Red Devil softball rolls past Fort Scott

FORT SCOTT — Now that’s a fun way to end a losing streak.
Allen Community College’s softball team broke into the Jayhawk Conference Eastern Division victory column with an 11-1 romp over host Fort Scott.
The victory garnered the Red Devils a split of Tuesday’s doubleheader and ended a 17-game losing streak.
Fort Scott won the opener, 8-0.
The Red Devils rode the right arm of Marissa Luna to the win in the nightcap. She shut down the Greyhound batters, allowing just three hits and two walks. She also struck out two in six innings of work.
Meanwhile, Allen’s batters were opportunistic from start to finish.
Kayla Bourgeois got things started with a two-run shot to center to give ACC a 2-0 lead in the top of the first.
Erika King singled and Stormie Bush doubled to set up another two-run rally in the second. Luna aided her own cause with an RBI grounder before Annie Gentry’s single made the score 4-0.
Bailey Burnett singled and scored on an error in the third to make it 5-1.
Cassidy Reynolds tacked on another two-run blast in the fourth to push the lead to 7-1.
Allen added four in the top of the sixth for good measure.
Burnett and Shayla Stephens each had RBI singles before King’s single drove in runs 10 and 11.
Luna retired Fort Scott in order in the bottom of the sixth to end the game via the 10-run mercy rule.
Reynolds went 3-for-4 with a double and home run, while Burnett had three singles. Bourgeois had a single and homer and King singled twice. Bush had a double. Gentry, Stephens and Luna tacked on singles.
Also noteworthy: The Red Devils played spotless, error-free defense, cleanly fielding all 27 chances.

THINGS WEREN’T as rosy in the opener.
Fort Scott scored three in the first, two in the third and three more in the fifth against Luna, who allowed four earned runs on 10 hits. She walked two and struck out four. Allen committed two costly errors.
Meanwhile, Fort Scott’s Kelsey Simons and Christa Merriman limited Allen to two hits, singles by Bourgeois in the second and Reynolds in the fourth.

THE RED Devils are back in action this afternoon at Maple Woods Community College in Kansas City, Mo. They return home next Wednesday to host Cottey College for their regular season finale.