 5 and 6 hitters did the exact same thing in the second after Sandoval laced a two-run double to make it 6-0. The Dragons completed a five-run second inning when Brie Brawners's infield single to short score the fifth run of the inning for a 7-0 lead.

POSTGAME NOTES:
+ To Blue Dragons extended their record for wins in a season to 47 games and have won four games in a row.

+ The 2024 Blue Dragons exacted some revenge for the 1987 team that win the Region VI Tournament, but failed to qualify for the World Series because the 1987 team lost to an Oklahoma team, NEO, in the district tournament. Connors State is the 2024 Region 2 (Oklahoma) champion.

+ Dakota Lake upped her season total for strikeout to 205, second most in Blue Dragon single-season history.

+ Madi Divis extended her hitting streak to a career-high 13 games.