by Alan Hoskins, KCKCC
Kansas City Kansas Community College used the long ball to hold off Cloud County 9-7 in the opener of a Jayhawk Conference doubleheader Tuesday but could muster little in a 15-1 second game defeat.
The split left the Lady Blue Devils with a 16-7 record heading into today/s resumption of a rained out doubleheader with Johnson County at 2 p.m. The game will resume with the game deadlocked 2-2 in the top of the seventh inning at Steineger Field in the Turner School District.
The Blue Devils were limited to just seven hits in the 9-7 opener but four were for extra bases, three home runs and a triple. All were badly needed as Cloud jumped in front 4-0 in the first with three of the runs coming on a home run.
Mekayla Guerrero and Tiffany Killam cut the deficit in half with back-to-back home runs in the bottom of the first and Morgan Oroke put the Blue Devils in front 5-4 in the third with a 3-run homer following a hit batsman and Killam single.
Cloud tied it with an unearned run in the fourth before the Blue Devils exploded for four runs in the bottom of the sixth on just two hits. Sam Sudac put KCKCC in front with a run-scoring triple and Guerrero had an RBI single.
The 4-run outburst was just enough. Cloud scored twice on four singles and had the tying runs on base before Brittany Gustin got the final out on a fly ball to right. It was the 10th win in 13 starts for Gustin despite giving up 11 hits while striking out four.
The Blue Devils were never in contention in the 15-1 nightcap as Cloud rapped out 19 hits off three KCKCC hurlers. The biggest blow came in the first inning, a grand slam home run in an 8-0 start. KCKCC’s lone run came in the first on a triple by Guerrero and a single by Geena Harris. Guerrero also added a double and Harris a single for four of the Blue Devils’ six hits.