The Barton Community College softball team opened up the 2019 season Monday with a home doubleheader sweep over Bethany College JV with a 4-0 shutout before rallying to complete the sweep 7-3 in game two.
Barton will next travel to Cisco, Texas, for a five pack of games beginning with three on Friday before concluding the Cisco College Tournament with a pair of contests on Saturday.
Hailey Pop led the Cougars in the twinbill going 4-of-7 including driving in a pair of runs in the opening shutout. The sophomore from Canada broke the scoreless fourth inning with a two-out hit driving home Alexis Sharples' double as Jade Phillips also scored on the play from a relay error.
Phillips gave Barton an insurance run in the sixth with a ground out RBI scoring Nasadiya Salazar's leadoff single as Pop followed with another two-out hit, driving home Sharples' third hit of the opener.
Tia Kohl struck out eight on the day to earn the Wichita native's first win as a Cougar. Kohl's lone blemish came in the opening frame with two walks but the Indian Hill Community College transfer fanned two in the inning to escape the threat.
Bethany put solo runs on the board in three of the first four innings on game two starter Karsyn Smith, with a first frame run being the lone earned. Sophomore Emma Horsch silenced the Swede bats for the final 3.1 innings getting help from a fifth inning double play from the Cougar defense to earn the victory.
The Cougars rallied to tie it up in the home half of the fourth on three consecutive hits, a leadoff double from Betsy Parmley followed by Salazar's second hit of the day before Brooke McCollough's double cut the deficit to one.
Phillips, who would later that evening etch her name in Barton history, delivered the tying hit with a double to center.
Jayden Solberg delivered the game winning RBI in the fifth driving home Pop's leadoff walk as Barton would tack on three more runs in the frame set up by walks and hit by pitches.
In the leadoff position for both contests, Phillips ended her softball afternoon going 3-for-8 at the plate driving in two runs. Immediately following, Phillips exchanged uniforms to join her Cougar basketball team as play was underway at the Barton Gym against Allen County. Checking into the lineup with 2:29 remaining in the game, the Erie, Colorado, freshman became the first Barton two-sport athlete since at least 2006 to play in two separate sporting events on the same day. Seventy-nine seconds later, Phillips knocked down a short jumper contributing to the Cougars' fifty-eight point win while adding a pair of rebounds.
