The Barton Community College softball team swept Wednesday's doubleheader at Cougar Field 10-7 and 11-0 in five innings Pratt Community College.
A six-run third inning reversed a 2-1 deficit in capturing the opener with Elina Bartlett taking a no-hitter into the nightcap's seventh inning before a two-hit chopper up the middle spoiled the accomplishment.
The twin bill sweep improves Barton 11-3 in league play and 14-10 overall as Pratt slips to 2-12 in league and 6-20 on the season.
Taking care of business against the lower teams in the standings, Barton will need to carry the momentum into Saturday's 1:00 p.m. doubleheader at Hutchinson Community College. The first place Blue Dragons split their doubleheader at 17th ranked Butler on Saturday to force a two-team tie atop the standings and more recently picked up a sweep at Garden City improving to 12-2 and 23-7 overall.
Aly Lawrence was perfect in her five plate appearances including three walks, the first scoring one batter later on Allyson McDougal double for the first of six hits on the day. The pair combined for 11 hits on 13 plate appearance with six runs driven with Lawrence extending her hit streak to 17 straight games.
Leslie Ramos and Mikaila Herring each had three hits, Ramos' trio coming on doubles while two of Herrings' were of the two-bag variety. Both connected on the first sparking the Cougars' 6-run third frame, Ramos leading off with a two-bagger with Herring's pushing two runs across the dish.
Ninth in the batting lineup, Lani Dryden was .500 in her four plate appearance to extend her hit streak to nine straight games, driving in two runs on the decisive third inning on a double. Although the hit streak continued, Dryden's con
Lawrence also picked up the victory in the circle improving to 4-1 on the year in scattering eight hits and a career best 4 strikeouts in five innings of work. Alicia Goseland worked the final two frames in striking out one before a two-out 3-run home run pushed across three unearned runs in the final seventh frame.
Bartlett stymied Pratt's offense in the nightcap for her third shutout of the season to also improve to 4-1, tying a collegiate best four strikeouts and walking just two. The second free pass coming with two outs in the final fifth frame would prove costly as the additional at-bat would bring pinch hitter Julia Zimmerman to the plate with the Hays freshman sending a high chopper up the middle off the artificial turf to break up the no-hitter.