Finally! MCC women climb above .500 this season

SCOTTSBLUFF, Neb. – It took 55 games, but on Monday, the McCook Community College softball team went over .500 for the first time on the regular-season finale, taking a 6-3 win over Western Nebraska.

MCC will enter the Region IX Division I tournament Thursday as the No. 3 seed and it looks like the team will open play against Western Nebraska.

Sophomore Hailee Ruble (Delta, Colo.) picked up the complete-game win Monday for MCC and led the offense with three hits in three at bats and two RBIs.

“Hailee threw a great game and we did enough to win,” said MCC Coach Mike Mendenhall.

Seven of the nine runs in the game were scored in the first two inning as MCC was able to take the five-game series 4-1 and finish the regular season at 28-27.

“These five-game series are tough,” said Mendenhall. “It will be nice to have a couple days off to prepare for our region tournament.”

Northeastern Junior College won the regular season Region IX conference and earned the right to host this year’s post-season tournament. Trinidad finished second and MCC third at 17-12. Official bracket information and pairings and game times will be announced Tuesday, but Mendenhall said it appears MCC will play No. 6 Western Nebraska at 10:30 a.m. (MT). On Monday, MCC was the home team on the scoreboard since this game was a make-up from the early March round-robin tournament in Lamar that was postponed.

After Western scored a run in the first MCC responded with two in the bottom of the first with a leadoff single by sophomore Nevaeh Ogden (Littleton Colo.), a two-out RBI-single by sophomore Hailee Ruble (Delta, Colo.) and a triple by sophomore Emma Pennala (Kennewick, Wash.).

The Cougars scored two in the second and MCC was able to get those runs back in the bottom of the second on a double by Ogden, and RBI-single from Madisyn Simms (Maple Ridge, British Columbia) and a bases-loaded walk with Ruble at the plate to put MCC up 4-3

Sophomore Cassidy Fife homered to lead off the MCC third to make it a 5-3 MCC lead. Freshman Andie Suhai (Medicine Hat, Alberta) lined a one-out double in the fourth and scored on a single by Ruble for the final run.