Morris, Howard lift Cowley to 4-0 win in First Round of Region VI Tournament
After a pair of extra inning games earlier in the day pushed the start of its game back more than three hours, the second-seed Cowley College softball team did not let the delay affect them as they got a complete game shutout from sophomore Dacey Morris and three doubles from freshman Hannah Howard in a 4-0 victory over seventh-seed Neosho County on Wednesday in the First Round of the Region VI Tournament played in Overland Park, KS.
The victory was Cowley's 30th of the season as the Lady Tigers (30-21) advance to face third-seed Kansas City Kansas Community College (36-19) on Thursday at 5 p.m. Neosho (18-27) falls into the losers' bracket and will face sixth-seed Cloud today at 1 p.m.
On Wednesday, Cowley started the game aggressively on the basepaths, stealing four bases in a three-run first inning. Hannah Howard's RBI double highlighted the three-run first.
Howard doubled home, Taverli Tennant with the Tigers' fourth run in the bottom of the third inning, and added a third double two innings later as she finished 3-for-3 with three doubles and two runs batted in.
"Hannah was huge for us," Cowley head coach Jenny Hoyt said.
Outside of Howard, Cowley got hits from Taylor Clay and Carsen Carpenter as they were out-hit 6-5.
However, Morris was in control on the mound and made the lead stand up. Morris (18-8) struck out five and walked none while tossing her third shutout of the season.
"Dacey was big time, and the defense behind her was clutch," Hoyt said.
Neosho starting pitcher Kamden Bray took the loss after allowing five hits and two earned runs in six innings.
Cowley will now attempt to defeat a KCK squad that they beat in both head-to-head meetings during the regular season.
Score by inning: R H E
Neosho 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 – 0 6 2
Cowley 3 0 1 0 0 0 x – 4 5 0