CONCORDIA, Kan. – A new era of Cloud County Community College softball has begun as the T-Birds would earn a 13-7 and 9-1, five-inning win over the McPherson College JV team in their 2022 season-opening doubleheader at the CCCC Softball Field in Concordia, Kansas on Sunday, February 20th.
Under the direction of a new head coach for the first time since 2003, Cloud County improves to 2-0 on the year while earning a sweep in their season-opening doubleheader for the third-straight year. The wins give first-year head coach
John Kelly his first wins at the helm of the T-Birds.
Game One:
McPherson JV would take advantage of back-to-back singles to start the game as a walk would load the bases for the Bulldogs with no outs. A sacrifice fly would bring in a run for MCJV to go up 1-0, but not before the T-Birds would turn the sacrifice fly into a double play by throwing out Heather Hudson who would try to advance to third on the play. A strikeout would end the inning for CCCC to escape any further damage as the bats would come out swinging in their end of the first.
Following a strikeout from their leadoff hitter, Cloud County would use a one-out single and throwing error to put runners on second and third with a prime opportunity to try and tie the game. An RBI groundout would be a productive out for CCCC as the T-Birds would tie the game while moving both base runners up 60 feet before an RBI single would put Cloud County on top for the first time. A
McKenna Mayhew triple would extend the inning and bring home a third run for Cloud County before a line out would end the inning.
There would be no lack of offense in the second inning as McPherson JV would use a walk and three-straight hits to tie the game at 3-3 before a ground out and two-run RBI single would put the Bulldogs back out in front by a score of 5-3. A response from Cloud County would see the T-Birds put together five hits of their own to match the four-run top half of the inning from McPherson JV as a leadoff double from
Grace Utz would set the tone for RBI singles from
Shayna Fila,
Ryleigh Jones, and
Delaney Exon in addition to a two-RBI double from Bohnsack.
The first scoreless half-inning of the game would come in the top of the third as CCCC would work around a one-out walk as a runner for McPherson JV would be stranded at third after a wild pitch and stolen base would put the runner at third. Adding to their lead would be the T-Birds with two straight singles to begin the inning before eventually getting their first run on a wild pitch to score Utz. A two-out rally from Cloud County would then occur as a Fila RBI single would bring home
Mia Kelly before Jones would put one over the center-field fence with the first home run of the season for the T-Birds to cap off a four-run inning.
Working with a six-run lead, Cloud County would see McPherson JV get one run back in the top of the fourth before being held scoreless in the top of the fifth. CCCC would nearly end the game in the bottom of the fifth as Jones would hit her second home run of the game with an inside-the-park home run to the left-field fence that would bring home Fila to make the score 13-6. In a similar fashion to the fourth, the
Bulldogs would get one run back by taking advantage of two hits and a walk before stranding two runners to cut the T-Bird lead to 13-7. Neither team would be able to take advantage of a defensive miscue in their final opportunity at the plate as both the bottom of the sixth and top of the seventh would go hitless to allow CCCC to pick up the six-run win.
The 13 runs would come on 14 hits for Cloud County as both Fila and Jones would go three-for-four at the plate and combine for six RBIs. Five of the 13 hits would go for extra bases as the T-Birds would strike out just five times and strand a total of five runners in the contest. Picking up a victory in the circle in her collegiate debut would be freshman
Taylor Dekok after throwing the first four innings and allowing six runs (five earned) on eight hits while striking out two. Mayhew would also make an appearance for Cloud County, throwing the final three innings and allowing just one run on two hits.
GAME TWO:
Another early hole for the T-Birds would see the Bulldogs jump out to a 1-0 lead once again after a leadoff walk would come around to score on an RBI double with no other damage being recorded. CCCC would return the favor in the bottom of the first, using a leadoff walk from
Rae Ann Hartwig and RBI double from Jones to tie the game before getting the Alma, Kansas native home on a wild pitch later in the inning. McPherson JV would go down in order in the top of the second before committing two errors in the bottom of the second that would be part of a three-run inning for Cloud County despite getting just one hit from Hartwig in the frame.
Starting pitcher for the T-Birds
Kyra Meyer would work a second-straight one-two-three inning for Cloud County as CCCC would continue their early offensive onslaught by getting a Zoie Kincaid two-run home run just inside the left-field foul pole. Cloud County would then see their final two batters of the inning go down via strikeout but manage to hold a 7-1 lead heading into the fourth. The offensive struggles for the Bulldogs at the plate would continue in their next at-bat by being retired in order with Meyer retiring 11 consecutive batters. Two more runs would manage to score in the bottom of the fourth for CCCC as back-to-back singles would put runners aboard for later in the inning as CCCC would produce another three hits while taking advantage of yet another MCJV error to make it 9-1.
Just three outs away from their first run-rule victory of the year, Cloud County would see McPherson JV get a pinch-hit leadoff single that would be erased on a tailor-made 1-6-3 double play that would quickly put two outs on the board. Another single for the Bulldogs would extend the game for just one more batter as a groundout to Fila at second would secure the five-inning victory for CCCC.
Following up their game one performance with seven hits in the game, the T-Birds would show a lot of patience at the plate in game two to draw seven walks as Cloud County would find multiple different ways to manufacture runs. Hartwig and Kincade would each record two hits and account for four of the six RBIs in the game for the T-Birds while three other players would record one hit each. Meyer would toss a complete game in the circle, allowing just one run on three hits while recording three strikeouts and facing only three batters over the minimum of 15.
What's Next?
Cloud County is scheduled to play their first road doubleheader of the season this upcoming Friday, February 25th with a trip to Hutchinson to take on the Blue Dragons for a 2 PM doubleheader at the Fun Valley Sports Complex. Hutchinson is off to a 7-3 start on the year following a doubleheader sweep of North Central Texas College on Sunday and is also scheduled to play Friends University JV on Thursday ahead of the planned doubleheader between the T-Birds and Blue Dragons on Friday.
