Softball | 4/10/2025 8:58:00 PM

Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 The Cloud County Community College softball team fell 8-4 in nine innings in the first game of a Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference doubleheader against Labette Community College on Thursday, April 10.

The T-Birds were unable to score in the second game, falling 10-0 in five innings.

In the first game of the afternoon, the T-Birds and the Cardinals were locked in a pitcher's duel. Cloud County starter Paige Mahler allowed one hit and one walk while scattering six strikeouts through five scoreless innings to open the game.

Cloud County jumped out to an early 2-0 lead when freshmen Emalee Johnson and Lilly Ellison scored in the bottom of the second inning.

Ellison then delivered an RBI single in the bottom of the third, driving in freshman Maliyah Koster to put the T-Birds ahead 3-0.

Cloud County extended its lead to 4-0 in the bottom of the fifth. Freshman Berkleigh Curtis led off the inning with a double to center field, followed by an infield single by Koster. Johnson then scored Curtis on an RBI flyout to right field.

Labette tied the game with four runs in the top of the sixth. The Cardinals batted through the lineup and tallied four hits in the inning, including an RBI double by sophomore Zoey Sparks as well as an RBI single by sophomore Kinley Powell. Cloud County freshman right-hander Olivia Becker replaced Mahler who exited after 5.1 innings. Becker induced back-to-back outs, stranding two Cardinals players to maintain the 4-4 tie.

T-Bird sophomore Shaylee Keslar notched a one-out single in the bottom half of the sixth but was left on base. Cloud County left eight runners on base in the game.

Labette sophomore Jaden Jordan had a two-out single in the seventh but failed to score. Cloud County was retired in order in the bottom of the seventh, sending the contest to extra innings.

The first two Cardinals batters reached in the top of the eighth, but Becker managed to strikeout sophomore Tressa Ring before inducing consecutive pop outs to work her way out of the situation.

Cloud County began the bottom of the eighth inning with sophomore Camille Stauffer drawing a lead-off walk. Freshman outfielder Kia Stokes was called on to pinch run for Stauffer. Sophomore Jillian Artiges pinch hit for Ellison, executing a sacrifice bunt to move Stokes to second base. Sophomore Harley Smith followed with a ground out to first base, advancing Stokes to third. But Labette freshman pitcher Hailey Presley was able to get Keslar to fly out to end the inning.

Presley pitched all nine innings for the Cardinals, holding the T-Birds to four runs while racking up eight strikeouts.

Labette broke the tie in the top of the ninth. After Sparks reached on a one-out walk, Jordan drilled a double to left field, scoring Sparks from first base. The Cardinals then drew back-to-back walks to load the bases. A sacrifice fly by sophomore Caitlyn Suhrie scored Jordan, while sophomore Taylor Palmer pushed the lead to 8-4 with a single to center field, driving in two more runs.

The T-Birds came to the plate one final time in the bottom of the ninth inning. Freshman Hailey Garcia led off the ninth with a base-hit, but Cloud County could not manage another base runner and three straight outs resulted in the T-Birds falling 8-4.

Cloud County had nine hits altogether, with Ellison and Keslar both finishing with two hit games. 

Mahler ended her performance in the circle allowing four earned runs on seven hits with two walks and six strikeouts. Becker went the final 3.2 innings, giving up four earned runs on four hits with four walks and three strikeouts.

In game two, Cloud County was out-hit 11-4 on their way to being shut out for the ninth time this season. Labette sent ten batters to the plate and scored six runs on seven hits in the third inning. The Cardinals added three more runs in the fourth, highlighted by a two-run home run to center field by Jordan, before concluding the scoring with one more run in the fifth.

Artiges, Curtis, Keslar and Stauffer had one hit each for the T-Birds.

Sophomore Brecken Whitney took the loss.

Cloud County will return to action on Saturday, April 12 when they travel to Kansas City, Kansas to face the Kansas City Kansas Community College Blue Devils in a conference doubleheader. First pitch is scheduled for 1 pm.