CONCORDIA, Kan. – Big innings in both games of a home doubleheader would propel the Cloud County Community College softball team to a pair of wins over visiting McCook Community College at the CCCC Softball Field on Tuesday, March 28th.
 
Earning an 11-7 win in game one, CCCC would pick up a 6-3 win in game two to improve to 7-13 overall on the year while McCook would fall to 3-18 overall.
 
GAME ONE:
A high-scoring slugfest would see a total of 18 runs scored with 13 of the 18 runs being scored throughout the first four innings of play before slowing down with the final five runs being scored by the T-Birds in a big bottom of the fifth to go ahead for good. After giving up two runs on four hits in the top of the first, Cloud County would respond in the bottom of the first with four hits of their own leading to a pair of runs with a Hannah Hotalen fielder's choice and Jayden Rehlander RBI single bringing home Kaitlynn Baca and McKenna Mayhew to tie things up at 2-2.
 
McCook would manage to push across another three runs in the top of the second with four more hits which included a pair of doubles accounting for the three runs that would put the Indians back up by a 5-2 score. CCCC would get back a single run in the bottom of the second on a Ryleigh Jones solo home run before holding MCC scoreless in the top of the third for the first scoreless half inning of the game. In the bottom of the third, Cloud County would use an Emily Kvasnicka leadoff double and Mayhew walk to kick off a two-run inning to tie things at 5-5 as Rehlander would drive home another run on an RBI single before seeing Zoie Kincade tie the game on an RBI single to score Mayhew.
 
Reclaiming the lead in the top of the fourth, McCook would push across two runs on back-to-back one-out hits to plate two runs before seeing an inning-ending double play strand a runner at second to allow CCCC to escape with minimal damage. Another solo home run to lead off the bottom of the fourth by Jones would bring the T-Birds back within a run at 7-6 which is where things would stay throughout the fifth inning with the Indians going down in order before working around a one-out walk in the bottom of the fifth to maintain their one-run lead.
 
MCC would have a chance to add to their lead in the top of the sixth as a fielding error and two-out single would put a pair of runners aboard, but a strikeout to end the inning would allow CCCC to escape the potential jam and keep things at a one-run lead with the middle part of the order due up in the bottom of the inning. Continuing to provide the offense for Cloud County, three of the first four batters for the T-Birds would safely reach base with base hits to load the bases before a Kincade hit-by-pitch brought home a run to tie the game at 7-7. Delivering with a big two-RBI go-ahead single would be Taylor Dekok to give CCCC their first lead of the game as Brooklynn McCormick would follow with an RBI double to force a MCC pitching change. The T-Birds would push across one more run in the inning on a Baca single to finish off a five-run inning that would come on six hits as a once three-run deficit early on in the game would become a four-run CCCC lead.
 
Needing just three outs to finish off a game-one victory, Cloud County would opt to make a pitching change and bring in freshman Kiera Brack who would work around a pair of walks to begin the inning by getting back-to-back strikeouts to put two big outs on the board before a game-ending groundout to secure the victory for CCCC and strand two Indian runners.
 
Pounding out a game-high 18 hits in the contest, Cloud County would finish with their second-highest scoring output of the year despite stranding 10 base runners as each player in the starting lineup offensively would record at least one hit. Five different T-Birds would have multi-hit games with Rehlander leading the way with a perfect four-for-four performance with two RBI while Jones would account for two of CCCC's four extra-base hits.
 
Using three pitchers in the circle, Cloud County would see reliever Lynsey Stewart pick up her second win of the year after Dekok would throw 3.1 innings and take a no-decision in the contest. Stewart would toss 2.2 innings and strikeout one before turning things over to Brack who would work a scoreless seventh as MCC would be held scoreless over the final 3.2 innings of play.
 
GAME TWO:
Not wasting any time to grab the lead in game two, Cloud County would manage to keep McCook off the scoreboard in the top of the first before sending eight batters to the plate in the bottom of the first with five hits (four consecutive with two outs) leading to a four-run bottom of the first inning for CCCC. The T-Birds would get RBI base hits from Mayhew, Hotalen, Rehlander, and McCormick as a five-hit inning would stake Cloud County to the early lead.
 
Things would remain a 4-0 game in favor of CCCC through the top of the third as McCook would only be able to put one base runner on base with a walk between the second and third innings while managing to work around a T-Bird one-out single in the second to slow things down offensively. Cloud County would push across another run in the bottom of the third with another RBI single from McCormick to score Mayhew and put CCCC up 5-0 as the T-Birds would take their largest lead of the day heading into the top of the fourth.
 
After holding MCC scoreless through three innings, Cloud County would see the Indians take advantage of two T-Bird errors and an RBI double to put together a two-run top of the fourth that would cut the five-run CCCC lead down to just three at 5-3 at the halfway point of the game. Managing to get one run back in the bottom of the fourth, Cloud County would turn a leadoff single from Mia Kelly into a run on a Kvasnicka RBI single to keep McCook from building momentum to try and mount a comeback.
 
Matching CCCC's scoring from the fourth with a single run in the fifth, McCook would bring the deficit back to three at 6-3 with a two-hit inning as the T-Birds would still manage to keep MCC from making things interesting. Cloud County would follow by stranding a one-out double in their end of the fifth before facing the minimum in the top of the sixth as both teams would be held without a run in the sixth to keep the score at 6-3 heading to the seventh.
 
With a save opportunity present, CCCC would once again turn to Brack to finish off the game and throw the seventh inning, with the Weeping Water, Nebraska native inducing three infield popups to get a one-two-three inning to end the game and secure the second doubleheader sweep of the year by the T-Birds.
 
Recording another 14 hits with four players recording multiple hits in the game, CCCC would be led by three-hit games from both Mayhew and McCormick as the duo would account for three of Cloud County's six runs driven in and one of the three extra-base hits by the T-Birds. In total, eight different players for Cloud County would record at least one hit despite CCCC being unable to draw a walk in the game.
 
Improving to 3-2 on the year following a four-inning performance in the circle would be freshman Taryn McKinney after allowing two unearned runs on three hits and facing just 18 batters in the game. Stewart would make an appearance in relief for the second-straight game and allow one run on two hits before seeing Brack pick up her first save of the year with a scoreless seventh.
 
What's Next?
Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference play officially kicks off for Cloud County on Thursday, March 30th with the T-Birds hosting Hesston College for a 2 PM doubleheader at the CCCC Softball Field. The 22-game conference slate will see CCCC play each of the other 11 teams that make up the Division II portion of the KJCCC in doubleheaders with six of the 11 doubleheaders being scheduled to take place at home.