No. 15-ranked Lady Tiger softball team splits season-opening doubleheader

The No. 15-ranked Cowley College softball team looked like they would cruise to a pair of wins in its season-opening doubleheader played Tuesday in Arkansas City as they scored eight runs in the first inning of game one against Central Christian College. The Lady Tigers would run-rule Central Christian 10-1 in the opener before losing the nightcap by a score of 6-4.

In game one, Cowley would score the eight first-inning runs thanks to five hits and three errors. Sophomore Maci Cole had two hits in the first inning, and Emily Louderback added a run-scoring triple as they chased Central Christian starting pitcher Haleigh Arterberry after recording only three outs.

"I really like how we started the series off in the first inning; it was our best inning of the day," Cowley head coach Jenny Hoyt said. "We did a great job of challenging their defense."

Freshman Saige Smith (1-0) dazzled in her Lady Tiger debut, striking out six and allowing only two hits in four scoreless innings.

"Saige had a strong first outing as our defense really played well behind her," Hoyt said.

Ellie Kuntz followed Smith on the mound and allowed one hit and an unearned run as she finished off the win.

"I thought Ellie coming in behind Saige to finish the game brought the same intensity as Saige, so both had a great day," Hoyt said.

Sophomore third baseman Mya Chapman drove in a pair of runs in the victory.

Cowley would hold a 2-1 lead after five innings of play in game two before Central Christian scored five runs in the top of the sixth inning. The big blow in the inning came on Abby Schleisman's three-run homer.

After Cowley scored a run in the bottom of the sixth inning, Cole led off the bottom of the seventh with a triple and came around to score on a groundout by Kyla Bonnarens to make the score 6-4. Louderback followed with a two-out ground-rule double to bring the tying run to the plate. However, Central Christian starting pitcher Madalyn Griffin got Cowley freshman Karleigh Bell to pop out to end the game.

"We didn't make adjustments hitting and had too many pop flies that didn't challenge their defense which left us coming up short in game two," Hoyt said.  

Kennedy Toothman (0-1) took the loss as she allowed seven hits and four earned runs while going the distance on the mound. Griffin earned the win for Central Christian.

Cole was a double shy of hitting for the cycle as she went 3-for-4 with a single, triple, and home run in the loss.

Cowley will now prepare to play four games at the Winter Blast Tournament held Friday and Saturday in Denison, TX.

"It was good to finally compete outside of just our team, hitting off other pitchers and our pitchers throwing to different batters," Hoyt said. "However, we have some adjustments and things we need to work on before going into this weekend."

Score by inning:

Game one                      R H E

C. Christian 0 0 0 0 1 – 1 3 6

Cowley       8 0 0 2 x – 10 9 2

Game two                          R H E                      

C. Christian 0 0 0 1 0 5 0 – 6 7 1

Cowley       1 1 0 0 0 1 1 – 4 8 2