COLFAX — The weather held off just long enough for the Class 2A No. 15 Colfax-Mingo softball team to celebrate Senior Night against PCM on July 3.
The Tigerhawks only needed five innings to defeat the Mustangs, winning 11-1 in non-conference action.
“Obviously the seniors led us at the plate tonight with RBIs and hits so it’s always nice to have them have a remembrance of tonight in multiple ways,” C-M head coach Bryan Poulter said. “It’s a nice emphasis on celebrating tonight.”
Before the game, all five Tigerhawk seniors — Colbee Cunningham, Braedynn Rawlins, Delaney Underwood, Chelsea Russell and Rilee Slycord — were given recognition for their contributions to the softball program.
Colfax-Mingo even made it a point to mention PCM’s seniors and recognize their opponent.
“Kudos to Colfax-Mingo, that was a really classy move that they did,” PCM head coach Shaun Hudnut said. “The Poulter’s reached out to me earlier today and said they had the idea of doing that. That’s really positive on their part.”
After a delay of the JV game, the weather opened up for a period of time, and the two teams were able to get going.
The Tigerhawks jumped on the board right away in the first inning. Slycord hit a single past the shortstop and Rawlins hit a two-run home run to put the Tigerhawks up 2-0 after one inning.
PCM struggled to get things going against Cunningham, Colfax-Mingo’s starting pitcher.
Coming into the game, Cunningham had 165 strikeouts and has led her squad all season.
Cunningham (20-6) earned the win in the circle, allowing three hits and striking out six in five innings. Riley DeVore (1-2) took the pitching loss for the Mustangs.
Colfax-Mingo picked up in the second inning where it left off in the first. Cunningham brought in two runners on a double to left field. Slycord followed that up with her 11th home run of the season to extend the lead to 6-0.
The Mustangs scored their lone run of the night in the top of the fourth inning when Riley Johannes hit an RBI double that dropped inside the left-field foul line.
The Tigerhawks turned it on in the bottom of the fourth inning. Kylie Doty hit an RBI double and Slycord collected a two RBI double.
Offensively, the Tigerhawks scored two more in the same inning when Mariah Webster brought in two runners before the third runner was thrown out at home. This extended their lead to 10 runs.
Slycord led the Tigerhawks (21-7) with four RBIs, a single, a double and a home run. She was 3-for-3 at the plate and also scored two runs.
Cunningham was 2-for-2 with two runs and two RBIs and Rawlins had one hit, one walk, two runs and two RBIs. Caylee Cunningham also scored two runs with one hit and one walk.
The Mustangs (9-18) only had three hits as a team — doubles by Johannes, Anna Shaver and Sidney Shaver. Riley Hjortshoj scored the team’s lone run.
Seniors led the way for the Tigerhawks in hits and runs scored.
Poulter thought it was fitting for them to do it on Senior Night.
“They’re the heartbeat of the team and they’re going to lead us to whatever point in the season that we’re going to get to,” Poulter said.
