NMCC blanks Lady Bluejays for 31st straight win

Sunday, April 10, 2011
New Madrid County Central's Courtney Masterson watches a single leave her bat in the sixth inning against Charleston on Friday afternoon. David Jenkins, Staff

NEW MADRID -- The New Madrid County Central softball team continued their dominance on the diamond Friday afternoon, defeating Charleston 10-0 for their 31st consecutive win.

NMCC, who had outscored their opponents 53-2 in three games coming into Friday's game, plated runs in five of the six innings and held the Lady Bluejay offense at bay behind senior pitcher Kelly Robey.

"Charleston is by far the best team we've played," NMCC coach Steve Rogers said. "They've got a good pitcher but we hit the ball real well I thought. Our girls had some timely hits, we ran the bases well and played pretty good defense. Kelly (Robey) was on as usual."

Robey was on, striking out 17 in her six innings while allowing her first hit all season, a single by Stacia Manning to lead off the fourth inning.

While Robey was silencing the Charleston offense, the Lady Eagles were putting the ball in play, collecting nine hits on the day.

Sophomore Nikki Martin and seniors Samantha Hunter and Courtney Masterson each had two hits on the day. Hunter had an impressive double in the third inning, a towering shot to center field that nearly left the park.

"I'm pretty excited about that," Hunter said of her hit. "It was the furthest I had ever hit it."

Five of the Lady Eagles' nine hits came from the bottom three hitters in the order, something that doesn't surprise Rogers.

"We're relatively young because we only start three seniors but these girls have been playing a lot since they were freshmen so it isn't like they are rookies or anything," Rogers said. "I'm real pleased with the team, everything is gelling right now."

After NMCC scored a single run in the first, the Lady Eagles took advantage of two Lady Bluejay errors and singles by Martin and Masterson to plate three runs and take control of the game.

Masterson then drove in a run in the fourth inning on a groundout and NMCC got RBIs from Meredeth Stanley and Sara Chapin in the fifth inning. The Lady Eagles then scored three runs in the bottom of the sixth to end the game by the mercy rule.

Many of the Eagle outs were also sharply hit balls as Charleston shortstop Taylor Duenne was solid with six putouts on the day.

With the win, NMCC improves to 4-0 on the season and hosted a four-team tournament on Saturday. Results from the tournament can be found in Monday's edition of the Standard Democrat.

"It's good to face good competition before getting into the tournament," Rogers said. "We have some tough games ahead of us but we are just taking them one at a time."

Charleston 000 000 -- 0

NMCC 130 123 -- 10

WP -- Kelly Robey. LP -- Stacia Manning. 2B -- Samantha Hunter.

Junior Varsity

NMCC 11, Charleston 0

NMCC won the junior varsity contest over Charleston 11-0.

Mary Clara Hayes, Emma Karafa and Lindsey Carlisle all had two hits apiece while Hunter Hewitt had a home run.

Michaela Townsend picked up the win on the mound, not allowing a hit in two innings.

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