BLUE DRAGONS MAINTAIN CUSHION ATOP KJCCC WITH SWEEP OF COLBY

Hutchinson CC Sports Information

The Hutchinson Community College softball team got timely offense and tremendous pitching to complete a key Jayhawk Conference doubleheader sweep of the Colby Trojans on Thursday at Fun Valley.

The Blue Dragons won the season series with the Trojans, winning the opener 5-1 and holding on to capture the second game 4-2.

Hutchinson (31-11) reached the 30-win plateau for the 16th time in program history, the 12th under head coach Jaime Rose. The KJCCC first-place Blue Dragons pick up a game over second-place Dodge City and up their lead to two games over the Conquistadors. The Dragons now lead third-place Colby by 3.5 games.

The Blue Dragons travel to play Dodge City at 4 and 6 p.m. on Saturday at Legends Park in Dodge City.

GAME  1 RECAP – Hutchinson 5, Colby 1
The Blue Dragons took early control of Game 1 with a two-run first inning and three more runs in the third.

That was plenty of run support for sophomore Aubree Thomas (11-1), who earned the pitching win with six strong innings in the circle. Thomas allowed three hits and one unearned run with two strikeouts and no walks. Thomas faced no more than five batters in a single inning.

Jessica Schmidt closed out the game with a scoreless seventh.

The Blue Dragons out-hit Colby 7-4 in the first game. 

Freshman Riley Dreher went 2 for 4 with a double and two runs to lead the Blue Dragons. Dreher extended her hitting streak to 21 games, the third-longest streak in history. Dreher also broke the Blue Dragon single-season record for doubles with her 23rd of the season, breaking a tie with Olivia Sandoval (2024). Now with 77 hits, Dreher ties Sandoval for eighth on the Blue Dragon single-season hits list.

Gabby Stauffer had two RBIs with an RBI triple and run-producing groundout. Kaibryn Kruger had an RBI triple and Tailor Golly had a run-scoring double.

The Blue Dragons led 2-0 after one inning when Kruger and Stauffer each had run-scoring triples. The Dragons cashed in for three unearned runs in the third. Golly's double to left field scored Hadley Topping for a 5-0 lead. 

GAME  2 RECAP – Hutchinson 4, Colby 2
Building a 4-0 lead after two innings, the Blue Dragons had to hold one to complete the doubleheader sweep and series win over the Trojans. 

Colby scored a single run in the fifth and pulled within 4-2 in the sixth after an RBI single by Brooklynn Ekker. Jessica Schmidt then got back-to-back strikeouts to end the inning. Schmidt completed her nation-leading seventh save with back-to-back strikeouts to close out the game.

Freshman pitcher Haley Ediger (5-4) came out of the bullpen to earn the pitching victory. She entered the game in the second with runners at first and second and no outs and retired the first three batters she faced to end the threat. Ediger went four innings and allowed five hits and two runs with one strikeout and no walks. 

The Blue Dragons were held to a KJCCC season-low four hits – singles from Hadley Topping, Leyla O'Connor, Desiray Segura and Reese Goetz.

The Dragons scored four runs only one hit in the second inning. Hutchinson scored runs on a base-loaded walk to Goetz, Segura scoring on a wild pitch, a bases-loaded walk to Topping and a bases-loaded hit-by-pitch to Stauffer.

The Blue Dragons stranded 11 runners on base in Game 2.

The Blue Dragons are now 19-1 at home this season.