Softball | 4/22/2026 5:39:00 PM

Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 The Cloud County Community College softball team earned a midweek doubleheader sweep of Independence Community College on Wednesday, April 22. The T-Birds took game one 13-4 in five innings, before earning an 8-2 win in seven innings in game two. The doubleheader sweep was the second for Cloud County in Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference (KJCCC) play.

Now 16-14 overall and 7-7 in KJCCC action, the T-Birds have matched last year's win total. Cloud County has won three consecutive games and five of their last six.

Cloud County opened the scoring in game one with sophomore short stop Maliyah Koster scoring on a throwing error on Independence.

The T-Birds added four runs in the third inning. Freshman outfielder Maddie Harold hit a two-out, three-run home run to score Koster and freshman outfielder Brooke Lougheed. Freshman third baseman Hannah Gardner followed with a solo shot to left field to make it 5-0.

Independence fired back with two runs in the bottom half of the third, before the T-Birds pushed across one run in the fourth and seven more in the fifth. Freshman designated player Kadence Hall scored on a defensive error in the fourth. Gardner, sophomore outfielder Berkleigh Curtis, freshman second baseman Allison Adams and freshman first baseman Jaci Vonlintel each collected RBI singles in the fifth. Lougheed also added an RBI ground out as the T-Birds went on to win 13-4.

Gardner, Harold and Vonlintel had two hits each. Harold also drew two walks and drove in three runs. Gardner scored twice and had two RBI. Koster crossed home plate three times, while Hall scored a pair of runs.

Freshman pitcher Ava Boden earned the win in the circle. Boden pitched 4.2 innings, allowing four earned runs on five hits with one strikeout. Freshman Morgan Williams recorded the final out in relief.

The T-Birds secured a decisive 8-2 victory in game two.

Cloud County led off the scoring with one run in the second inning and two more in the third. Sophomore catcher Emalee Johnson scored Gardner on a RBI single in the second frame. Koster and Harold scored on RBI grounders in the third.

The Pirates trimmed the lead to 3-1 in the bottom half of the third inning.

Both teams were kept off the scoreboard in the fourth inning.

Adams scored when Boden reached on a fielder's choice in the top of the fifth, extending the T-Bird lead to 4-1. But Independence got a run back in the bottom half of the fifth off a Cloud County error.

Harold drilled her second home run of the doubleheader on a two-run blast in the top of the sixth inning, scoring Curtis. Harold leads Cloud County with ten home runs this season, the most for a T-Bird since Ryleigh Jones hit 14 in 2023.

Johnson added her second career home run on a two-run shot in the top of the seventh to give the T-Birds the 8-2 victory.

Johnson went 3-for-4 at the plate with a home run, one run scored and three RBI. Harold finished 2-for-3 with a home run and a double, two runs scored and two RBI. Adams went 2-for-4 with a double, one run scored and one RBI.

Harold moved to 7-7 on the season, pitching her eighth complete game. Harold allowed just one earned run on four hits with four walks and nine strikeouts. Her 91 strikeouts on the season currently lead KJCCC Division 2.

Cloud County will take on Highland Community College on Thursday, April 23 at 1 pm at the CCCC Softball Field.