The Barton Community College softball team was well represented on the recently released KJCCC Division I All-Jayhawk East Division Team with six players garnering distinction along with three top awards.
A the result of conference head coaches voting, headlining the selections were Head Coach Tyler Gunelson as Co-Coach of the Year while Tia Kohl earned Co-Most Valuable Player with Betsy Parmley being named the Freshman of the Year.
Coach Gunelson took over the softball a month into the 2017-18 academic year and just completed his second year at the helm in joining Butler's Doug Chance for the coaching honor. The Cougars challenged the Grizzlies for the Region VI title with Barton falling in the Championship game to end the season at 33-17.
A two-time conference pitcher of the week, Kohl was 10-2 in conference play in finishing the season 15-8 to share the league's top award with Butler player Taliya Talley. Striking out 154 batters in her 134 innings in the circle, the sophomore transfer from Indian Hills Community College ranked in the top six in both the conference and region with a strikeout per game ratio of over eight with an overall ERA of 3.87.
Two other Cougars joined Kohl on the first team with Parmley named at the shortstop position and left side diamond mate Alexis Sharples garnering the third base honor.
Parmley, a week five conference player of the week winner, led the Cougars with a .427 batting average, even better for the freshman in league play at .471, and a team leading sixty-four hits driving in fifty-three runs.
Sharples tied for the team lead with seventeen two-bag hits in a batting a solid .390 giving the Cougars punch out of the lower lineup while anchoring the hot corner in all fifty games.
Second baseman Hailey Pop led a trio of Cougars on the second team as the sophomore batted .427 in league play, tying Sharples for the team lead in doubles with seventeen.
Both Sharples and Pop accumulated twenty-seven two-base hits in their Barton career landing the duo into the eighth slot in program history.
A week four conference player of the week, Pop also drew a team leading thirty-three walks in the 2019 season, trotting to the first base bag fifty-two times in her career for second best all-time while also pounding a program top ten 115 hits. The conference week ten player of the week, Sharples also earned first base via a hit in 106 times to join exclusive top fifteen former Cougars to achieve over a hundred hits in a career.
Atop the Barton lineup throughout her freshman campaign, Jaelyn Carter's second team selection came at the utility position after splitting time on the field with Parmley at short stop but keeping her hot bat in the lineup at either second base or in the designated player role. Batting .387 on the season, Carter ranked second on the squad in hits (63), home runs (8), and stolen bases (14).
Earning the final season conference honor of the year, Jade Phillips closed out her freshman campaign of second team league honors in style by batting .560 and riding a seventeen game hit streak. The dual sport athlete who didn't join the club full-time until the conclusion of her women's basketball season, grew stronger at the plate throughout the season as the lefty hitter ended at .406 clip overall. Joining Sharples as the only two competing in each of the fifty game season, Phillips was a fixture in center field while moving up and down the lineup to produce a club second best hits (63) and doubles (16), to go along with a team leading trio of triples and sixteen stolen bases.