Sports roundup: Blue Dragon baseball battles during weekend Texas trip

By Laci Sutton / Staff writer

The Hutchinson Community College baseball team took a one-run loss on Sunday at McLennan College in Texas.

Hutchinson started with a 2-0 lead but McLennan was quick to respond with five unanswered runs in the fourth and fifth innings to steal the lead bringing the score to 6-3.

The Blue Dragons responded with two runs in the top of the sixth, but it just wasn’t enough. Hutchinson outhit McLennan 9-5 but stranded eight base runners costing them a 6-5 loss.

The Blue Dragons hosted Tabor College on Tuesday, in a doubleheader at Hobart-Detter Field, earning two run-rule victories over the Bluejays.

Adam Mustow hit his first Blue Dragon home run in game one resulting in a five inning 12-1 win.

Bradford hit a single, double and a home run in game two leading the Blue Dragons to a 10-0 victory.

Hutchinson is now ranked 6-3 overall and will travel to Midwest City, Okla. for a three-game series at Rose State this weekend.

Women’s Indoor Track – The Blue Dragons finished sixth at the Region 6 championship meet on Sunday at the Plaster Center in Pittsburg.

Leading the Blue Dragons, freshman Gracie Lambert earned the team 15 points with a second-place finish in the 800 meters, fifth place in the 600, and running as the anchor leg for the fifth-place 4X400 relay team alongside Kaylee James, Ellie Van Zelfden and Keneah Romney.

Not far behind Lambert was freshman Serenity Larson with 14 points, placing third in the 3,000 and running a PR of 10:49.6.

Other top-10 finishers include freshman Taylor Hoskinson placing fourth in the 1,000 meters, Van Zelfden placing eighth in the 800 meters, James placing seventh in the 600-meter hurdles and Van Zelfden, Sydney Graver, Lauren Aden and Daisy Orozco placing third.

The Blue Dragons will take eight qualified athletes to the NJCAA Indoor National Championships at Washburn University in Topeka on March 4-5.

Men’s Indoor Track – The Blue Dragons scored 63 team points, earning a seventh-place finish in the 2023 Region 6 Indoor Championships at the Plaster Center.

Sophomore Alexander Holt led the team with a career-best performance in the high jump, clearing 6 feet, 6 1/4, coming out as runner-up and earning a national qualification.

Four other HutchCC sophomores walked away with top-10 finishes including Caleb Manning placing fifth in the long jump and third in the triple jump, Sharim Hamilton placed fourth in the 800, Donovan Bryant placed fifth in the high jump and Christopher Brown placed sixth in shot put. The 4X800 meter relay team consisting of Christian Darrah, Douwe Benstink, Tokiwa Armstrong and Evan Avitia also brought home a fifth-place finish.

Women’s Basketball – Saturday posed a historic win over Northwest Tech, earning the Blue Dragons a first-week bye for the upcoming Region 6 Tournament and the 250 Jayhawk Conference regular-season victory under head coach John Ontjes.

Freshman forward Monae Duffy walked away making history of her own, becoming the second Blue Dragon in 49 years to have a 20-point 20-rebound game, making this her eighth double-double of the season. 

Duffy scored 25 points, a career-high that contributed to the 73-63 victory.

The only other Blue Dragon to reach double-digits was sophomore guard Mya Williams who brought in 18 points.

The first quarter of the game started in favor of the Blue Dragons but ended with a 13-all tie. Hutchinson was quick to take the lead in the second quarter and maintained that for the remainder of the gameplay.

Hutchinson shot 41.1 percent for the game and outrebounded Northwest Tech 46-35. The Blue  Dragons advanced to 21-7 overall and 15-7 in the Jayhawk Conference.

They will take on Seward County on Wednesday at The Green House in Liberal.

Men’s basketball – Saturday’s win over Northwest Tech was the second-biggest victory of the season beating the Mavericks 115-74.

Six Blue Dragons came up with double figures. Freshman Kieran Carr had a career-high 24 points, 11 of which contributed to the first-half eruption.

Aaron Franklin finished with 15 points and a career-high of seven assists. Dre Weathers and Aaron Potter had 13 points each, Antonio Green had 12 points and Ra’Sean Frederick had 10 points with a career-high of six assists.

For the first time since 2017 the Blue Dragons shot a 60 percent game at 64.5 percent. They also tied for the second-most assists in one game with a season-high of 33 assists and outrebounded the Mavericks 36-29.

Hutchinson advanced to 17-11 overall and 11-11 in the Jayhawk Conference.

Softball – The Blue Dragons advance to 8-3 overall following a doubleheader sweep over North Central Texas on Saturday.

Sophomore Ella Dougherty and freshman Olivia Sandoval each brought in three runs to contribute to a 12-6 victory in game one.
The Blue Dragons came in hot for game two with five runs in the first inning and four points in the second inning to create a 9-2 lead. Alexis Maston sacrificed a fly ball to score Sandoval in the third quarter for the tenth run of the game, closing out with a 10-2 victory.

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