North Central Texas defeats Cloud County

FORT WORTH, Texas — North Central Texas College put up 16 runs over the final four innings to defeat the Cloud County Community College softball team 16-2 in the Cow Town Classic on Saturday.
Cloud County led the game 2-0 through three innings of play.
Three runs in the top of the fourth inning and three in the fifth gave North Central Texas a 6-2 advantage.
North Central Texas then erupted for 10 runs in the top of the seventh inning.
Jacie Marcotte doubled to drive in Emily Wells and Mattison Hogrefe in the bottom of the first inning, and Cloud County led North Central Texas 2-0.
Sophomore Madison Hammond shut out North Central Texas over the final three innings, striking out three.
“We started off great, getting three up and three top of the first inning and Jacie hitting that long double to right-center field,” Cloud County coach Aaron Acree said, “Madison Hammond was doing a nice job of keeping them off balance through the first three innings.
Cloud County had the bases loaded in the bottom of the third inning, but was unable to add to hits lead.
The Thunderbirds have left 26 base runners stranded in scoring position through its first six games.
“We have to get that corrected,” Acree said, “We need a hard hit ball somewhere in those situations to get us going.”
A three-run home run by Faith Hollingsworth in the top of the fourth inning put North Central Texas on top to stay, 3-2.
Marcotte had three hits in four at bats for Cloud County.
The T-Birds, now 0-6 overall, went 0-4 in the tournament.
Cloud County was beaten 10-2 by 10th-ranked Seminole (Okla.) State College in its first game on Friday.
Seminole State scored five unearned runs on four Cloud County errors in the game.
“We did a lot of good things, had six hits to their six hits, but it's the untimely errors and not hitting with runners in scoring position that is getting us right now,” Acree said, “We left the bases loaded once, and really struggled hitting with runners on base. That was probably the biggest difference in the ballgame.”
Freshman catcher Emily Wells had two hits for the T-Birds.
Cloud County then suffered a narrow 3-2 loss to Navarro College.
Wells singled to drive in Hammond in the top of the first inning for Cloud County.
The T-Birds upped the lead to 2-0 on a run producing single by Payton Gillen in the fourth inning.
Navarro made it a 2-1 game with a run in the bottom of the fifth inning.
Taking advantage of two Cloud County errors, Navarro scored two runs in the bottom of the seventh inning to pull out the win.
“We misplayed a bloop to the outfield to start the inning then committed our only errors of the game on those two bunts. Next girl up hit a smash up the middle for the go-ahead runs,” Acree said.
Mattison Hogrefe had two hits for the T-Birds.
Cloud County, in its final game on Friday, fell 12-2 to Midland (Texas) College.
The game was tied at 1-1 through one inning of play.
Five runs in the second inning, one in the fourth and two in the top of the fifth gave Midland a 9-1 cushion.
Cloud County tacked on a run in the bottom of the fifth.
Midland scored three runs in the top of the sixth.