The Barton Community College softball team was again well represented on the recently released KJCCC Division I All-Conference Team with six players garnering distinction. Voted by conference head coaches, headlining the selections was sophomore Maddison Schofield earning first team outfield honors with Jayden Gonzales, Mickenzie Toler, and Payton Summers falling on the second team and Kaci Isaacson and Payton Reynolds landing on the honorable mention squad.
The selections led the Lady Cougars to a 14-10 second place finish in the Jayhawk Conference while reaching the thirty win mark for the third straight year concluding the season with a 30-16 overall record.
Closing out her Barton career as arguably one of the best to don a Cougar uniform, Maddison Schofield led the Cougars with a .435 batting average and .718 slugging percentage, driving in a team second best 45 runs out of the leadoff position. Reaching base with a team high .492 on-base percentage, the sophomore dual-sport athlete from Perth, Australia, had 29 extra base hits with a second best 18 doubles and eight home runs while leading the team with eighteen stolen bases. Schofield finished her Barton career atop the school records with 162 hits, 37 doubles, 135 runs, and 42 stolen bases while finishing second with a .435 batting average, third with 99 runs driven in, and fifth with seventeen home runs. Controlling the outfield from her centerfield position, Schofield played in all 105 games following up her freshman second team with the first team honors. Leaving Great Bend with not only her softball achievements, Schofield was also honored in the fall soccer season with a second team all-conference selection where she left her name in the single game record books with an fifth best five goal in a sixth best eleven-point performance.
Joining Schofield on the second team in their freshman seasons, Jayden Gonzales again landed on the second team with a .408 batting average during her sophomore campaign. Belting fourteen home runs for the second straight season, the Shawnee Heights product out of Topeka, Kansas, also led the Lady Cougars in run production with 50 RBI's. Finishing with a .413 average at the plate throughout her Barton career, the Southwest Baptist University finished second on the career chart with 28 home runs and 126 RBIs on a fourth best 137 career hits.
Payton Summers was also one of the three Cougars to bat .400 or better finishing right at the average with a third best 56 hits on the season. The third baseman from Topeka Seaman High School finished behind Schofield and Gonzales in most offensive categories including her 11 doubles, seven home runs, and 43 runs batted in.
Also landing on the second team was Mickenzie Toler, the first of three freshman to garner honors. Playing second base throughout the season, the Topeka Washburn Rural product tied Summers for the third most home runs on the team with seven while batting .338 in her first collegiate season.
Freshmen Kaci Isaacson and Payton Reynolds rounded out the six Barton players selected for honors by landing on the honorable mention squad. After sitting out a year away from competition, Isaacson's progress throughout the season was dramatic in owning the infield at shortstop and batting .370 from the plate. Hitting four home runs and driving in 37 runs on the year, the Salina South High School graduate banged out 21 doubles for the second best single season performance in Cougar Softball history.
Earning the honorable mention honors for the utility position, Reynolds was a versatile contributor to the Cougars whether it was in the center circle or in the outfield. One of two players on the roster from Topeka's Shawnee Heights High School, Reynolds through nearly half of the innings for the Cougars with 121.1, striking out 69 with an ERA of 4.27 in going 15-12 on the year while limiting opponent's batting average to just .282. A key contributor in the upper third of the lineup, Reynolds batted above the team average finishing at .372 with a team second best .481 on-base percentage including eleven doubles and tied for the team lead with seven hit-by-pitches.