by Alan Hoskins
Kansas City Kansas Community College handed No. 7 ranked Cowley County a double setback Friday but then fell to Independence in a twin bill Saturday.
The Lady Blue Devils pounded out 28 hits in winning 7-6 and 8-5 at Cowley before dropping 4-3 and 10-7 decisions to Independence, which also had been nationally ranked as recent as last week.
The split left KCKCC in seventh place in the Jayhawk with a 12-8 record and 20-8 overall.
Back in action Monday at Haskell, the Blue Devils play at Cottey College Tuesday before returning home to be host to Cloud County Friday from 2 to 4 p.m. and Brown Mackie Saturday from noon to 2 p.m.
ending fly ball to Laura Vanderheiden in right field. Only three of the six runs given up by Ford were earned.
Catcher Megan Dike had four hits and two crucial RBI, Mierra Morisette and Hanna Barnhart three hits each and Lacey Santiago two in a 15-hit KCKCC attack.
After Amanda Holroyd had singled in a run in the first, the Blue Devils scored four times in the second on five straight hits, singles by Dike, Vanderheiden and Santiago, a double by Justice Scales and a two-run triple by Morisette.
The final two runs came identically. Barnhart led off both the fifth and seventh innings with singles and scored each time on two-out singles by Dike.
Tied 2-2 through five innings of the nightcap, the Blue Devils exploded for six runs in the sixth powered by a 3-run home run by Hanna Barnhart, her first of the season and fourth RBI of the game.
Successive one-out singles by Ashley Henington, Vanderheiden, Santiago and Justice Scales ignited the rally before Barnhart rapped a 3-2 pitch for a home run.
Barnhart also singled in a run in a 2-run first following the first of three hits by Santiago and the first of two by Morisette.
Elizabeth Seimears limited Cowley to just two runs the first six innings before the Tigers scored three times in the seventh, two after a one-out error.
Ford came on with one out to record her second save of the season. Independence tied Saturday’s opener in the bottom of the sixth inning on a fly ball that KCKCC centerfielder Justice Scales caught momentarily only to have the ball bounce out of her glove and over the fence for a game-tying home run.
The Lady Pirates then added what proved to be the game winner on a two-out error. Ford (14-4) took the loss, allowing seven hits and striking out five. KCKCC, which was limited to just five hits, scored all its runs in the fourth on a walk, a single by Morisette and Holroyd’s 3-run home run, her second of the season.
The Blue Devils pounded out 14 hits in the 10-7 nightcap including three each by Scales, Morisette and Holroyd and two by Dike only to have Indy score in every inning. KCKCC took a 3-0 lead in the first on five straight hits, singles by Scales, Morisette, Holroyd and Dike and a 2-run triple by Barnhart.
Trailing 6-3 in the fourth, KCKCC tied it on singles by Seimears and Scales and doubles by Morisette and Holroyd. Morisette also doubled in the sixth and scored on Holroyd’s single, her third RBI of the game.