NTCC – Sports

SOFTBALL

The Northeast Texas Community College (NTCC) Softball team made the journey to the Alamo city to open the season. The Eagles faced off against the Butler Grizzlies in Game 1 of the tournament. Despite two home runs by the Eagles, they would fall to the Grizzlies 6-4. Pearl Perry (Hughes Springs, Texas) went deep in the third inning, and Kendal Wiley (Quitman, Texas) hit a solo shot in the 7th inning to help power the NTCC offense. Emily Cole (Naples, Texas) went the distance in the circle in game one, earning one strikeout and gave up six hits in the game.

Game two on Friday saw the Eagles take on the Galveston College Whitecaps in a match that took extra innings to decide. NTCC fell 6-5 in the eighth inning affair. Collyn Schuricht (Lampasas, Texas) pitched a complete game in Game 2 action, striking out 3 in the game while giving up eight hits. McKenna Manes (Diana, Texas), Perry, Averie Ayers (Mount Pleasant, Texas), and Schuricht each had a single to pace the offensive attack in game two.

In the final game on Friday, the Eagles scored 12 runs, but it was not enough to take down Hill College. NTCC dropped Game 3 of the day 20-12. The Eagles collected seven hits in Game 3, adding two more home runs on the day. Madison Brown (Gilmer, Texas) launched a homer in the first, and Perry hit her second of the day in the second inning. Averie Ayers and Emily Cole both saw action on the mound in game three, which saw multiple lead changes by the teams.

Day two of the tournament saw the Eagles taking on the Butler Grizzlies again on Saturday afternoon. The Eagles fell 7-3 in the contest despite two more home runs by the Eagle hitters. Perry claimed number 3 of the tournament during the 4th inning, and Haylee Wilson (Hughes Springs, Texas) picked up her first home run of the 2020 season in the seventh inning. Schuricht and Ayers both spent the time it the circle in Game 1 on Saturday combining for strikeouts while giving up 11 hits.

The final game of the tournament saw NTCC pick up their first win of the new season, taking down Hill College 15-5. The Eagle offense set the tone early, and they did not look back the remainder of the game. The Eagles scored four runs in the first to get things started. Ayers picked up win number 1 on the year in a combined effort with Emily Cole. The Eagle bats came alive with 23 hits in the final game of the tournament.

The Eagles will need their hot bats to carry on this season. NTCC will look to clean up their play, 15 errors over five games when they head to Weatherford College this weekend for the Weatherford College Classic.

 

BASEBALL

NTCC Baseball Drops Season Opening Series

Weather forced the Northeast Texas Community College Eagles to move their season-opening series to a road contest against 10th ranked Cowley County Community College this past weekend. After several days of rain, the field at NTCC was too wet to play on, so the Eagles hit the road to Arkansas City, Kansas, for their 2020 season opener. The Eagles went 0-3 on the weekend against the nationally-ranked Tigers.

Game 1 of the series on Friday saw the Eagles fall by a score of 10-4. Alex Bruce (Hughes Springs, Texas) led the way offensively for the Eagles going 2-for-4 on the day. NTCC got on the board in the third inning off of hits by Bryce Crow (Mount Vernon, Texas) Isaac Rivera (Conroe, Texas) and Trevor Gowin (Cleburne, Texas). Crow led off the inning with a single, and Rivera and Gowin took advantage of walks by the previous batters to get the Eagles on the scoreboard.
Hayden Shaddox (Athens, Texas) got the start for NTCC and took the loss. Justin Lambright (Trenton, Texas), Tyler Jeans (Texarkana, Texas), Mitch Turner (Willis, Texas), and Harrison Gaienne (Houston, Texas) all saw time on the mound in game one of the series.

In Saturday’s Game 1 action, NTCC sent Javan Smitherman (Kilgore, Texas) to the mound for a start. Jake Chapman (Boerne, Texas), Kaleb Wisnoski (Navasota, Texas), and Chance Bolter (Plano, Texas) would come in relief for the Eagles. Cowley County held NTCC to two hits in Game 2 actions to go away with a 9-3 win over the Eagles.

Game 3 of the series saw a much closer battle between the Eagles of NTCC and the Tigers from Cowley County. The Tigers made a dramatic comeback in the bottom of the ninth when they hit a walk-off triple scoring two runs. The Eagles started the ten hit day scoring one run in the first inning when Cody Cleveland (Rockwall, Texas) walked, stole second base, and scored on the double by Brian Juarez (Corpus Christi, Texas). Juarez, along with Gowin, and Nico Baumbach (Euless, Texas) would pace the offensive attack with two hits each.

Sawyer Smallwood (Texarkana, Texas) got the start in the final game of the series, striking out two in his first outing of the season. Mikel Howell (Huntsville, Texas), Camden Sargent (Lake Jackson, Texas), and Jacob Rosales (Mission, Texas) all saw action on the mound in relief.

The Eagles will look to clean up their game and keep the bats hot as they travel to Weatherford College on Tuesday, February 4th. NTCC will have their home opener this Friday against Pratt Junior College at 1:00 pm on the campus of NTCC, weather permitting.