Coming off a four-game split in the state of Texas, the Barton Community College softball team found its way back towards home a little bumpy as the Cougars dropped four games in its two-day stay in southwest Oklahoma.
The Cougars dropped its Friday contest in five innings to Odessa College 13-3 before an 8-1 defeat followed in the afternoon to host Western Oklahoma State College. Playing the same two teams on Saturday, Barton lost a 20-11 five-inning shootout to Odessa before its rally came up short 6-5 to Western concluding the four-day eight-game road trip.
Now 2-8 on the year, Barton returns to its home Cougar Field on Tuesday with a 1:00 p.m. doubleheader hosting Central Christian College.
Friday's Recap
Odessa dug Barton a twelve-run hole through the first four innings, scoring two runs in the first and fourth but an eight run second inning set the early tone.
The Cougars loaded the bases in the home half of the fourth on Mackenzie Fagan and Brooke McCollough walks and a Teegan Krol single. Adreanna Lance's double plated two with Kaylee Milligan's one-out ground out forcing the only other Cougar run to cross.
Odessa put the finishing touch on the game with a solo homerun to lead off the fifth.
Barton again got off to a slow start in its second game against Western, spotting the Pioneers a run in the first and four in the second to look up the barrel of a 5-0 deficit.
The Cougars got one back in the fourth as Halie Stoneking drilled a 1-1 pitch out of the park for her first collegiate dinger.
In the home half the Pioneers got the run plus one back as a two-run homerun pushed the lead out to 7-1 and an inning later, a leadoff homerun closed out the scoring.
Saturday's Recap
In the rematch with Odessa, Barton was the one jumping out early with two runs capped by Lance's sacrifice fly. Odessa countered in the home half on two runs crossing the plate to tie it up.
Barton went back in front in the second behind a pair of doubles, Milligan leading off the frame scoring on Lara's one-out two-bagger to center.
The Wranglers took the lead for good in the home half plating four runs in capitalizing on two hits, a pair of walks, and two Barton errors.
A pair of walks to leadoff the third set up a one-run Barton answer in drawing to within 6-4.
The bottom of the third goes down on the not-so-good side of Cougars history as Odessa sent fourteen Wranglers across the plate for the most single inning runs against Barton in recent memory. A pair of singles and a walk began the frame with an error plating the first and a three-run home run plating three more. The trend would continue and before Barton could get the second out of the inning, Odessa had put up fourteen runs on eight hits including two home runs.
Trailing by sixteen, the Cougars bounced back in the top of the third with Madison Faylor driving in Kayli Dryden and Kennedee Lara, scoring a batter later on Teegan Krol's single up the middle. An out later Lance connected on her first round-tripper of the year capping the Cougars' five run answer.
Stoneking's second long ball of the year closed out the Barton scoring in the ensuing final fifth inning driving in Milligan's leadoff single.
Looking to end the road trip on a positive note, the Cougars strung Faylor and Krol two-out singles together before getting one across on McCollough's reach on error.
The Pioneers scored their only runs and subsequent winning runs in the home half of the second, taking advantage of two walks and two errors with a two-run double followed by a two-run home run.
Barton began clawing back with a Lara RBI single in the fourth and a McCollough sacrifice fly in the fifth cutting the margin in half.
Following a scoreless sixth, a promising seventh frame comeback began with Stoneking's leadoff single scoring on Faylor's second big fly of the year, but the Cougars' rally was snuffed out as the ensuing batters went down in order.