Lady Tigers’ rally to sweep Cloud County, stay unbeaten in the conference

The Cowley College softball team took an unconventional route to picking up a pair of run-rule wins at Cloud County Thursday in Concordia, KS. After easily defeating the T-Birds 10-0 in game one, the Lady Tigers rallied from an early 6-1 deficit in game two by scoring 14 unanswered runs including 11 in the top of the fifth as they won 15-6.

Cowley, winners of 20 of its past 21 games, improves to 24-12 overall and remains tied with Johnson County atop the Jayhawk Conference Division II standings with a record of 8-0.

In game one, Cowley got home runs from Kyla Bonnarens, McKinzi Sowles, and Maci Cole as they out-hit the T-Birds 14-1. The trio combined to go 8-for-10 with four runs batted in.

Freshman Saige Smith (13-5) shined on the mound in game one, striking out 11 and allowing just one hit in the shutout.

"Saige had a very strong outing for us," Cowley head coach Jenny Hoyt said.

Cowley got to Cloud starting pitcher Taylor Dekok (5-5) for eight hits and seven runs in 2 2/3 innings.

In game two, Lady Tiger freshman Jaala Nowlin recorded just two outs before being relieved on the mound by Ellie Kuntz, who did not last much longer as she retired just three batters before exiting with Cowley trailing 6-1.

Sophomore Sydney Price (2-1) followed and tossed 2 1/3 scoreless innings to stabilize things on the mound.

Cowley got a two-run homer from Cole in the third inning and scratched across another run in the fourth to pull within 6-4. 

The Lady Tigers would go on to score 11 runs in the top of the fifth inning thanks to five hits and six walks. Sowles had a two-run single and three-run double in the inning as she drove in seven runs in the doubleheader.

"McKinzi had a great day offensively and came in clutch for us in game two," Hoyt said. "In the big fifth inning we were very disciplined at the plate which led us to a long inning and rally."

Tye North hit her second home run of the season, while the home run by Cole was her team-leading 11^th.

Cloud County is now 13-19 overall and 3-5 in the conference.

Cowley will put its unbeaten conference record on the line when they play a doubleheader at Allen County on Sunday at 1 p.m. The Red Devils are 10-17 overall and 2-6 in the conference.

Score by inning:

Game one               R H E

Cowley 1 1 6 0 2 – 10 14 0

Cloud   0 0 0 0 0 – 0 1 0

Game two                 R H E

Cowley 0 1 2 1 11 – 15 11 2

Cloud   3 3 0 0 0 –     6 7 1