Barton splits region contests with Butler; Seward here Friday
The Barton Community College softball team split a doubleheader with Butler Tuesday afternoon in Region VI play at Cougar Fields in Great Bend. The Cougars won the opener in a tightly fought 1-0 affair then fell 8-0 in the nightcap for the split. The win was the 2nd for Barton in region play as the Cougars improved to 2-12 in region play and 9-28 overall. The loss hurt Butler in its pursuit of a top seed in the region and the Jayhawk West title. Butler is now 8-4 in the region and 37-11 overall. That is two games behind Seward at 10-2 and 41-11. Barton can now help Butler out Friday as Seward visits Cougar Fields at 3 pm.
Highlights
Karen Harris tossed a shutout in the opener and Barton scored in the bottom of the 6th to provide just enough offense to win the contest. Asia Newberry led off the inning with a single and scored from 1st on a single by Kayla Hoskins that got by the Butler right fielder. Barton worked out of a big jam in the top of that inning as Butler put a speedy runner at 3rd with no outs. But that is where she stayed as Karen Harris induced a pop up, strike out and following a walk a ground out to short keep the Grizzlies off the scoreboard.
Harris allowed just 3 hits during the contest and struck out 5 with just 1 walk. Three of strike outs came with runners in scoring position as Butler stranded 6 runners during the contest. Barton was only able to muster 4 hits but strung 2 of those together along with the error to produce the only run it needed.
The Cougars were beaten in the 2nd game as Butler bats came to life with 13 hits including a big 3-run homer in the 3rd to give Butler a 4-0 lead. Butler scored in all but one inning after that on the way to the win. The Cougars were able to collect 7 hits in the loss but could not get a run across the plate. Ashley Newberry had a perfect 3-for-3 day at the plate but could never get past 2nd base. In fact no Cougar runner made it past 2nd during the finale.
Barton has one more region doubleheader left in the regular season when Seward visits Friday. Barton has already locked up the No. 5 seed in the upcoming Region VI Tournament. The Cougars will play Colby to start things off in Wichita May 7 with the winner getting the top seed in the region. Barton will wrap up the regular season May 3 when McCook (Neb) comes in for non conference play.
Stats
Stats can be found at www.bartonccc.edu/sports
Next
April 30 – v Seward 3 pm (Region VI doubleheader at Cougar Fields in Great Bend)