DRAGONS OPEN REGION 6 WITH VICTORY OVER PRATT
Hutchinson CC Sports Information
DODGE CITY – The top-seeded Hutchinson Community College softball team made a four-run first inning stand up as the Jayhawk Conference champion Blue Dragons opened the 2026 Region 6 Division I Tournament with a victory over the Pratt Beavers.
The Blue Dragons extended their winning streak over the Beavers to 41 games after a 5-3 victory on Friday at Legends Park.
Hutchinson improved to 43-12, which is the third-most wins in program history. The Blue Dragons will play Colby in the winner's bracket semifinal later on Friday. The Dragons extended their current winning streak to 10 games.
After Pratt scored a run in the top of the first, the Blue Dragons immediately responded in the bottom of the inning.
Riley Dreher led off with a double, extending her single-season record for doubles with 29. Kaibryn Kruger doubled in Dreher to tie the game at 1-1. Hadley Topping hit the Dragons' third-consecutive double to score Kruger and give the Dragons a 2-1 lead. After a Gabby Stauffer singled to put runners at the corners, Leyla O'Connor's sacrifice fly scored Topping for a 3-1 lead. Emery Benson-Hladik's groundout to second scored Stauffer for a 4-1 Hutchinson lead.
The Blue Dragons led 5-1 when Addi Lutz scored after Dreher stayed in a rundown after an infield single in the bottom of the fourth inning.
Pratt scored single runs in the sixth and seventh innings, but sophomore pitcher Jessica Schmidt tied a Blue Dragon single-season record with her ninth save of the season. Schmidt is now tied with Riley Wertz, who had nine saves in 2022. Schmidt had two strikeouts to close out the victory.
Dreher led the Blue Dragons offensively, going 2 for 3 with a double and a run scored. Dreher became the fifth Blue Dragon to reach 90 hits in a season and tied Sami Loos for sixth on the career RBI list with 62. She also set a new single-season record for extra-base hit with 39.
Stauffer went 2 for 3 with a pair of singles and a run scored. Kruger and Topping each had RBI doubles. O'Connor and Benson-Hladik each drove in a run.
Alyssa Rogers improved to 8-3 with six innings in the circle for the Dragons. Rogers struck out six and walked two. She allowed eight hits and three runs.