Softball | 3/22/2025 9:06:00 PM

Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 The Cloud County Community College softball team swept its home doubleheader against Northeast Community College on Saturday, March 22 at the CCCC Softball Field. The T-Birds earned a 7-3 victory in seven innings in game one, followed by a 9-6 win in game two.

Following the pair of home wins, Cloud County has improved its record to 7-9 overall and moved to 6-2 at home this season.

The T-Birds and Hawks will conclude their four-game series in Concordia on Sunday, March 23. First pitch is slated for 11 am and will stream on the T-Bird Sports Network.

Northeast grabbed an early 1-0 lead in game one when redshirt freshman Allie Funderburk laced a double, scoring freshman Rachel Hobbs. Cloud County responded with two runs in the bottom half of the third. Freshmen Kia Stokes and Berkleigh Curtis both drew two-out walks. Sophomore Harley Smith singled to score Stokes, while freshman Maliyah Koster followed with a single to score Curtis.

Stokes and freshman Shaylee Keslar both added RBI doubles in the fourth to make it 5-1.

Freshman Emalee Johnson drilled a one-out triple in the sixth inning. Johnson and Stokes both scored to give the T-Birds a 7-1 advantage.

Northeast freshman Bailee Ahlemeyer and sophomore Lauren Marker posted back-to-back home runs to lead off the seventh, but Cloud County pitcher Paige Mahler was able to get Delaney Kruse to ground out, struck out Hobbs swinging, and got Funderburk to fly out to seal the win.

Mahler earned her third win of the season as she pitched all seven innings, giving up three earned runs on eleven hits while walking two and striking out four.

Offensively, Johnson led the T-Birds going 2-for-3 with a triple, two runs scored and two RBI. Koster went 2-for-3 with an RBI. Keslar and Stokes each had a double, while Smith had a run-scoring single. Curtis and sophomore Camille Stauffer finished with one run each.

Northeast opened game two with two runs in the top of the first. The T-Birds closed the gap to one when Smith scored on a passed ball in the bottom half of the frame.

Cloud County loaded the bases with one-out in the second inning. Smith singled to score freshman Bella Santin, while Stokes and Curtis both scored on throwing errors. Koster added an RBI double to bring in Smith, while Koster was driven home on a base-hit by Johnson to give the T-Birds a 5-2 lead.

The Hawks got a run back in the third, but an RBI double by Stauffer brought the score to 7-3 at the end of the fourth inning.

The T-Birds tallied two more runs in the fifth. Santin led off the inning with a single, while Curtis reached on a one-out walk. After Santin and Curtis both stole a base, Koster drove a ball into the outfield to score Santin and Curtis.

Northeast recorded three runs - two with two-outs - in the top of the seventh, but sophomore pitcher Brecken Whitney managed to get freshman Emilee Sidoreus to pop out to close out the game.

Whitney improved to 4-3 on the year. Whitney gave up six runs, four earned, on 14 hits with three strikeouts in seven innings pitched.

Koster led Cloud County at the plate. Koster finished 3-for-4 with a double, two runs scored and three RBI. Santin went 2-for-3 with two runs scored. Curtis and Smith also scored a pair of runs in the win.