Tiger softball team sweeps Highland, extends win streak to eight

The Lady Tigers, winners of eight games in a row, improve their record to 23-19 overall and 9-3 in the Jayhawk Conference Eastern Division. Highland (12-28) sits in last place in the conference with a 1-9 record.

In game one, sophomore shortstop Taverli Tennant drove in Breanna Curry with an RBI double in a three-run third inning and added a solo home run in the fifth inning to increase Cowley's lead to 5-0.

Norah Macken went on to crack her first home run of the season, a two-run shot, in a six-run sixth inning that sent Cowley to the 11-0 six-inning run-rule win. The Lady Tigers had seven hits in the inning and 16 in the game.

Tennant was one of eight Cowley players with a hit as she went 3-for-4 with three runs batted in. Carsen Carpenter also went 3-for-4 with two runs scored.

Kiley Crapo's single in the first inning and Emma Doleshal's single in the bottom of the sixth were the only hits Highland would get off Cowley starting pitcher Dacey Morris (13-7), who tossed her second straight shutout and struck out three in six innings.

Highland's Brenna Westerhold went the distance on the mound despite allowing 16 hits and 11 earned runs.

With game two scoreless into the fourth inning, Kiki Warner got the scoring started by hitting her fourth home run of the season.

After a two-run single by Curry, Tennant continued to swing a hot bat, blasting a three-run homer in the six-run fourth inning. The home run was the 14^th of the season for Tennant, who is now batting .454 with 55 runs batted in.

Cowley's Hannah Howard (8-4) continued to throw strikes, allowing only three hits and no earned runs while striking out two and walking two.

The Tiger defense committed a pair of errors in the bottom of the fifth inning, which led to Highland scoring its lone run and snapping Cowley's pitching staff's stretch of 24 scoreless innings.

"I was proud of how Dacey and Hannah controlled the circle," Hoyt said.

Cowley out-hit Highland 8-3 in the 6-1 win of game two. Warner went 3-for-4 and was a triple shy of hitting for the cycle as she raised her batting average to .425 on the season.

Highland's Grace Stean fell to 0-5 by allowing six runs in 3 1/3 innings pitched.

Cowley will remain on the road when they play a doubleheader at Allen County on Thursday at 2 p.m. Allen (13-22) is in fourth place in the conference with a 6-4 record.

Score by inning:

Game one                     R H E

Cowley    1 0 3 0 1 6 – 11 16 0

Highland 0 0 0 0 0 0 – 0 2 2

Game two                       R H E

Cowley    0 0 0 6 0 0 0 – 6 8 2

Highland 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 – 1 3 1