Barton drops home openers to Pratt; loses twice at Colby

Barton drops home openers to Pratt; loses twice at Colby
The Barton County Community College softball team finally didn't have to travel to play softball, playing its 1st home games of the season Wednesday against Jayhawk West foe Pratt. The Cougars – playing their 22nd game of the season before being at home – lost two to Pratt, falling 10-1 and 16-13. Barton was back on the road Thursday, losing twice at Colby, 8-4 and 12-4 in Region VI contests. Barton is now 2-2 in the West and 1-5 in the region. The Cougars are 8-17 overall. Pratt improved to a West-leading 6-0 in the conference with its wins and Colby improved to 2-4 in region play. Barton is back home Saturday to take on Neosho County in Region VI play.

Highlights
Barton fell behind 3-0 in the 2nd inning against Pratt in the Cougars home-opener as Pratt hit a pair of home runs for the lead. The Cougars countered with a Whitney Boeh homer in the bottom of the 2nd to cut the lead to 3-1. But Pratt didn't stop scoring. The Beavers notched 2 more in the 3rd a single run in each the 4th and 5th and 3 runs in the 6th to end the game by a run-rule after 6 innings. Erin Humphrey had 2 hits in the loss.

The Cougars bats came to life in the 2nd game of the twinbill Wednesday, but Barton couldn't slow the Pratt bats enough for the win. Pratt scored in all but 1 inning, logging 5 in the 4th and 4 in the 6th. The Cougars cut a 4-0 lead to 4-3 in the 2nd and again to 6-5 in the 3rd as Pratt's starter struggled to throw strikes in the early innings. Cheryl Raesz homered for Barton in the 2nd and Myra Ramos singled in a run. Brittany Allen, Roxanne Longoria, and Humphrey each drew bases loaded walks to drive in runs as well. The Cougars couldn't keep up with Pratt, however, as the Beavers pushed the lead to 11-5 and eventually 15-7.

Boeh and Alicia Salazar hit back-to-back homers in the 6th for Barton – the team-tying 6th homer for Boeh and 5th for Salazar on the season. The Cougars kept things interesting with 4 runs in the bottom of the 7th before falling short in its comeback bid. Raesz drove in 3 in the 7th for the Cougars and ended the game with 4 RBI. Salazar had 4 hits in the loss while Boeh and Salazar each scored 3 times.

Barton continued to struggle at Colby on the mound and in the field as the Trojans scored 20 runs in the 2 games as Barton committed 6 errors – 5 in the 2nd game that led to 7 unearned runs. In the opener, Longoria hit a 2-run homer in the 3rd to tie the game at 2-all and Barton took a brief 3-2 lead in the 4th when Salazar scored on a Longoria single. But Colby scored 3 times in the bottom of the 4th and 5th while Barton could only muster 1 more run the rest of they way in the 8-4 loss.

The Cougars fell behind 8-0 after the 1st innings in the 2nd game and didn't score until they trailed 12-0 heading into the top of the 5th inning. Barton scored 4 times in 2 hits and 4 Colby errors in the top of the 5th but it wasn't enough to extend the game to a 6th inning as Barton fell in 5 by the run rule.

Stats
Stats can be found at www.bartonccc.edu/sports

Next 
Sat March 28 – v Neosho, 2 pm (Region VI game at Cougar Fields in Great Bend)