The Lady Roadrunners softball team opened their first season in program history in grand style on Feb. 24 at Mandy Thomas Field at Centennial Park. SFCC (2-0) hosted the Cottey College Comets from Neosho. 

Dr. Joanna Anderson, SFCC president, threw out the ceremonial first pitch to commemorate the occasion. She was joined in the pitchers circle by members of the SFCC Board of Trustees and Athletic Director Darren Pannier. 

Cottey scored a run in the top of the first inning and added another run in the second. 

Sophomore Sarah McAninch got the offense going for SFCC with a base hit to drive in a run and cut the deficit in half. 

Cottey pushed the deficit to 4-1 after a solo home run in the top of the sixth inning. SFCC began to chip away with a two-out double that scored on an error to trim the deficit to 4-2 in the bottom of the sixth. 

Cottey hit another solo home run to extend the lead 5-2 after the top of the seventh inning. The Lady Roadrunners doubled to right-center field with one out and followed up with an RBI double to center field to make the score 5-3. SFCC loaded the bases with two outs to bring freshman pitcher MacKenze Gudde to the plate. The Sedalia native worked the count full, before launching a walk-off grand slam to bring the large crowd to its feet. SFCC won the first game 7-5. 

"The girls never gave up," said Head Coach Lyndsey Talbot. "The way the lineup came up in the seventh inning just worked out perfectly. We had our three-hole hitter at the plate. MacKenze hadn't done much in the game, but I knew she had it in her. I could see it in her eyes." 

Freshman infielder Sydnee Cotter scored three runs and tallied one hit. Gudde registered a pair of hits and four RBIs. Sophomore catcher/outfielder McAninch added one hit and two RBIs. 

Gudde also earned the complete game win in the circle for SFCC. She gave up five runs; three of those were earned runs and struck out six. 

The Lady Roadrunners won the second game 11-4. The Comets scored a pair of runs in the top of the first inning. 

SFCC scored four runs in the bottom of the first inning to take a lead and tacked on three more courtesy of a three-run home run from freshman utility player Mikayla Gustin to make the lead 7-2.  

"We were good offensively in the first and second innings of game two, and then we were dry offensively until the bottom of the sixth." 

Freshman pitcher Madison Harris went the distance for SFCC in the circle. She gave up four runs; three of those runs were earned and recorded one strikeout. Gustin led the way offensively for SFCC with three hits, three runs scored and five RBIs. Freshman catcher/infielder Anna Mae Wilkerson added two hits, two runs scored and three RBIs. The Lady Roadrunners' offense pounded out 13 hits in game two. 

Coach Talbot picked up her first two career victories as a collegiate head coach. "It feels great," said Talbot "I couldn't have imagined our first game ending like that. I was speechless after game one." 

David Rohrbach

SFCC Athletics