Lady Tigers continue to roll with sweep of Allen

The No. 18-ranked Cowley College softball team continues to nip at the heels of conference-leading Highland. After a pair of 7-1 and 8-0 home wins over Allen Community College on Sunday, the Lady Tigers remain just one game behind the Scotties.

Cowley (32-10), winners of seven games in a row, is now 20-4 in the Jayhawk Conference. Allen is now 12-26 overall and 7-17 in conference play.

In game one, Cowley trailed 1-0 heading into the bottom of the fourth inning. However, the Lady Tigers scored two runs in the fourth inning and five more in the fifth as they went on to the 7-1 win.

Maggie Musson and Alivia Lange each went 2-for-3 with two runs batted in, while Ashlynn Mercer allowed only four hits and one run in the complete game win. Mercer struck out seven as she improved her record to 18-5 on the season.

"Maggie, Alivia, and Sydney (Price) really stepped up big for us game one when we were struggling to get going offensively," Cowley head coach Jenny Hoyt said.

In game two, Lange homered twice and doubled as she scored three runs and drove in two more. Lange is now batting .452 with six home runs on the season.

"Alivia really stepped up big for the team and had a big outing offensively," Hoyt said.

Freshman pitcher Sydney Price fared well on the mound and at the plate. The right-hander allowed only four hits in the six-inning run-rule win, while going 2-for-3 with a run batted in at the plate.

"Our defense was really locked in and made the routine outs for our pitchers," Hoyt said.

Price is now 12-2 on the mound and is batting .360.

Cowley will remain home to play a doubleheader against Labette Thursday beginning at 2 p.m. The Cardinals are 19-17 overall and 16-8 in conference play.

"We need to continue to get better every day as a team and work on being tougher for the next opponent we face," Hoyt said. "This team is heading in the right direction and know we need to be playing our best softball the rest of the way out."

Score by inning:

Game one                     R H E

Allen     1 0 0 0 0 0 0 – 1 4 1

Cowley 0 0 0 2 5 0 x – 7 6 0

Game two                  R H E

Allen     0 0 0 0 0 0 – 0 4 5

Cowley  2 1 2 0 1 2 – 8 10 0