Cowley softball loses in Region VI championship game

Winning its first three games at the Region VI Tournament, the No. 5-ranked Cowley College softball advanced to the championship round as the only unbeaten team in the tournament.

However, Jayhawk East foe Johnson County would be the Lady Tigers competition in the championship. The Lady Cavaliers defeated Cowley 8-5 to set up one final game to advance to the NJCAA Division II National Championships.

The championship game was all Johnson County as the Lady Cavaliers won 11-3.

Playing without all-American pitcher Heather Davis finally caught up with the Lady Tigers as they had to ride the arm of Jacey Juden throughout the tournament. Davis, who was an all-American as a freshman, was 14-1 before being sidelined in early April due to injury.

Juden, the Jayhawk East Most Valuable Player, was sharp in Cowley’s first three wins as she allowed just six runs in 19 innings.

However, she allowed four home runs in the 8-5 loss to the Lady Cavaliers. With Juden having pitched four games in two days, Cowley head coach Ed Hargrove decided to start Breayle Tackett in the championship game.

Tackett held Johnson County scoreless the first two innings and Cowley got a RBI single by Jessica Sanchez in the bottom of the second inning to lead 1-0. However, the Lady Cavaliers scored four runs in the top of the third to grab the lead.

Juden relieved Tackett in the top of the fifth inning and surrendered three runs. Johnson County would score two more runs in the sixth to increase its lead to 9-1. Colby Hart’s two-run homer in the bottom of the sixth made the score 9-3, before Johnson County scored two more runs in the seventh to win 11-3.

Cowley finishes another stellar season with a record of 42-10. Johnson County moves on with a record of 36-9. The Lady Cavaliers hit six home runs in the two championship games.

“Johnson was hitting everything, it didn’t matter what the pitch was,” Cowley head coach Ed Hargrove said. “They took advantage of every opportunity they got.”

On Saturday, Cowley defeated Dodge City 7-1 and then knocked off Johnson County 5-3. The Lady Tigers returned to action Sunday with a 10-2 five-inning run rule win over Highland to advance to the championship.

In the win over Johnson County on Saturday, Breayle Tackett hit a solo home run and Kashilia Young hit a grand slam. Against Highland, Sara Smith, Kim Noble, and Young each homered as Cowley scored four runs in the bottom of the first inning. Danielle Saylor-Perkins’ home run leading off the bottom of the fifth completed the 10-2 run-rule win.

Juden finishes the season with a record of 22-5, while Tackett went 6-4. Young completed the most dominating offensive season in Cowley history as she set school records with a .537 batting average, 29 home runs, 90 RBI’s, and 75 runs scored. She leads the nation in home runs and is third in RBI’s.

“Not only did she break all of those season records, she is on pace to break all of our career records,” Hargrove said.

Tackett also had an incredible offensive season as she batted .480 with eight home runs, a school-record 30 doubles, and 70 RBI’s.

“I always felt like we were going to get at least two hits a game from Breayle,” Hargrove said.

The Lady Tigers will say goodbye to sophomores Colby Hart, Heather Davis, Kim Noble, Whitney Foust and Danielle Saylor-Perkins. The sophomores helped Cowley run its streak of conference titles to five, while winning 88 games and losing just 19 in their two years. Hart and Davis were first-team all-conference performers each of their two seasons at the school.

“Obviously, it was a good group,” Hargrove said. “For 50 games we were undoubtedly the best team in the region, but for the last two games Johnson was.”