Lady Tiger softball team goes 3-0 on the weekend

Bouncing back from season-opening defeats at No. 9-ranked Seminole State College, the No. 20-ranked Cowley College softball team returned home to Arkansas City and went 3-0 on the weekend. The Lady Tigers opened play on Friday by defeating Seminole State College 7-6 before run-ruling North Platte Community College 15-0. Cowley would run-rule North Platte a second time on Sunday, this time by a score of 19-1, before having the final game of the day rained out.

In Friday's first game against Seminole, the Lady Tigers got home runs from Emily Louderback, Jamie Molina, and Karleigh Bell to take a 7-3 lead into the final inning of play. The Trojans struck for three runs in the top of the seventh inning and had the bases loaded before Cowley's Mikah Vann could record the last out and have the Tigers prevail with the 7-6 win.

Three of Cowley's four hits came via the long ball, with their other hit being a double off the bat of Harper Hancock. Trojan shortstop Jaylee Lopez had four of Seminole's 14 hits in the defeat.

Alissa Nuno (1-0) went the first 3 2/3 innings on the mound and earned the win. Jaiden Swanson relieved Nuno and pitched into the seventh before Mikah Vann came on to record the save.

The Lady Tigers wrapped up play on Friday with an easy 15-0 run-rule victory over North Platte. Bell homered for the second straight game, and freshman Raelynn Sandlin homered and drove in three runs as Cowley out-hit the Knights 15-2.

Jaiden Swanson (1-1) earned the win for the Tigers. Swanson allowed only one hit in three innings while striking out four and walking none. Vann followed with two scoreless innings of relief.

The teams would meet again on Sunday at Ed Hargrove Field in Ark City, and the story would be much of the same as Cowley out-matched North Platte in a 19-1 five-inning win.

The Lady Tigers scored nine runs in the first inning, two in the second, seven in the third, and one more in the fourth to complete the 19-1 win. Molina homered for the third time this season and drove in three, while Lyric Perry went 2-for-3 with a home run, double, and four runs batted in. Andrea Kaffure also played well and finished with two doubles and four runs batted in.

"I thought our players had a lot of competitive at-bats that worked out in our favor," Cowley head coach Jenny Hoyt said.

Mikah Vann (1-1) went the first four innings on the mound for Cowley and allowed only three hits and one unearned run in four innings pitched. Alissa Nuno finished off the win by tossing a 1-2-3 fifth inning.

"Mikah had another great day in the circle with Ali coming in behind her to get three ground balls to secure the win," Hoyt said.

Cowley is now 3-2 on the season, while North Platte falls to 0-3. The lone blemish in Cowley's win on Sunday was the three errors the team committed. The Lady Tigers have committed 12 errors in five games.

"We still need to tighten up some things defensively to help ourselves," Hoyt said.

The Lady Tigers will now prepare to participate in the Denison Tournament Friday in Denison, TX.

"I like what we showed over the last two days and think if we keep getting better in some areas, we will be pretty tough to beat," Hoyt said.