CONCORDIA, Kan. – Playing at home would once again be the needed spark for the Cloud County Community College softball team following four-straight games on the road as the T-Birds would earn wins by scores of 8-6 and 13-5 to sweep Pratt Community College at the CCCC Softball Field in Concordia, Kansas on Sunday, March 20th.
 
A grueling stretch that featured six games in four days ends as 10 of Cloud County's 19 games this season have now come in the past eight days. The wins allow CCCC to move to 10-9 overall while Pratt falls to 1-15 overall with the two losses.
 
GAME ONE:
All 14 runs in the contest would come in the second, third, and fourth innings of play as a scoreless first would be followed by a one-run top of the second for the Beavers to jump out to an early 1-0 lead. Cloud County would respond with a McKenna Mayhew leadoff single and stolen base before catcher Grace Utz would connect on a two-run home run over the center-field fence that would put CCCC up 2-1.
 
Another lead change would come in the top of the third as seven of the first eight batters of the inning would safely reach base with a leadoff single, fielder's choice, one-out single, walk, and infield single loading the bases. PCC would reclaim the lead with a two-RBI single to left field that would be followed by another RBI single and two RBI double as the Beavers would put together their best offensive inning of the game to plate five runs on six hits.
 
Taking advantage of a Pratt error to go along with four hits, the T-Birds would respond as back-to-back bunt singles led off the inning and put runners on-base for Ryleigh Jones to hit an RBI single that would bring home two runs thanks to a Beaver error. Another Pratt error on the ensuing at-bat from Mayhew would bring home another run on what would have been a sacrifice fly and would be followed by a bunt single from Delaney Exon that would bring home the fourth run of the inning to tie the game at 6-6.
 
Limiting Pratt to just one hit over the next three innings, Cloud County would reclaim the lead in the bottom of the fourth as Kelsey Bohnsack would hit a go-ahead solo home run to nearly the same spot that Utz would hit her two-run homer in the second as the T-Birds would take their largest lead of the game at 8-6. Both offenses would then become stagnant until the top of the seventh as a leadoff single from PCC would be followed by two quick outs and another single to put the game-tying run on base while bringing the go-ahead run to the plate. An infield single would load the bases for the Beavers as Cloud County would face a potential jam while trying to hang on for the win, eventually getting the final out of the game on a near bloop single to eke out the two-run victory.
 
Outhitting Pratt 12-11, Cloud County would get a game-high three hits from leadoff batter Ella Caudill while Utz would drive in a team-best two runs. The T-Birds would strike out just twice and strand a total of three runners while getting the Beavers to strand eight runners as converting base runners into runs would prove to be the difference. Throwing a complete game for her fifth win of the season would be freshman Taylor Dekok who would strike out four and allow six runs on 11 hits while tossing 107 total pitches.
 
GAME TWO:
A stronger offensive performance in game two would see Cloud County score at least one run in every inning of the game as the T-Birds would jump out to a 1-0 lead after an inning of play before breaking a 1-1 tie in the bottom of the second with a successful double steal by Alexis Billings and Mia Kelly. Pratt would manage to put together a two-run top of the third to take their first and only lead of the game by stringing together three hits and a sacrifice fly to go up 3-2 briefly as six of the first seven CCCC batters in the bottom of the third would collect base hits as part of a five-run, six-hit inning. Jones, Exon, Bohnsack, and Kelly would all drive in runs with base hits in the inning, with Kelly providing the big blow with a two-RBI single that would turn a 5-3 contest into a 7-3 contest heading to the fourth.
 
Hoping to put the game out of reach in the bottom of the fourth, Cloud County once again would go on the offensive attack and put together another strong inning as a leadoff walk followed by a single, fielder's choice, RBI bunt single, and two-RBI triple would put the T-Birds up seven at 10-3. Two more runs would come home in the inning as a sacrifice squeeze bunt would be completed by Utz to bring home Dekok while Rae Ann Hartwig would cap off a four-run inning with n RBI single to score Kelly and put CCCC in position to end the game in the top of the fifth.
 
Pratt would make sure that things would be forced to go to the bottom of the fifth as a leadoff bunt single and two fielder's choices would put runners on the corners as the second fielder's choice would see an error prove costly for CCCC. Cloud County would elect to trade a run for an out on the next at-bat knowing that the run that would score on a fielder's choice would still keep the lead at eight, but the Beavers would have one more base-hit in them with an RBI double bringing the deficit back under eight as the T-Birds would need to score in the bottom of the fifth to end the game by run-rule.
 
Leading off the bottom of the fifth would be Jones with an infield single before going on to steal second and get into scoring position while representing the game-ending run. After a pop-out and wild pitch would move Jones to third, Bohnsack would draw a walk and see Caudill pinch-run for the sophomore before taking second on the first pitch of Dekok's at-bat. Another squeeze play would be executed by the T-Birds as a sacrifice bunt would go down as a fielder's choice with Pratt attempting to throw out Jones at the plate with the throw coming in late and Jones ending the game by scoring.
 
Needing just 69 total pitches to toss a complete-game victory, Mayhew would allow just two earned runs (five total) on seven hits while striking out two to improve to 2-0 on the year. Seven Cloud County players would put up multiple hits in the game as CCCC would finish with 17 total hits as part of their 13 runs while also drawing three walks. Dekok (three-for-three) and Kelly (two-for-two) both finished with perfect games at the plate while combining to drive in five runs while scoring four times.
 
What's Next?
A return to Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference play will occur on Thursday, March 24th as Cloud County will now play host to Highland Community College with a 2 PM doubleheader at the CCCC Softball Field. Originally scheduled to take place in Highland, both teams came to an agreement to swap home doubleheaders as significant rainfall is expected to move through the state in the coming week with a more favorable forecast for Concordia. With the change, the T-Birds will now head to Highland later in the season on Saturday, April 30th for a conference doubleheader.