By: Justin Hargrove, NTCC Assistant Athletic Director
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 one 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 strike out and gave up 6 hits in the game.
Game two on Friday saw the Eagles take on the Galveston College Whitecaps in a game that took extra innings to decide. NTCC fell 6-5 in the 8-inning affair. Collyn Schuricht (Lampasas, Texas) pitched a complete game in game 2 action, striking out 3 in the game while giving up 8 hits. McKenna Manes (Diana, Texas), Perry, Averie Ayers (Mount Pleasant, Texas), and Schuricht each had a hit 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 homeruns 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 homeruns 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 homerun of the 2020 season in the seventh inning. Schuricht and Ayers both spent 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 4 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 5 games, when they head to Weatherford College this weekend for the Weatherford College Classic.
