CONCORDIA, Kan. – Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference action would get off to a hot start for the Cloud County Community College softball team as the T-Birds would earn an 8-0, six-inning win over Hesston College before picking up a 12-9 come-from-behind victory in game two as part of a home sweep at the CCCC Softball Field in Concordia, Kansas on Thursday, March 30th.
 
Finishing off a six-game home stand with what has become a five-game winning streak, Cloud County is now 9-13 overall and 2-0 in the KJCCC while Hesston falls to 6-11 overall while dropping each of their first two games to the conference season.
 
GAME ONE:
Scoring seemingly would come in bunches for CCCC in the opener as three runs would come home for the T-Birds in the bottom of the second before plating another four runs in the bottom of the fourth. In the second, Cloud County would use a McKenna Mayhew leadoff walk and fielder's choice that would see a dropped ball on a play at second leading to both runners being safe to allow Brooklynn McCormick to break a scoreless tie with an RBI single. Zoie Kincade would follow with a two-RBI double to score both Jayden Rehlander and McCormick as CCCC would push across the three runs on just two hits.
 
The fourth inning would see another error by the Larks defense allow the T-Birds to start a rally as the leadoff throwing miscue would be followed by a McCormick single and Kincade groundout that would move both runners up 60 feet. With nine-hole hitter Alexis Billings up at the plate, CCCC would opt for a safety bunt squeeze that would see a perfectly executed bunt lead to all three runners safely advancing to extend the lead to 4-0 before seeing a wild pitch allow McCormick to score and make it a 5-0 game. Ryleigh Jones would deliver the big blow of the inning with a two-run home run over the center field fence to cap off the four-run inning as Cloud County would take full control heading into the fifth.
 
Needing just one run to try and end the game early, CCCC would be unable to put a base runner on base in the bottom of the fifth before working a perfect top of the sixth to get another shot at ending the game before its scheduled length. McCormick's third single of the game would put a leadoff runner on-base before a one-out bunt single from Billings to put the game-ending run in scoring position for Jones. It wouldn't take long for Jones as a 2-1 pitch would be put into right field as McCormick would come around to score from second on what would ultimately be an RBI double to end the game.
 
McCormick and Jones would lead the way offensively for CCCC as five of the eight T-Bird hits and four RBI would come from the bats of the duo with Billings and Kincade accounting for Cloud County's remaining two hits. An efficient offensive outing would see the T-Birds strand just two runners in the game while seeing three of their eight hits go for extra bases including a game-high two extra-base hits from Jones. In the circle, a complete-game two-hit shutout would be thrown by Taylor Dekok to run her record to 2-3 on the year while needing just 84 pitches on the day. In total, Dekok would face just five batters over the minimum and strike out three.
 
GAME TWO:
Things would be much more erratic throughout the opening three innings of play in game two as Cloud County would take advantage of a fielding error and two hits in the bottom of the first inning to go up 1-0 before seeing Hesston come back with four hits while taking advantage of a CCCC error to plate four runs and take their first lead of the day at 4-1. The T-Birds would get two of the four runs back in the bottom of the inning as a Kincade leadoff double would set up a two-out Jones two-run home run for her second homer of the day and fourth in the past four games.
 
Not to be outdone, HC would come back in the top of the third to extend what had become a 4-3 lead as another error by the CCCC defense would lead to a four-run inning (all unearned) for the Larks to take their largest lead of the day at 8-3. The scoring frenzy would continue into the bottom of the third as a leadoff hit-by-pitch for Mayhew would lead to a run on a Rehlander RBI double before seeing the Hutchinson, Kansas native score two batters later on a wild pitch. Cloud County would pick up one more run later on in the inning as Kincade would reach on an error and move to third on a Kiera Brack single down the right field line before a Mia Kelly sacrifice fly to bring the T-Birds back within two at 8-6.
 
Both teams would go down quietly in the fourth for what would wind up being the only scoreless inning of the game before seeing CCCC get out of a one-out jam in the top of the fifth by erasing a runner at third on a back pick by Kincade to McCormick followed by a strikeout to swing momentum in favor of the T-Birds. Cloud County would then get a leadoff home run from Rehlander to get within one at 8-7 before ultimately stranding a Brack two-out triple to leave the game-tying run 60 feet from scoring.
 
With Hesston only able to work a one-out single in the top of the sixth, the T-Bird come-from-behind rally would carry over to the bottom of the inning as a two-out rally would see six-straight hits with two outs lead to five runs. After Rehlander would hit a game-tying single to score Kaitlynn Baca, McCormick would come through with a go-ahead RBI single before coming around to score herself on a Kincade two-RBI double. One final run would come home on a Brack RBI single to score Kincade as CCCC would finish erasing what was a five-run deficit to go up four at 12-8.
 
One final rally from the Larks would see HC draw a leadoff walk before a flyout and double to put two runners aboard to try and make things interesting as Cloud County would still need to find a way to get two more outs. A groundout back to the pitcher would wind up bringing a run home for Hesston but put a second out on the board for CCCC to set up a game-ending fly out into left field as Cloud County would earn their first conference doubleheader sweep since April 6 of last season.
 
Recording double-digit hits for the fourth time in the past five games, Cloud County would outhit Hesston by a 15-7 total with four different T-Birds recording multi-hit games. Brack and Rehlander would each go a perfect three-for-three with Rehlander driving in three runs in addition to scoring three times while Brack would drive in one of CCCC's 11 RBI. The Weeping Water, Nebraska native would also earn her first win of the year in the circle after coming on in relief and throwing 4.1 innings while allowing just one run on four hits.
 
What's Next?
The T-Birds will carry a five-game winning streak into a Saturday road doubleheader at Highland Community College with first pitch of game one scheduled for 12 PM. The Scotties were last in action on Monday, March 27th when they split a home doubleheader against the Kansas Wesleyan University JV team. HCC is 15-8 overall on the year and has won the last 12 meetings with Cloud County dating back to March 15, 2017 when the T-Birds earned a 2-0 victory.