Kansas City snaps Lady Tigers' win streak at nine games

Entering Saturday's doubleheader at No. 12-ranked Kansas City Kansas Community College riding an eight-game winning streak, the Cowley College softball team slipped past the Lady Blue Devils 6-5 in the opener before having its win-streak come to an end with a 10-3 loss of the nightcap.

Cowley (15-7) is now one-game behind conference-leading Highland with a record of 7-1 in conference play, while Kansas City moves to 17-5 on the season.

In Saturday's opener, Kayla McClellan homered and drove in three runs to help power Cowley to the 6-5 win. Maci Cole also had a big game, going 3-for-3 with a double and four runs scored.

Ashlynn Mercer did not have her best stuff, but did enough to earn the win. Mercer (10-3) grinded out the complete game victory as she allowed five hits and six walks, but also struck out five.

Cowley tagged Kansas City starting pitcher Breanna Droge (8-2) for 11 hits and six runs in 6 2/3 innings pitched.

"We competed well and were dialed in in game one," Cowley head coach Jenny Hoyt said.

In game two, Kansas City got to Cowley starting pitcher Sydney Price (3-1) as she suffered her first loss of the season. The Blue Devils busted the game open by scoring eight runs in the bottom of the fourth inning.

"KCK got hot and offensively we didn't respond to their hot inning," Hoyt said.

Blue Devil starting pitcher Bradi Basler starred on the mound and at the plate as she went the distance on the mound and also went 3-for-3 with a home run and six runs batted in.

McClellan had two of Cowley's six hits in the defeat and is now batting .436 with a team-leading seven home runs.

The Lady Tigers will return to action today when they host a doubleheader against Kansas Wesleyan University beginning at 2 p.m.

"We still have a lot of conference games left through the next month, so our main goal is to stay focused and keep improving game to game," Hoyt said. "After Monday, we will be on the road a lot more in the next several weeks and we have to show we can get the job done on the road as well."

Score by inning:

Game one                    R H E

Cowley 1 0 2 1 0 0 2 – 6 11 2

KCK     2 0 0 0 2 0 1 – 5 5 1

Game two                    R H E

Cowley 0 0 0 2 1 0 0 – 3 6 1

KCK     2 0 2 6 0 0 x – 10 13 1