Pitching leads the way in the Lady Tigers' sweep of the Kansas Wesleyan JV

Getting complete game pitching performances from freshmen Mikah Vann and Jaiden Swanson, the No. 20-ranked Cowley College softball team swept a doubleheader against the Kansas Wesleyan University JV on Thursday at Ed Hargrove Field. The Lady Tigers won the opener 7-0 before taking game two by a score of 5-1.

In Thursday's opener, Cowley got a pair of two-run homers in the bottom of the first inning to take an early 4-0 lead. The homers came from sophomores Emily Louderback and Karleigh Bell. The homer for Louderback was her team-leading fourth of the season, while the home run for Bell was her third.

"Emily and Karleigh both had some great at-bats for us and were tough outs all day," Cowley head coach Jenny Hoyt said.

Cowley would tack on two more runs in the bottom of the third inning as Kanon Goji hit an RBI single, and Jamie Molina hit a sacrifice fly to score Louderback with the Tigers' sixth run.

The Lady Tigers' final run came in the bottom of the sixth inning when Shayne Roberts walked with the bases loaded, scoring Alissa Nuno from third.

Bell had two of Cowley's five hits, while Mikah Vann tossed a complete-game two-hit shutout. Vann struck out five and walked none, improving her record to 5-1 on the season.

In game two, Cowley scored three runs in the first inning and got RBI singles from Bell and Lyric Perry in the bottom of the fifth inning to lead 5-0. The Coyotes would scratch across a run in the top of the sixth inning, but that would be the only run Lady Tiger starting pitcher Jaiden Swanson (4-1) would allow as she went the distance on the mound and struck out 10.

I liked how well we competed in the circle yesterday. It was good to see our defense step up and make plays behind our pitchers. 

Perry had two of Cowley's five hits and drove in three. Cowley drew 10 walks in the doubleheader but finished with only 10 hits in the two games.

"We need to continue to find ways to build confidence at the plate and work on making adjustments quicker in the game," Hoyt said.

Cowley's home doubleheader against Dodge City, which was originally scheduled for Friday, has been moved to Wednesday, February 21, with the games starting at 1 p.m. Prior to that, the Lady Tigers will play a doubleheader at the Friends University JV on Tuesday at 4 p.m. in Wichita, KS.

Score by inning:

Game one                   R H E

KWU   0 0 0 0 0 0 0 – 0 2 0

Cowley 4 0 2 0 0 1 x – 7 5 0

Game two                    R H E

KWU   0 0 0 0 0 1 0 – 1 4 0

Cowley 3 0 0 0 2 0 x – 5 5 1