Game 1 - Pioneers 9... Western Nebraska 17 (6 Innings)

The Western Nebraska Cougars saddled the MCC Pioneers with their 1st loss of the season on Tuesday afternoon in Scottsbluff, NE by scoring 7 runs in the 3rd inning and 5 more in the 4th enroute to a 17-9 victory.

MCC started off hot by scoring 3 runs in the 1st inning but the Cougars matched that with 3 of their own. The Pioneers got 2 in the 2nd inning to take the lead back but Western Nebraska took advantage of their home field from there to grab game 1 of a 4 game series. 

The front of the Pioneer batting order had a good day as Malory Webb (SS - Idaho Falls, ID) had a 3-3 (2B) effort at the plate and then Arin Eaton (CF - Belgrade, MT), Rylnn Krein (DP - Fergus Falls, MN), and Dalilah Hernandez (2B - Laurel, MT) all had 2 hits. Krein, Rian Ferriter (3B - Butte, MT), and Adrie Mortensen (C - Rexburg, ID) had 2 RBI each in the game. 

Rylie Schlepp (Helena, MT) got the start in the circle and pitched 3 innings (10 H, 10 R, BB, SO) before giving way to Arin Eaton. Eaton pitched the final 2.1 innings (5 H, 7 R, 4 BB, 4 SO).

Inside the Box Score

• MCC had 13 hits (6 2B) in the game and WNCC had 15 (5 2B, 3 3B).
• The Pioneers had the only error of the game.
• Pioneer batters struck out 6 times and walked once.
• Cougar batters struck out 5 times and walked 5 times. 
• MCC had one stolen base and WNCC had 6.

Game 2 - Pioneers 10... Western Nebraska 7

The MCC Pioneers took advantage of a 7-run 5th inning enroute to a 10-7 win in game 2 on Tuesday afternoon to split the day with Region IX member Western Nebraska. 

The Pioneers smacked 19 hits in the game highlighted by 5 Pioneers each having a 3-hit game. Arin Eaton (HR, 3B), Rylynn Krein, Dalilah Hernandez (2 2B), Khloey Robinson (2B), Lily Bolin (2B) all had 3 hits in the game and Megan Brownson (3B - Billings, MT) had 2 base hits. 

MCC started out quickly by scoring a run in the 1st inning. Western Nebraska tied the game with a run of their own in the bottom of the 3rd and took the lead 2-1 with another score in the bottom of the 4th. MCC then took control with 7 runs in hte 5th inning and 2 more in the 6th. WNCC scored a run in the 6th to keep the game going and then made things very interesting with 4 runs in the bottom of the 7th for the final margin of 10-7.

Rylnn Krein pitched a complete game 7 innings (18 H, 7 R, 2 BB, 6 SO) to pick up the win for the Pioneers. 

Inside the Box Score

• The Pioneers had 19 hits (HR, 3B, 5 2B) and WNCC had 18 hits (6 2B). 
• WNCC had 2 errors and MCC had 1.
• The Pioneers had one stolen base and WNCC had 2. 
• Pioneer batters struck out 4 times and walked 6 times. 
• Cougar batters struck out 6 times and walked twice.

The teams will conclude their 4 game series today starting at 1:00 PM MST in windy Scottsbluff, Nebraska.