Dropping game one 5-2 Wednesday afternoon at Cougar Field, the Barton Community College softball team bounced back with a five inning 9-1 victory in splitting its conference doubleheader hosting 13th ranked Butler Community College.
The game two victory snapped a 16-game losing streak to the Grizzlies and the first home win in the series since 2016 to break a 12-game home drought.
The split leaves Barton at 7-3 in conference play and 12-11 overall with Butler left at 8-2 in league and 15-7 overall.
Next up for Barton, barring weather alterations, will be Saturday at 1:00 p.m. hosting Hesston College before returning to conference play Wednesday at Dodge City Community College.
A pair of Cougars extended hitting streaks on Wednesday, the Cougars' leading hitter Jaysa Anderson collecting a double in the opener before launching a first inning grand slam getting Barton off to a 4-0 start in notching her 16th straight game with a hit. Halie Stoneking, who led the Cougars going 3-of-6 out of the leadoff spot, connected on a game one 7th inning homerun to extend her streak before following with a 2-of-3 performance in the back end of the doubleheader for a 12-game hit streak including a second inning fence clearer for her team leading 6th of the year.
Jenna Henderson kept the Cougars in the opener, allowing nine hits and striking out five in sliding to 2-6 on the year but the team was overpowered by the Grizzlies' Allyson Montgomery in striking out 17 and allowing just five hits improving to 8-2 on the year.
Sydni Williams earned the game two win improving to 2-1 on the year by striking out four and allowing just two hits with Emma Koeneke taking the loss in dropping to 6-4.
Game One Recap
Butler got one on the board in the first inning as leadoff JaKeyla McDaniel lined a single up the middle before swiping her 13th base of the year and scoring a sacrifice bunt later and trotting home on Ryaann Valdivia's sacrifice fly.
Valdivia's second at-bat led off the fourth with a double as two pitches later Kendyl Anderson pushed the visitors' lead to three in belting a straight-away center home run for her 3rd of the year.
Barton got one run back in the fifth, Laci Dryden, who was stranded in the third frame after a leadoff double, lifted a towering shot that got lost in the sun resulting in the freshman ending up at third with the one-out triple. An out later and Kayden Smith walk extending the inning, Calli McConnell put a seeing-eye single down the right field line in cutting the deficit to two. Williams followed with a walk but the Cougars stranded three of their eight baserunners in the game to only score the lone run.
Henderson appeared to be getting out of the ensuing sixth after catcher Leslie Ramos erased a one-out walk and attempted stolen base but a 3-2 pitch didn't go the way of the Cougars in allowing the inning to extend with a walk. A 1-2 pitch connection for a double extended the frame again with pinch hitter Cady Dickey putting the 13th pitch of the at-bat in the minimal space between left fielder Laci Dryden and shortstop Lani Dryden resulting in Butler tacking on two insurance runs.
Montgomery struck out three in the sixth to overcome plunking Lani Dryden and following Stoneking's leadoff home run in the seventh, capped her big outing with strikeouts on either side of a foul pop-up.
Game Two Recap
Stoneking wasted little time in extending her hit streak to twelve straight, getting the home half started with a lined single off the center field fence. Ireland Cotton followed with a walk, McConnell reaching on a hit batsman to load the bases and an out later, Anderson extended her hit streak to 16-straight by sending a 1-2 pitch beyond the barrier for her 5th of the year.
Barton added three more to the board in the second frame, Mikaila Herring's leadoff single scoring on Stoneking's team leading 6th dinger of the year with Cotton's single scoring on Williams' chopper through the infield halting her 0-14 stretch at the plate.
Williams struck out three in the first three frames, sending the Grizzlies down in order in the 2nd and third. Fanning her fourth to begin the fourth inning, Butler's Anderson connected on her second home run and 4th of the year ruining the shutout.
McConnell returned the margin to eight runs on the second pitch of the home half by connecting on her 5th long ball of the year for the final 9-1 tally.
Down to their final out in the fifth, the Grizzlies threatened with a single and walk but Williams closed the door with her second strikeout of the inning.
Game Notes:
- First win in last 16 games versus Butler, the last coming on a 7-2 game one win March 22, 2019, in El Dorado over the then 13th ranked Grizzlies
- First home win in last 12 games, the last coming on a 4-2 game one win May 3, 2016, at Cougar Field over the then 6th ranked Grizzlies
- First run-rule win over the Grizzlies since the 11-3 five-inning game one win March 26, 2015, at Cougar Field
- The one run allowed in game two marks just the fourth time in the 82-game history the Cougars kept Butler to one run or less.
- Butler leads the overall series 69-13 including 27-10 at Cougar Field