Barton sweeps Colby, Pratt; runs winning streak to season-high 8 games
The Barton County Community College softball team has seen season like this in the recent past. Get past that tough non-conference slate with teams the South and start that climb not only back .500 but towards the top of the conference race. The Cougars showed signs they are indeed ready to break out of that early-season funk once again, sweeping Colby in Jayhawk West games Tuesday at Cougar Fields then traveling to Pratt and doing likewise Wednesday. Those 4 wins for the Cougars ran their winning streak to a season-high 8 game. The wins moved Barton to 17-19 overall this season and 2-2 in the West with the wins over Pratt. As importantly, Barton is now 2-0 in the Region VI standings with the wins over Colby, where the Cougars are fighting with Colby, Seward, Garden, and Cloud. The rest of the Jayhawk Conference is playing Division II this season.
Highlights
The Cougars' wins over Pratt gave Barton its first wins of the season in Jayhawk West play. Last season Barton tied for the West title. Barton's 8-0 shutout of the Beavers was the 4th of the season for Barton but the 2nd in 2 days. Rosmar Gonzalez pitched both shutouts including the opener against Pratt to earn the win and move to 4-5 for the year. The Cougars blew open a 3-0 game with a 5-run 6th for the run-rule win. Barton broke a scoreless in the top of the 4th with 3 runs, keyed by an Amanda Baker 2-run triple. In the 5th, Baker drove in 3 more runs to give her a 5-RBI day.
Barton made it 8 straight in the nightcap, rallying from a 3-0 deficit. Barton fell behind in the 2nd inning by those 3 runs, but battled back to tie the game in the 5th. Barton cut the lead to 3-2 as Kelly Delgado and Heather Watson drove in runs. Barton made it 3-all in the 5th when Delgado's fly out scored Natosha Stewart. Barton took a 4-3 lead when Roy scored on an error and gave itself a 3-run cushion on Ashlee Early's 2-run single. Melissa Martin came to the mound in relief and tossed 5 2/3 innings of shutout baseball for the win. Martin improved to 1-2 win the win.
Tuesday afternoon at Cougar Fields, Barton jumped on top early in the contest, grabbing a 2-0 in the opening inning when Stewart and Early scored. Watson made it 4-0 in the 4th when her double scored Martin and Roy. Watson later scored to make it to 5-0. That was more than enough for Gonzalez, who tossed the 3-hit shutout for the Cougars, striking out 8 in the process.
Barton took a 2-0 lead in the opening inning against Colby and rode that to the win. The Cougars got RBI double from Delgado and Yanir Mendoza. The Cougars pushed it to 3-0 in the 2nd on an Early RBI single that scored Stewart. The Cougars finished out the scoring in the 3rd after Colby made it 3-1 with a Megan Zumbrunn homer. Krista Casey picked up the win for Barton on the mound.
Stats
Stats can be found on the Barton website at www.bartonccc.edu/sports
Next
April 2-3 – Johnson County Invitational, TBD (Tournament at Overland Park)