Bison girls challenge Class A Bulldogs

Steve Kodad/McCook Daily Gazette McCook sophomore Jenna Smith winds up as she delivers a pitch in junior varsity softball action against North Platte Monday afternoon at the Jaycees Sports Complex.

McCook High School softball head coach Jason Cochran likes to have his team face the toughest competition available.

Cochran is not afraid to have the Bison girls face Class A teams during the season in an attempt to make his team as good as they can be. That philosophy looks to be working.

The Bison girls took Class A North Platte to the limit Monday night, as the Bulldogs nipped McCook 3-2 in varsity action at the Jaycees Sports Complex.

Steve Kodad/McCook Daily Gazette McCook junior Meagan Carfield reacts as the ball hit the end of her bat just below her hands for a foul ball on this pitch during JV softball game vs. North Platte Monday.

North Platte scored the winning run in the top of the seventh inning after McCook tied the score in the bottom of the fifth.

McCook's junior varsity scored four runs in the final inning to claim a 9-8 win over North Platte in Monday's opening contest.

The visitors scored single runs in the third and fourth innings in the varsity nightcap. In the bottom of the fifth, Meagan Carfield belted a two-out, line-drive single to left field. Amanda Einspahr then hit a grounder to third base, and Einspahr beat the throw to first. Alyssa Smith followed with a shot to the outfield to plate Carfield and Einspahr.

"Our two slappers got on, and then Alyssa had a nice drive out to right-center," Coach Cochran said. "She has been hitting very well this year, and she drove in those two key runs to tie up the ball game."

McCook stranded a runner at third base in the sixth frame. In the top of the seventh, North Platte drove in the winning run when a batter reached base after being hit by a pitch, then MacKenzie Alvarez followed with an RBI double to the outfield fence.

Cochran said his team stranded runners on base in several innings Monday.

"We had our opportunities, we had runners on second and third twice and didn't get those runs in, and that was costly," he said. "We just need to do a better job of getting those runs in and taking advantage of those opportunities. We weren't very patient at bat to start with, and when we were patient we had some good hits."

North Platte outhit the Bison 10-6. Amanda Einspahr had two hits to lead McCook.

Kelsey Gillen pitched seven strong innings for the Bison., which was pleasing for her coach.

"Kelsey did a great job," Cochran said. "She's been fighting injury all year, so tonight going seven innings she looked real strong. Hopefully everything's starting to work for her and we get her back to full strength for districts."

McCook competed well in the Lincoln Softball Classic last Saturday. The Bison lost to the top two teams in Class A, Lincoln Southwest and Papillion-LaVista.

"We want to be the best so we've got to play the best," Coach Cochran said. "In order to play the best, we need to go east as much as possible. Around here the area schools are pretty good, but not what they are back east. So the more we can get east, the better off we're going to be.

"We did extremely well against them. When you get to play the top two schools in Lincoln Southwest and Papillion it's only going to make you stronger if you can compete. And we competed. It's great to see what the level of softball is in the state and try to shoot for that."

Cochran isn't worried about his team being demoralized with big losses to the state's best teams.

"As long as we play, hard that's all we ask from the kids, just to play hard and give everything they've got," he said. "If we commit a lot of errors, we're in trouble, but this team hasn't done that for the most part. We want to continue to get better and better until we get what we want, and that is the state title."

McCook continues a busy week with games at Lexington Tuesday (JV at 5 p.m., varsity 6:30 p.m.). The Bison girls host Kearney Thursday (JV 5 p.m, varsity 6:30 p.m.), then travel to Lexington Saturday for the Greater Nebraska Athletic Conference Tournament.

The Bison compete at the Class B-6 District Tournament at Chadron Oct. 8-9.

McCook hitting leaders:

Amanda Einspahr 2-4, R, DB

Alyssa Smith 1-1, DB, 2RBI, 2SAC

Erin Premer 1-3

Katie Hoffmaster 1-3

Meagan Carfield 1-2, R, BB

McCook pitching stats:

Kelsey Gillen 7 Inn, 33 AB, 3 R, 10 H, 3 SO, 1 BB, 2 ER

Junior Varsity

In junior varsity action Monday, Brittany Broomfield hit a shot over the North Platte center fielder's head to drive in the winning runs in a 9-8 victory over the Bulldogs.

McCook trailed 8-5 entering its final at-bat in the bottom of the fifth. The Bison scored a run, then had runners on second and third with two out. Hailey Esch beat out a bunt and one run scored. Jaci Saalfeld struck out, but the North Platte catcher dropped the ball and Saalfeld beat the throw to first to load the bases. Broomfield, a freshman, then hit a long fly ball for the winning runs.

The Bison JV improved its season record to 6-1-1.

Hitting statistics:

Brittany Broomfield 1-2, BB, R, SAC, 2 RBI

Pitching statistics:

Jenna Smith 5 IP, 8R, 5 ER, 10 H, 5 SO, 3 BB