CONCORDIA – Falling in a wild, 15-11, high-scoring explosion in game one, the Cloud County Community College softball team would send five sophomore players out with a win in their final home game of their careers with a 7-6 game-two victory to earn a split with Coffeyville Community College at the CCCC Softball Field in Concordia on Thursday.
Moving to 8-26 overall, Cloud County is now 3-25 in the Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference with one road doubleheader in conference action remaining. Coffeyville sits at 9-27 overall and 8-20 in the KJCCC as the Red Ravens also have one more doubleheader remaining on the season.
Game one
An early surge from the Thunderbirds would see three hits and two Coffeyville errors equate to three runs in the bottom of the first as a sacrifice fly from Emily Dunaway and Kyra Meyer RBI single would account for two of CCCC's three runs in the inning. The Red Ravens would get one of the three runs back in the top of the second on a leadoff double, sacrifice, bunt, and sacrifice fly, but Cloud County would respond with a Kayla Lee two-out solo home run to put the T-Birds back on top by a three-run margin at 4-1.
Working around a leadoff single by Coffeyville in the third, Cloud County would be held scoreless in the third for their first scoreless inning of the game as neither team would have any luck in the fourth inning either. With the score still a 4-1 Cloud County lead in the top of the fifth, the Red Ravens would manage to put a pair of runners on with one out before a groundout and two-out single would drive in a pair of runs to cut the lead down to one at 4-3.
In similar fashion to the second, CCCC would have a response as a fielding error would put the first of seven runners aboard in the inning as four hits, four errors, and a walk would produce four runs and make things an 8-3 contest heading to the sixth. Things would then take a turn as Coffeyville would put the first seven batters of the inning on base to plate three runs and pull back within two while having the bases loaded with one out. After a fly out that would not be deep enough to bring home a run, the Red Ravens would get a go-ahead grand slam to go up 10-8 as a strikeout by the next batter would end the inning.
A pitching change by Coffeyville would be of little use as Cloud County would take advantage of another CCC error and fielder's choice to put runners on the corners with no outs. With Dunaway representing the go-ahead run, Cloud County would get an RBI single from the Crete, Nebraska native to keep the rally going as a sacrifice bunt and two-RBI single from Taylor Burks would give the T-Birds a one-run lead at 11-10.
With the game far from over offensively, Coffeyville would come back up in the top of the seventh and use two singles to lead the inning off before a three-run go-ahead home run would allow the Red Ravens to re-take the lead at 13-11 as two more runs would come home in an inning that would see five total runs score on six hits. Cloud County would then be retired in order to end the game as the final tally would see 26 runs score on 27 hits between the two squads.
Cloud County would finish with 11 hits to match their 11 runs as Lee, Dunaway, and Burks would all have two hits. Dunaway and Burks would each drive in a team-high two runs while Dunaway and Lee would account for the two T-Bird extra-base hits.
Game two
After letting an opportunity slip by the wayside in game one, Cloud County would be determined not to face the same fate in game two as the T-Birds would jump out all over Coffeyville in the bottom of the first. Getting out of a bases-loaded jam in the top half of the inning to flip momentum, CCCC would work three-straight two-out singles to load the bases for Burks who would connect on a pitch over the left field fence for a grand slam to put Cloud County up 4-0 after the first inning of play.
Four hits in the top of the second would lead to two Coffeyville runs as the Red Ravens would cut the Cloud County lead in half in their next at-bat, but the T-Birds would have a response in their half-inning as a leadoff single from Delaney Exon would come around to score just two batters later on a Lee two-run home run that would sneak just inside the left field foul pole to add two more runs to make it a 6-2 CCCC lead.
Another response from CCC in the top of the third would see the Red Ravens plate a pair of runs on two hits and an error as the T-Birds would find themselves once again with just a two-run lead which is where things would stay until the bottom of the fifth. In the bottom of the fifth, Cloud County would utilize a walk, one-out single, and fielder's choice that would see all runners safely advance to produce a run as the lead would grow to 7-4 with just two innings remaining.
Coffeyville would find yet another way to produce offense in the top of the sixth as two one-out singles and a two-out walk would load the bases before a two-RBI single would bring the Red Ravens within a run. A wild pitch would then put the go-ahead run in scoring position along with the game-tying run at third, but a groundout to Dunaway at third would end the inning and keep the T-Birds on top by a run.
With a chance to add to their lead one final time, Cloud County would wind up hitting into a double play that would erase an opportunity that had two runners on with no outs as the inning would end with a stranded runner and no runs pushed across. Getting the final three outs to preserve the win would then be anything but easy as the first two Coffeyville batters of the top of the seventh would reach on base hits before a fly out, strikeout, and pop out ended the game with the game-tying run stranded at second.
Getting a win with a complete-game effort in the circle would be sophomore Brynn Riley as the Emporia, Kansas native would strike out two and induce nine fly outs and nine groundouts on 92 total pitches. Helping out offensively for a second-straight game would be Burks as the Lawrence, Kansas native would go two-for-three with four RBI's and a walk while Dunaway would add three more hits and score once.
What's next?
In a previously announced change, Cloud County will be on the road tomorrow for a 2 p.m. doubleheader against Neosho County Community College in Chanute, Kansas. The games, which were originally scheduled for 1 p.m. on Saturday, were moved up to Friday due to anticipated rain on Saturday as the Panthers were in Hesston on Thursday afternoon for a doubleheader with the Larks.