Cobra Softball defeated by McLouth

By Brian Sanders

Jackson Heights High School’s varsity softball team traveled to McLouth on Monday, April 20, to try and extend a four-game winning streak, but the Bulldogs had other plans, sweeping the Cobras with a 16-10 opener and an 8-3 nightcap.

The losses put the Cobras’ Northeast Kansas League record at 4-6 and in fifth place, tied with Valley Falls, while at 4-8 overall. McLouth improved to 8-4 and third in the NEKL and 13-5 overall.

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In the opener, the Cobras got on board first with a four-run first inning, including an RBI single from junior Natalia Keo to score senior Madi Bacon, followed by senior Gracie Cowsert’s three-run homer to center that scored Keo and senior Brynn Shupe. The Cobras added one more in the second on an RBI single from senior Layla Cochran that scored sophomore Sabrina Streeter.

The top of the third saw the Cobras go up 7-0 on an RBI double from Cowsert that scored Shupe and a Streeter RBI bunt that scored Cowsert. But the Bulldogs narrowed the gap quickly in the bottom of the third on a three-run homer from Kinlee Wolfe, then took the lead on three RBI doubles that scored four runs in all.

McLouth made it a 12-7 game in the bottom of the fourth on a two-RBI double, a sacrifice grounder and a home-plate steal before the Cobras came back in the top of the fifth to make it 12-10 on an RBI double from Cowsert that scored Shupe, an RBI single from junior Jennifer Mellies that scored Cowsert and a sacrifice grounder from Streeter that scored Mellies.

That was the end of scoring for the Cobras in the game, but not for the Bulldogs, who put up four runs in the bottom of the sixth on a pair of RBI singles, a sacrifice ground-out and a home-plate steal, and the Cobras couldn’t answer in the top of the seventh.

Cochran pitched the entire game for the Cobras, allowing 16 runs on 20 hits while striking out seven. Neither team had an error in the game.

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The second game of the doubleheader saw McLouth taking an early lead and building to an 8-0 lead after four innings, including a five-run third inning. The Cobras got on the board in the top of the fifth on a two-RBI double from Cochran that scored Mellies and Streeter, and in the top of the seventh, Mellies added a home-plate steal.

Cochran started in the circle for the Cobras and allowed three runs on five hits while striking out two over three and two-thirds innings, then Keo came on in relief and allowed five runs on six hits with three strikeouts over two innings and a third. It was another error-free game for both teams, it was reported.