It was a special day at Volunteer Field on Sunday when Western Nebraska Community College and McCook Community College met for a doubleheader with a packed Volunteer Field. It was two exciting games between two of the top teams in Region IX with each team earning a win.
                The first game the Cougars captured a 7-6 win with a walk-off single in the seventh inning by JoLee Huffaker. Her single score Mykah Klumpp with the winning run.
                The second game saw McCook score five fifth-inning runs and then hold off a Cougar seventh inning rally to collect the 7-4 win. The Cougars pushed holding their opponents to under 10 runs a game to 19 straight contests.
                WNCC goes to 25-23 on the season and 16-8 in the conference. McCook went to 45-9 on the season and will host the Region IX tournament next weekend. The pairings have No. McCook taking on No. 4 Trinidad State at 1 p.m. MST and No. 2 Otero facing No. 3 WNCC at 3:30 p.m. MST. The tournament continues Saturday with the championship games slated for Sunday at 11 a.m. The winner of the tournament automatically qualifies for the NJCAA national tournament May 19-24 in Yuma, Arizona.
                While the game was both teams final regular season contest, it was a special day for the eight Cougar sophomores as they were recognized before the contest. It was also a special occasion for the 10-under softball teams from the Alliance Aftershock and the 308 United team as they got to partake in the introductions of the starting lineup on the field with the Cougar players.
                Klumpp said it was a special day for not only the sophomores but the team as they got to mingle with the youngsters.
                “I absolutely loved having the crowd there. The community support here is amazing,” Klumpp, the sophomore from Wichita, Kansas, said. “Having the young girls there made me so incredibly happy. People don’t remember specific plays years from now, but that is a memory those young girls will never forget. I hope to watch them play in a Cougar uniform.”
                As for playing her last game at Volunteer Field, Klumpp said it was emotional to say the least.
                “Playing the last game at home was just full of a lot of memories and super fun,” Klumpp said. “I mean, it’s the place that my teammates and I have gotten the closest. So, it was a good reminder of the improvements that everyone has made. There were definitely emotions of just remembering these things and playing one last time with my best friends, but we just wanted to have fun. The eight of us were super appreciative of the recognition we received. We enjoyed everything about it and just feeling accomplished of everything that we have gone through together.”
                Huffaker, another sophomore who had the game-winning hit in game one said today was definitely a special time.
                “It was good and fun to get recognized for al the different players we’ve become in college to see how much we have grown,” the sophomore from Wellington, Colorado, said. “It’s really special to connect with the younger girls because it really reminds you of how far you’ve come from being that little girl once looking up to college girls to being the college girls being looked up to. It’s a nice reminder that sports are supposed to be fun to play and watch.”
                As for the game itself, both teams played tough like championship teams. Huffaker said these are good games to prepare for regionals.
                “All of the girls fought hard today; it may have not been our best in the second game but McCook was a good competitor to play against to get us more knowledge for regionals,” Huffaker said. “We take our struggles from the games and work them until it’s not a problem for us anymore which will help us going into regionals.”
                Klumpp said they played well for the most part against a good McCook team in which they split the 4-game series with the Indians, each winning once on the other team’s turf.
                “Our team played well together and was able to connect hit at key times in the game. We never gave up in the second game which is good,” Klumpp said. “McCook is a good team and being able to play them at the end of our season continued to build our confidence to move forward. We know there is a good possibility we will face them again.”
                Game one was a battle with neither team leading by more than two runs. WNCC went up 2-1 after the first inning as Klumpp had a 2-run singe to put the Cougars up.
                Neither team score in the second and in the third, McCook plated one run to tie the game. WNCC answered in the bottom of the frame with two runs as Huffaker doubled home two runs with two outs for the 4-2 lead.
                Each team scored one in the fourth as WNCC led 5-3. McCoo plated one in the fifth to make it 5-4. WNC had one in the sixth to go up 6-4. McCook scored twice in the seventh to tie the game. WNCC won the game in the bottom of the seventh when Klumpp had a lead-off double, was sacrificed to third by Lydian Tibbals, and then Huffaker had a hard ground ball to score Klumpp with the winning run.
                WNCC finished with 11 hits, two each from Randi Mitchell, Klumpp, and Huffaker. Huffaker had three RBIs in the win.
                Kayli Cooper picked up the complete-game win, scattering 10 hits and allowing six runs while striking out two.
                WNCC scored first in the second game as they scored one run in the second as Tina Horton singled in Lydia Tibbals. McCook came back with two in the third and five in the fourth for a 7-1 lead.
                After that, WNCC held McCook scoreless. The Cougars also had trouble scoring again until the seventh when they had something going. Huffaker led off by reaching on an error and came in to score on a Horton double. Horton scored on a Mitchell single and then Mitchell scored on a Sierra Hilgner double, but that was all they could get.
                WNCC was out-hit in the contest 10-6. Horton led the way with two hits, including two RBIs.
 
Game 1
McCook             101 110 2 – 6 10 4
WNCC                202 101 1 – 7 11 2
WP – Kayli Cooper.
2B – Mykah Klumpp, JoLee Huffaker.
 
Game 2
McCook             002 500 0 – 7 10 2
WNCC                010 000 3 – 4 6 1
LP – Jenika Fuentes.
2B – Sierra Hilgner, JoLee Huffaker, Tina Horton.