The Barton Community College softball team picked up a big road win in the opener of Thursday's doubleheader at 14th ranked Butler Community College but fell short of the sweep on a cold and windy day in El Dorado.
Winning the first game 10-4 powered by a 6-run fifth frame, the Cougars earned their first victory in El Dorado since 2019 in snapping a 7-game streak. Barton's bid to sweep fell short as a deciding 5-run first frame of the nightcap built Barton a hole that Butler filled in completely with a 3-run fifth to end it on a 10-2 score.
The KJCCC result leaves both teams at 3-1 in league, Barton moving to 5-7 on the season while Butler moves to 11-3 overall.
Up next is the Cougars' home opener on Saturday with a 1:00 p.m. first pitch hosting Colby Community College.
Game 1 Recap
Outhitting the Grizzlies 11-9 in the opener including home runs by Mikaila Herring and Allyson McDougal, Brooklynn Angielski held firm in the circle walking just one and striking out five while getting solid plays from her defense improving to 3-4 on the year.
Elina Bartlett led the squad going 3-of-4 with an RBI as Herring and McDougal each produced two hits and drove in three runs each.
Scoreless through three, McDougal helped Barton capitalize on a two-out Butler error in the 4th inning in launching a two-run home run for her second of the year.
Two batters in the bottom of the frame, Butler cut the deficit in half with their third hit of the inning producing a two-out game tying run.
The Cougars responded with six runs on five hits in the fifth, Lani Dryden getting plunked to leadoff followed by Laci Dryden lining a base hit. Following Leslie Ramos' sac bunt, Herring launched a 1-1 pitch deep to left for her first home run of the year and 4th of her Barton career.
The hit parade continued with three consecutive left-center gap doubles coming from Chloe Enslinger, McDougal, and Bartlett increasing the lead with Mia Mascarenas' ground out pushing across the sixth run for an 8-2 advantage.
Butler got two of the runs back in the home half as a pair of one-out singles would cross the plate on a single to right field.
To the sixth Ramos and Herring one-out hits were joined by Enslinger, the third Barton hit batsman, to load the bases with Bartlett's scorched earth infield single driving two across the dish to again push the margin back to six.
As solid as Angielski was in the circle, the Cougar defense made countless great plays including Mascarenas' laid out catch on a foul pop-up in the second inning, Herring's robbery of a liner down the left field line in the fourth, and in the sixth frame McDougal's diving catch down the right field line followed by Laci Dryden's extended running catch at the center field warning track protecting the winning margin.
Game 2 Recap
Herring's two-out single in the first picked up the first of her team leading two hits as the Cougars would muster just five total.
Butler plated all the runs they would need in their first at-bat, scoring five runs on two hits and going through three Cougar pitchers in the frame.
In Barton's second at-bat, Aly Lawrence connected on the Cougars' second hit of the game following Jadelyn Hooper's 1-out walk with a lined 2-1 pitch banging off the left field scoreboard for the freshman's first collegiate round tripper.
A missed 2-2 pitch call leading off the Grizzlies' home half resulted in a fence clearer on the next pitch as Aly Hageman connected on her first of two home runs in the game. Hageman would connect again leading off the fourth frame before ending the game pushing the final run across on a double off the fence concluding the three-run clinching frame.
Alicia Goseland took the loss dropping to 0-3 on the year with Elina Bartlett getting two outs in the opening frame as Lawrence went the rest of the 3.1 innings of work.
