Lady Tiger softball team goes 2-2 at season-opening tourney in Texas

Playing a pair of ranked teams and a pair of struggling squads, the No. 18-ranked Cowley College softball team went 2-2 at its season-opening tournament played at the Texoma Health Foundation Park in Dennison, TX.

"For our first outing, we have some things to clean up and improve on, but if we keep improving and remember to execute the simple things, we can be a tough team," Cowley head coach Jenny Hoyt said.

Cowley opened play on Thursday against Paris Junior College, ranked No. 7 in the NJCAA Division I poll. Cowley held leads of 2-0 and 4-2 but were unable to come away with the victory as the Dragons rallied to tie the game with a pair of runs in the top of the sixth inning and then went in front with two runs in the seventh.

Paris starting pitcher Hadison Fults made the lead stand up by going the distance on the mound. Fults struck out seven while allowing six hits and three earned runs.

Freshman Kylie Cartwright from Derby, KS, made her first start on the mound for Cowley and tossed a complete game, allowing six hits and four earned runs. Cartwright walked six and struck out one.

Taverli Tennant had two of Cowley's six hits, while Hannah Howard went 1-for-4 with two runs batted in.

Kaci Gobert and Esmeralda Soto homered for the Dragons.

The Lady Tigers came back to trounce Clarendon College (TX) 21-2 later in the day. The Bulldogs are now 1-11 on the season and have been out-scored 185-23.

In the win over Clarendon, Cowley had six players with two hits and had six of its 14 hits go for extra bases.

Tennant again led the way, this time going 2-for-3 with a double, home run, three runs scored, and three runs batted in. Redshirt freshman Dacey Morris also did well, going 2-for-2 with a double, three runs scored, and two runs batted in.

Sophomore Madison Baker (1-0) allowed five hits and two runs in five innings pitched to earn the win.

Clarendon's Gabby Vega and Leila Auces combined to walk 11 batters and allow 21 runs in only four innings pitched.

Cowley returned to the field on Friday and shut out a struggling Pratt squad 6-0. Lady Tiger starting pitcher Hannah Howard shined in her debut, allowing only two hits in the complete game shutout. Howard struck out three and walked two.

Freshman Carsen Carpenter finished a home run away from hitting for the cycle as she went 3-for-3 with a double, triple, and three runs scored.

Pratt is now 0-8 on the season. The Beavers have scored only two runs in their eight contests.

Cowley wrapped up the tourney by facing Temple College, which is ranked 22^nd in the NJCAA Division 1 poll. The Leopards scored three runs in the first inning and cruised to the 6-1 victory.

Cowley managed only four hits in the defeat. Morris allowed four runs in the game's first two innings before settling down to go all seven innings on the mound. Morris allowed only five hits, but walked four and struck out none.

"Our focus was going down to Texas and competing, and I felt like overall on the weekend we did that," Hoyt said. "We fell short in a couple of games, just not making adjustments offensively and not executing."

Cowley's pitching allowed only 20 hits in the four games. However, Lady Tiger pitching also combined to walk 13 batters while striking out only seven.

"We need to limit our base on balls against good teams, but I really thought our pitchers and catchers competed well," Hoyt said.

Cowley will return to Ark City, where they will host Northern Oklahoma College-Tonkawa in a doubleheader on Tuesday at 1 p.m.

NJCAA Division I

Score by inning:

Game one                    R H E

Paris     0 0 0 0 2 2 2 – 6 7 2

Cowley 0 0 0 2 2 0 0 – 4 6 1

Game two                   R H E

Clarendon 0 0 1 0 1 – 2 5 2

Cowley      5 6 9 0 x – 20 14 0

Game three                 R H E

Pratt     0 0 0 0 0 0 0 – 0 2 1

Cowley 0 2 3 0 1 0 x – 6 10 1

Game four                   R H E

Temple 3 1 0 0 0 1 1 – 6 6 0

Cowley 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 – 1 4 3