Hutchinson CC Sports Information
Freshman shortstop Riley Dreher picked a very opportune time to become the fifth Hutchinson Community College softball player in history to have a consecutive hitting streak of at least 20 games on Monday in the resumption of a weather-suspended game with the Barton Cougars at Fun Valley.
Dreher’s only hit of the game came in the bottom of the eighth inning when she struck a walk-off single to left field to score pinch-runner Emery Benson-Hladik for a come-from-behind 5-4 victory over the Cougars.
Hutchinson won the season series with Barton 3-1 and improves to 29-11 overall. The first-place Blue Dragons’ KJCCC record is now 18-4. The Blue Dragons will play host to second-place Colby on Thursday at 3 and 5 p.m. at Fun Valley.
The game was suspended on Saturday in the bottom of the third inning with Barton leading 3-0. The Cougars carried that three-run lead into the bottom of the seventh inning on Monday, where the Blue Dragons made the first of two late comebacks.
Desiray Segura drew a one-out walk, followed by a Reese Goetz single and the Dragons loaded the bases when Addi Lutz was hit by a pitch. Dreher then drew a bases-loaded walk to cut the Barton lead to 3-1. Kaibryn Kruger then doubled off the left-center field fence to score pinch-runner Lia Martinez and Lutz to tie the game at 3-3. Dreher was thrown out at the plate for out number two.
Barton took advantage of a leadoff walk to Karter Alvord to start the eighth inning. After a sacrifice bunt moved Alvord to second, Alvord scored on an infield single by Haley Horton to take a 4-3 lead. The Dragons got out of the inning when Dreher started a 6-3 inning-ending double play.
Gabby Stauffer led off the bottom of the eighth with a single and she was moved to second on a Leyla O’Connor sacrifice bunt. Hadley Topping singled home Stauffer with the game-tying run. The Dragons loaded the bases after a walk to Segura and Lutz getting hit with a pitch. Then on a 1-0 count, Dreher drove a single to the left-center gap for the walk-off hit.
Dreher extended her hitting streak to 20 games, tying Kelcee Thompson for the fourth-longest hitting streak in program history. Dreher’s hit was her 73rd of the season which tied Kruger for ninth on the single-season hits list.
Before the game was suspended on Saturday, Alvord gave the Cougars a 3-0 lead on a three-run double to left field.
On Monday, Blue Dragon sophomore Aubree Thomas took over in the circle from starter Alyssa Rogers. Dreher pitched 3 2-3 scoreless innings. She allowed three hits and no walks with six strikeouts. Thomas departed with two out in the top of the seventh for Jessica Schmidt, who got a strikeout to end a Barton bases-loaded threat. Schmidt (3-2) allowed a run in the top of the eighth, but got the pitching victory in relief.
The Blue Dragons had only two Stauffer singles through six innings. Stauffer finished going 3 for 4 with a run scored. Dreher and Kruger had two RBIs each.
