Lady Roadrunners open new facility with sweep of North Central Missouri College

.-The State Fair Community College (SFCC) Lady Roadrunners softball team opened their brand-new softball field with a pair of Region 16 victories over North Central Missouri College 10-3 and 10-9 on Thursday, April 2 in front of a large crowd.

"Today, we were able to get our first two first Region wins," said head coach Michele Rupard. "It will help us gain some momentum as we get deeper into the Region season. It's always nice to have a home field. We probably had 100 students here today. I saw 40 staff members. We have never been able to have that before. I think it will be a huge morale booster for the kids who are here now and it will help us tremendously in recruiting."

In game one, SFCC (13-16) put together 16 hits. Sophomore utility player Jenna Herald of Monett led the offensive attack with four hits, including a double which was the first hit for SFCC in the new facility. Herald also scored a run. Sophomore first baseman/outfielder Courtney Dehn of Dearborn contributed three hits including a double, an RBI and a run scored. Freshman third baseman Morgan Marshall of St. Joseph had three hits including a double and two runs scored. Sophomore pitcher/utility player Valerie Meyer of Houstonia had three hits including the first home run for the Lady Roadrunners at the new facility. Meyer also drove in four runs and scored twice. Freshman outfielder Madelyn Backes of Bonnots Mill had a pair of hits including a double and two runs scored. Sophomore third baseman/catcher Natalie Crumpler of Exeter hit a pinch-hit grand slam in the bottom of the sixth inning to put the game out of reach.

Sophomore pitcher/second baseman Elana Clark of Maysville went the distance in the circle for SFCC. Clark gave up three unearned runs on seven hits. Clark struck out four and walked three.

In game two, SFCC won a back-and-forth contest. The Lady Roadrunners put together 13 hits as a team. Herald collected three more hits and scored twice. Backes also had three hits including a home run and a double, drove in four runs, and scored three times. Marshall added three more hits and drove in two runs. Freshman outfielder/utility player Jillian Reller of Elsberry scored a pair of runs. Freshman utility player Shyanne Weibrecht of Perryville also scored a pair of runs. Clark scored the game-winning run for SFCC in the bottom of the seventh inning on a hit from sophomore catcher Chelsye Graham of Ash Grove.

"Offensively, it was a great day," said Rupard. "Today top to bottom I think we hit the ball well. We had a lot of kids with multiple hits."

Freshman pitcher Addison Wallace of Carthage got the start in the circle for SFCC. Wallace pitched four innings, gave up six runs on 10 hits, struck out two, and walked two. Freshman pitcher/second baseman Grace Evans of Fulton pitched three innings, gave up three runs on two hits, struck out four, and walked one.

"I want to thank everyone who came out today," said Rupard. "I would also like to thank everyone who helped us be ready to play this game here today including Ben Burson and all the people at MMTH Sports Construction who helped us throughout the process."

David Rohrbach

SFCC Athletics