By Bailey Pennycuff / Co-Sports Editor
A 28-4 is an impressive feat by the Hutchinson Community College women’s basketball team. However, the team earned many other honors other than their record.
Five Blue Dragons earned postseason honors by the Jayhawk Conference. Among them, sophomore Abby Ogle received the 2020 Jayhawk West Player of the Year.
Ogle has usually had impressive statistics in the field of steals, assists, and rebounds, but this year she proved her talent as a leading scorer.
She averaged 15.4 points per game, 3.7 steals (leading the conference), 3.7 assists and 6.4 rebounds.
Ogle had four double-doubles this season and led the team in scoring 14 times.
Besides her Player of the Year award, she also earned first-team All-Jayhawk West honors.
Sophomore guard Makayla Vannett earned first-team All-Jayhawk honors as well.
She dominated the 3-point line this season with the third-highest 3-point percentage in the league at 39 percent. She also is third on the Blue Dragon career list with 188 3-pointers.
Vannett used her shooting skills to average 13.1 points per game. She also averaged 3.2 rebounds and 2.1 assists.
Sophomore center Brooklyn Betham worked hard this season to earn second-team all-Jayhawk honors. She had eight double-doubles, and 17 games of scoring in double figures.
Betham led the league in field-goal percentage at 61.8 percent and also averages 10.7 points and 8.8 rebounds.
Freshman guard Tor’e Alford received an honorable mention, even with missing seven games in the middle of the season due to an injury.
She averaged 10.8 points per game and shot 40.1 percent from the 3-point line (second-best in the KJCCC this season).
Alford also averaged 3.7 assists per game.
Coach John Ontjes was named the 2020 conference Coach of the Year.
Throughout the season, he was faced with multiple injuries, and yet, he was still able to obtain a powerful 28-4 season record.
Of his 13 seasons at Hutch, Ontjes has won the Jayhawk West title eight times and earned Coach of the Year seven times.
The Blue Dragons led the KJCCC defensively with only 51.8 points allowed on average per game. They also rank fourth in the nation with that statistic.
Men’s Basketball
The Blue Dragons finished their season Tuesday with a record of 23-9.
Freshman guard Josh Baker was one of the three Blue Dragons to earn postseason honors. However, Baker was awarded a separate, impressive honor – Jayhawk West Freshman of the Year.
Baker led the Jayhawk Conference this season in 3-point efficiency at 49.4 percent, placing him at fourth-best in Jayhawk Conference history.
Additionally, he earned a second-team All-Jayhawk West selection.
He averaged 13.8 points per game, 4.5 rebounds, 2.7 assists, and 1.4 steals. He had seven games with at least 20 points.
Sophomore guard Saquan Singleton had several statistics to help him earn his first-team All-Jayhawk West title.
He averaged 11.8 points per game, 7.2 rebounds, 4.9 assists, and 1.5 steals.
Singleton had three double-doubles and one triple-double.
Sophomore guard Tyler Brown also earned a postseason honor with his All-Jayhawk West honorable mention.
He averaged 12.8 points per game and was Hutch’s second-best 3-point shooter, shooting at 36.4 percent.
Baseball
The baseball team swept Coffeyville on Sunday at their home opener at Hobart-Detter Field.
During the first game, all 13 of their runs were scored within the first three innings.
Freshman Drew Reetz went 2 for 3 with a three-run home run in the second. Steele hit his fifth homer of the season to go 2 for 3 with three runs scored and two RBIs.
Hutch out-hit Coffeyville 10-4 in the first game on Sunday to get the 13-2 run-rule win.
Freshman Tyler Delong earned the win, pitching three innings and allowing four hits and two earned runs. He had one strikeout and one walk.
Sophomore L.J. McDonough pitched two innings allowing no runs and had four strikeouts. He also had three walks.
The second game was much closer, as the Blue Dragons beat the Red Ravens 5-4.
Entering the ninth inning, sophomore Cade Fenton allowed a leadoff walk and it almost turned out to tie the game.
Coffeyville lined a single to left with a runner on second. Freshman Luke Satori fielded it and threw a perfect ball to end the game on an easy tag at the plate.
In the bottom of the sixth inning, Reetz broke the 3-all tie with a leadoff solo home run.
Sophomore Mason Lowe was 2 for 2 to lead the Blue Dragons.
Sophomore Cody Farmer pitched three innings in relief to earn the win with six strikeouts, three runs and one earned run.
Fenton earned another save with a scoreless ninth.
The Blue Dragons’ record is now 13-2 and have won 10 consecutive games.
Softball
The softball team played Friday at Hesston, resulting in another split.
They lost game one 3-2 with a season-low three hits.
Refusing to be swept, the Blue Dragons made a five-run comeback to force an extra inning for the 11-10 win.
Sophomore Taylor Ullery began the comeback with a two-run home run.
After that – all with two outs – sophomore Caitlyn Schumacher was hit by a pitch, freshman Natalie Bevan singled, Ullery walked and freshmen Kylee Dunn and Sadie Loney both doubled to result in a total of five runs – tying the game 10-10. Still with two outs, Isabel McCarty went up to bat and burned the right fielder. She went on to score for an inside-the-park home run.
Dunn was 5 for 5.
In the circle, Loney took the loss for game one and freshman Jordan Galliher got the win.
For the Blue Dragon’s fifth split of the season, they faced NOC Enid for their home opener at Fun Valley Sports Complex on Leap Day.
Throughout game one, Hutch was never seriously threatened by the Jets because of their three runs in the first inning, followed by a healthy continuation of their lead.
The Blue Dragons had a whopping 15 hits in the first game.
Freshman Lexi Williams went 3 for 4 with a triple. Sophomore Maryssa Rollin went 2 for 4 with a double. Sophomore Ashley Wilson, freshman Bailey Pennycuff, and Bevan each had two hits.
Loney earned the win with four hits, four earned runs and two walks. Rollin came in for two innings with three strikeouts, three walks, two hits and no runs scored.
As for game two, NOC-Enid had the fast start with five runs in the first two innings and an 8-1 lead after four.
Hutch cut the deficit to 8-5 in the top of the sixth while taking advantage of two errors from the Jets.
They even went on to score two more runs, and had the tying run on third; however, they couldn’t scratch another run because they had been working with two outs.
The Blue Dragons out-hit Enid 14-8 but managed to strand 11 runners on the base paths.
Five different players had two hits each – sophomore Alexis Way, Rollin, Dunn, Schumacher, and Pennycuff.
Galliher took the loss, going two innings with five hits and five runs allowed. She struck out two and walked two. Freshman Jessika Gomez got in the circle for two innings and had three hits and three runs allowed. She struck out four and walked two. Loney closed the game.
