HESSTON, Kan. – Playing on the road for just the second time in the month of April, the Cloud County Community College softball team would be unable to complete a comeback in a 9-8 loss to Hesston in game one before falling by a score of 12-4 in five innings to drop a doubleheader at Bess Mullett Field in Hesston, Kansas on Saturday, April 17th.

Dropping the season series to the Larks, CCCC slips to 6-18 overall and 1-17 in the Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference while the Hesston improves to 16-10 overall and 8-6 in the KJCCC.

Game One:
Striking first in the opening inning of play, Cloud County would turn a leadoff walk into a run as Taylor Glause would drive in Kayla Lee with an RBI single to make things 1-0 before seeing Hesston come back with an RBI triple and sacrifice fly to go up 2-1 after an inning of action. CCCC would respond with a run in the top of the second with a Shayna Fila RBI single to tie things at 2-2 which is where things would stay until the bottom of the third.

A big inning for the Larks in the bottom of the third would get going with a one-out home run as four-straight batters for HC would reach base. Following a bases-loaded pop out, a walk and bases-clearing three RBI triple would break things open as a total of six runs would come home on four hits to give the Hesston an 8-2 lead heading to the fourth.

Wasting no time to get back into the contest, Cloud County would have a big response of their own four of the first five batters of the top of the fourth safely reaching base with Delaney Exon driving in a run with a bases-loaded walk. After a Kelsey Bohnsack sacrifice fly would make it 8-4 Larks with two outs in the inning, a walk, hit batter, and error would keep the inning alive while bringing in three more runs to pull CCCC within one. A second error would allow Cloud County to tie the game back up at 8-8 as the six-run inning would come courtesy of three hits and two errors.

The T-Birds would then work around a leadoff hit batter in the bottom of the inning to get back up to the dish where Emily Dunaway and Rae Ann Hartwig would both reach base as the first two batters of the inning before seeing Exon hit an RBI double to put CCCC up 10-9. Hesston would manage to escape the rest of the inning however without seeing any more damage done by Cloud County as things would become a one-run game heading to the bottom of the fifth.

A one-out single and walk would lead to HC managing to score two runs on a two-out, two-RBI single to reclaim the lead in the bottom half of the inning as CCCC would suddenly face a 10-9 deficit with two innings to play. In their first of two chances to try and tie things, Cloud County would strand a pair of runners in the top of the sixth after a one-out and two-out single would be thwarted by an inning-ending groundout.

Getting a one-two-three bottom of the sixth to try and make one final attempt at a comeback, the T-Birds would see the Larks return the favor with a one-two-three top of the seventh as CCCC would drop their third one-run game of the season.

Stranding 14 runners in the game, Cloud County would record 13 hits and draw seven walks as Fila, Dunaway, and Hartwig would all have three hits in the game. Only a double from Exon would go for extra-bases as the remaining 12 hits would be singles from the T-Birds despite getting 43 plate appearances compared to 35 for Hesston.

Game Two:
The momentum from game one for Hesston would carry over into game two as the Larks would score three runs on two hits and an error in the bottom of the first while holding Cloud County scoreless for the first three innings of play. With the score still a 3-1 HC lead, Cloud County would finally get on the board in the top of the fourth with a leadoff home run from Hartwig but see Hesston come back with three runs on four hits in the bottom half of the inning.

An Ella Caudill leadoff double in the fifth would jumpstart a two-run inning for CCCC as a groundout would move the freshman to third before a Glause RBI single would push across the first run of the inning. Glause would then come home later in the inning as Dunaway would reach on an error, but Hesston would manage to get out of the inning without any more damage.

Holding onto a 6-3 lead in the bottom of the fifth, the Hesston offense would come alive one final time as three-straight one-out singles would knock CCCC starter Brynn Riley from the contest with the Larks keeping things going with as the next batter would reach on an error while driving in a run. A walk would bring home another run to make it 8-3 as a bases-clearing double would put Hesston one run from ending the game early as a stolen base and throwing error would allow the game-ending run to cross home plate.

Cloud County's four runs would come on six hits as six different players would account for a hit each with Lee, Caudill, and Hartwig all recording extra-base hits. CCCC would also get RBIs from Fila, Glause, Dunaway, and Hartwig in the game.  

What's Next?
The T-Birds will play their second-to-last home doubleheader this upcoming Thursday as Kansas City Kansas Community College will be in town for a 2 p.m. first pitch. KCKCC is 31-7 overall and 12-4 in conference play with games against Labette on Saturday and at Crowder on Tuesday ahead of their trip to Concordia.