Eight Cowley softball players receive all-conference recognition

Capturing the Jayhawk Conference Eastern Division title by three games, the No. 5-ranked Cowley College softball team had eight starters named receive all-conference recognition.

Cowley won its fifth straight conference title as they finished 17-1 in the Jayhawk East. The Lady Tigers are 39-8 on the season.

Players were nominated by their coaches and then voted upon by opposing coaches, who did not vote for their own players, in their respective divisions.

“The coaches did a good job recognizing who the good players were,” Cowley head coach Ed Hargrove said. “With other coaches picking them it means they respect what they have done to this point.”

For the second year in a row Cowley had the conference’s Most Valuable Player and the Freshman of the Year. Freshman pitcher Jacey Juden was unanimously named the conference’s Most Valuable Player, while catcher Kashilia Young was named the Freshman of the Year. Both players were named first-team all-conference.

Juden has won 14 of her last 15 starts and is 19-4 with a 1.56 earned run average. She has struck out 169 batters and walked only 32 in 148 innings pitched. The freshman from Arkansas City has picked up the pitching slack for the Lady Tigers since Heather Davis has been unable to pitch in nearly a month due to an injury.




While, Young has put together one of the most dominating seasons in Lady Tiger history as she has already set the school-record for home runs in a season and career (27), RBI’s in a season (83), and runs scored in a season (69). She is also on pace to break the school-record for batting average in a season as she is currently hitting .544.

Cowley had a total of six players named to the first-team as second baseman Sarah Smith (.426 average, 32 RBI’s), third baseman Breayle Tackett (.463 average, 66 RBI’s), outfielder Colby Hart (.377 average, 13 stolen bases), and pitcher Heather Davis (14-1 record, 1.34 ERA), joined Juden and Young as first-team selections.

Kim Noble (.342 average, 35 RBI’s) was named to the second-team, while Danielle Saylor-Perkins (.325 average, nine home runs) was named an honorable mention all-conference performer.

Cowley will open play at the Region VI Tournament at Wichita’s Two Rivers Youth Center Saturday at 11 a.m. The Lady Tigers are the top-seed.

“The work we have done this year has proven we are the best team in the region, but there are five or six teams that could beat us on any given game,” Hargrove said. “We just need to focus on the task at hand.”