COFFEYVILLE – Ten runs of support in both games one and two would not be enough for the Cloud County Community College softball team as host Coffeyville Community College would take a pair of games by scores of 13-10 and 18-10 at LeClere Park in Coffeyville on Thursday.
Cloud County is now 6-12 overall and 1-11 in the Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference while the Red Ravens improve to 5-15 overall and 4-8 in the KJCCC.
Game one
After stranding a two-out double in the top of the first, Cloud County would break out for a pair of runs in the top of the second as Emily Dunaway would reach on an error before Delaney Exon would hit a home run to left center field to bring home both runs that would come across for the T-Birds in the inning. Coffeyville would come back with three runs on three hits and a hit batter in the bottom of the inning to grab a 3-2 lead which would be short lived as Cloud County would tie things up at 3-3 on three singles to score Shayna Fila in the top of the third.
CCCC would work a clean bottom of the third against Coffeyville to keep things tied at 3-3 heading to the top of the fourth as the T-Birds would keep the offense working with a leadoff walk and one-out error putting runners on the corners for Fila to give Cloud County the lead with an RBI single. Freshman Taylor Glause would then drive in Kayla Lee following a stolen base from the Kearney, Neb., native as CCCC would go up by a score of 5-3 to take their largest lead of the game.
A big inning from the Red Ravens in the bottom of the fourth would prove to be costly for Cloud County as Coffeyville would see eight straight batters reach after a leadoff groundout with a three-run home run from Tyra Owl proving to be the big blow. In total, CCC would wind up pushing across seven runs to go up 10-5 and double up the T-Birds heading to the top of the fifth.
Needing to chip away at the Red Raven lead, Cloud County would get a run back in the top of the fifth with a leadoff single from Taylor Burks who would come around to score on an Ella Caudill double. Coffeyville would get the run back in the bottom of the inning to push their margin back to five runs as the T-Birds would begin to have limited opportunities to try and get back in the game.
Singles from Fila and Glause to start the top of the sixth would be followed by Rae Ann Hartwig reaching on a Coffeyville error as the first three batters in the top of the sixth would reach base. Dunaway would then work an RBI walk to push across a run for CCCC as the T-Birds would go on to score three more runs in the inning on five hits to get back within a run at 11-10. Two insurance runs from Coffeyville however would prove to kill off the momentum that had just swung in favor of Cloud County as the T-Birds would be unable to do anything with a leadoff single in the seventh and drop the opening game that saw a total of 23 runs scored.
Hitting four singles to lead Cloud County with four hits in five at bats would be Fila as the Grand Island, Neb., native would also score twice and drive in one run. Exon would drive in a team-high three runs while also producing one of CCCC's three extra-base hits while Burks, Glause, and Caudill would all record multiple hits in the contest.
Game two
The T-Bird offense would waste no time getting out to a lead in game two as Lee would get the scoring started with a leadoff homer to center field before an error would allow Fila to reach and score on a Glause two-run shot center field to make it 3-0. Cloud County would also get runs to come across from Hartwig, Dunaway, and Exon as Cloud County would score six runs on six hits to take a big lead on the Red Ravens after half an inning of play.
A leadoff single and stolen base for Coffeyville would eventually lead to a solo run in the bottom of the first to make it 6-1 as Cloud County would go scoreless in the second before seeing the Red Ravens cut into the lead some more with three runs on three hits.
The 6-4 lead for Cloud County would be completely erased in the bottom of the third as Coffeyville would send 11 batters to the plate and score seven runs on just two hits as three walks and two errors would lead to seven unearned runs all with two outs in the inning to put CCC on top by a score of 11-4. Cloud County would return the favor in the top of the fourth with two walks and a single to start the inning kicking off a four-run inning for the T-Birds on just one hit to get back within three at 11-8.
Coffeyville however would see their potent offense continue to roll in the bottom of the fourth by pushing across five more runs with a Hayley Rivett three-run home run capping off another big inning for the Red Ravens as two more CCC runs in the bottom of the fifth would end the game early.
Unearned runs would again prove to be problematic for CCCC as the T-Birds would see just six of Coffeyville's 18 runs in the game come across as earned. Offensively for Cloud County, Lee and Glause would lead the T-Birds with two hits each to go along with the two home runs for CCCC and two of the four extra-base hits. Glause would be responsible for three of Cloud County's nine RBI's while Lee would add three of CCCC's seven stolen bases.
What's next?
Cloud County will play the first of back-to-back home doubleheaders on Saturday with a 1 p.m. twin bill against Neosho County Community College. The Panthers swept a road doubleheader from Ottawa University JV on Thursday to improve to 13-16 overall while holding a 3-5 mark in the KJCCC.
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