Snapping an eight-game win streak at Cougar Field, the Barton Community College softball team lost a pair of slugfests in Wednesday's conference doubleheader losing 17-3 and 10-9 to Garden City Community College. The Broncbusters scored in every inning of game one pounding out nineteen hits to the Cougars ten in running away for the five inning fourteen run victory. Barton bounced back in the second game to erase a 3-0 first inning deficit to score four runs in the home half courtesy of three consecutive homeruns in outhitting the Broncbusters 15-12. But Barton couldn't hold a two run lead in the seventh in dropping a heartbreaking 10-9 decision. The pair of losses taint the two home run performance from sophomore Emilia Davies and drops Barton to 11-7 on the season and 2-4 in conference play while Garden City improves to 11-14 and 3-3 in the Jayhawk. The Lady Cougars will step out of conference play this Friday as the junior varsity of Kansas Wesleyan University comes to Cougar Field. First pitch of the doubleheader scheduled for 1:30 p.m.
A sign of things to come, Garden's first three batters began the doubleheader with consecutive singles going 11-14 in game one scoring eight runs and driving in seven. Jumping out to a 2-0 first inning lead, Barton answered with two in the home half getting singles by Candace Bollig and Allison Smith to go along with doubles from Emilia Davies and Ashlyn Osborne.
The Broncbuster machine was just getting cranked up as Garden City would go on to score a minimum of three runs the next four innings on fifteen additional hits. The Cougars' defense aided the cause committing five errors in chasing Barton's starting pitcher Jaelyn Monhollon from the game in the fourth inning dropping the freshman to 6-4 on the season. Darby Grizzard, seeing only her second action this season in the center circle, finished out the last 1.1 innings.
Game two started much like the first game with Garden City getting its first three batters on base in scoring three runs on three hits. Again the Cougars battled back in the home half, getting four runs to take the lead in one of the most memorable Barton at-bats in history.
Freshman Bailey Hensley led off the inning with a single but was erased from the base path one batter later as Candace Bollig hit into a fielder's choice. Emilia Davies immediately cut the deficit to one lacing the first pitch deep to left center. Ahead in the count 3-1, Allison Smith delivered the game tying run sending a high fly ball over the right field fence as the Cougars went back-to-back long balls for the second time this season. History was then made one pitch later as Ashlyn Osborne drilled a 0-1 pitch to left field giving Barton a 4-3 lead and tying her with Erica Harper for the team lead of four home runs.
The lead would stand until the third as the Broncbusters scored two in the third, adding single runs in the fourth and sixth to lead 7-4.
Barton would get consecutive one-out doubles by Brianna Ward and Hensley in the home half of the sixth to cut the deficit to two and give Barton much needed momentum for a comeback. Bollig followed by a single up the middle as Garden City committed its third error of the game allowing Hensley to score to draw Barton to within one. Davies, who would go 5-8 in the doubleheader, launched a 1-0 pitch to almost the identical spot beyond the left center fence to give Barton a 9-7 lead to the seventh.
Garden City seemed unphased getting the first two batters aboard. A costly Barton infield error kept the inning allowed the Broncbusters to score a run without an out being recorded. Following two consecutive ground outs to score a run to tie it, an RBI double by Brooke Lovas was the difference maker driving in the game winning run.
Osborne went the distance for the Cougars to fall to 5-3 on the season.