March 4, 2009

Cowley uses dominant pitching, long ball to sweep Pratt

Hitting six home runs and getting solid pitching from Breayle Tackett and Ashley Spencer, the No. 3-ranked Cowley College softball team opened conference play with a doubleheader sweep of Pratt Community College Tuesday in Arkansas City.

The Lady Tigers won the first game 6-1, and then took the nightcap by a score of 7-1. The victories improve Cowley’s record to 9-1 overall and 2-0 in the Jayhawk Conference Eastern Division.

With Pratt picked to finish not far behind Cowley in the conference, Lady Tiger head coach Ed Hargrove was encouraged by his team’s performance.

“We played good in all phases of the game,” Hargrove said. “I couldn’t have been happier, I do not have one complaint.”

In the first game, Breayle Tackett started on the mound for Cowley and got some early run support. Freshman outfielder Kristen Janway belted a grand slam in the bottom of the first inning to give Cowley a 4-0 lead.

With Tackett holding Pratt scoreless through the game’s first five innings of play, Cowley added to its lead on a two-run homer by Kashilia Young in the bottom of the fifth inning.

Tackett would go the distance on the mound and allow just five hits and one unearned run in seven innings. Tackett struck out seven and walked only one as she improved to 4-0 on the season. Tackett and freshman third baseman Ali Nittler also fared well at the plate as they each went 2-for-3.

Cowley got another strong outing on the mound in the second game as freshman Ashley Spencer struck out 11 batters in six innings. Spencer would allow just four hits and one unearned run in improving to 4-0.
“Her velocity was outstanding,” Hargrove said.

Freshman Alysse Yates struck out two more batters in a scoreless seventh inning as 20 of the 42 outs recorded by Lady Tiger pitchers in the doubleheader were strikeouts.

Also in game two, Young and Janway homered for the second consecutive game, and Alysha Poteat hit her first two home runs of the season and finished with four runs batted in.

Poteat and Janway, batting fifth and sixth in the Lady Tiger lineup, combined to go 4-for-5 with three home runs and five RBI’s in game two. The duo also hit back-to-back home runs in the third inning.

“It’s nice to go that deep in our order and have legitimate threats down there,” Hargrove said.

Meanwhile, Young now has six home runs and 18 runs batted in through the team’s first 10 games.
“She is in a groove, where she feels like every time up she might hit one out,” Hargrove said.

Cowley will now turn its attention to Thursday’s home doubleheader versus No. 11-ranked Johnson County. The two teams have a long history of being rivals and being amongst the top-two teams in the conference.

“It is an important doubleheader, it will be the same old Cowley versus Johnson County doubleheader,” Hargrove said. “Johnson County is very confident in what they do.”
The doubleheader will begin at 2 p.m.