In a North Texas Junior College Athletic Conference doubleheader with Region V eyes and national eyes on it, the No. 4 Temple College softball team traveled to Waco on Wednesday to take on No. 5 McLennan Community College at Bosque River Ballpark.
The Leopards fought tooth-and-nail with the Highlanders, having fought back from a couple of deficits and earned a doubleheader split with MCC.
MCC took game one, 6-4. Temple won game two in eight innings, 8-5.
The teams emerged from the doubleheader the way they started the day: tied for first place.
Kaelani Rogers opened the scoring for MCC with a solo homer in the first. Rogers scored on an error in the third inning and Tracy Lowry scored on a wild pitch to give the Highlanders a 3-0 lead.
Lexi Dudeczka and Jasmine Benavidez singled to start the fourth. After Dudeczka was caught stealing at third, Reese Cottrell walked and was run for by Maycee Griffin. On the next pitch, Kaiyah Ratu belted a fast ball over the center field wall for a three-run homer to tie the game at 3-3.
Following a walk to Tayen Allen and double by Brooke Fechner, Delanie Roeder hit a three-run homer over the left field wall to give MCC a 6-3 lead.
Cottrell homered with one out in the sixth inning to pull the Leopards to within two runs. However, the Leopards could not get closer as MCC took the opener.
Roeder led MCC (36-8 overall, 20-2 NTJCAC) with three RBI, as four different Highlanders collected hits.
Olivia Garrett collected the win in the circle, allowed four runs on five hits, struck out six and walked one.
Ratu had two of Temple's five hits and drove in three runs.
Kat Kram took the loss for the Leopards, having pitched three innings, allowed six runs (four earned) on four hits, walked two, struck out two, and hit a batter. Cottrell pitched three innings of scoreless relief, walked one and struck out one.
Macie Jansky's sacrifice fly to score Chayne Allen put MCC on the board in the bottom of the first in game two.
Izzy Garcia singled home Maycee Griffin in the top of the third inning to tie the game at 1-1.
A sacrifice fly by Rogers and RBI single by Fechner regained MCC's lead in the bottom of the third.
Ryley Litchfield's sacrifice bunt in the fifth scored Ratu to snip the deficit back to a run.
The score was answered by a Jansky RBI double in the bottom of the inning, which gave MCC a 4-2 lead.
Brooklyn Walton's one-out single, Dudeczka's sacrifice bunt, and Benavidez's two-out single set up Temple's next scores in the sixth. Cottrell's double to center scored Walton and Benavidez and Ratu's single scored Cottrell to give Temple its first lead of the day, 5-4.
With one out in the bottom of the seventh, Rogers homered to tie the game at 5-5. After a Jansky single, Temple induced a line out and fly out to force extra innings.
Walton singled and Dudeczka doubled to start the eighth. Benavidez's sacrifice fly scored Walton and advanced Dudeczka down to third base, after Cottrell and Ratu walked to load the bases, Garcia's single drove home Dudeczka and Litchfield's sacrifice fly scored Cottrell to lift Temple to a 6-5 lead.
The Highlanders threatened with two outs in the bottom of the eighth. Lillian Jones walked and Rylie Marquart singled Jones to third. Garcia struck out pinch hitter Jayden Sadler to end the game.
Temple (40-6 overall, 20-1 NTJCAC) had 14 over the course of eight innings. Walton led the way with three hits, and Cottrell, Ratu, and Garcia each having contributed two. Litchfield, Garcia, and Cottrell each had two RBI.
Garcia dealt eight innings in the win. She allowed five runs (two earned) on 11 hits, struck out three and walked one.
Marquart had three of MCC's 11 hits. Rogers and Jansky each had two RBI.
Natalie Klena was saddled with the loss, having pitched seven innings, allowed runs on 13 hits, walked three, and struck out two. Skylar Scott threw an inning of relief, allowed one run on one hit, walked two, and struck out one.
The Leopards will host MCC on Saturday in doubleheader action at the Danny Scott Sports Complex beginning at noon.