Barton sweeps Brown Mackie split in Nebraska for 3-1 stretch

Barton sweeps Brown Mackie split in Nebraska for 3-1 stretch
The Barton Community College softball team picked up some much needed wins over an extended weekend, splitting games at McCook (Nebraska) Friday then sweeping Brown Mackie Monday at Cougars Fields in Great Bend. It was the 1st series sweep for Barton this year. The Cougars are also on a 3-game winning streak, doubling their win total in the process. Barton is now 6-19 for the season. The Cougars will step back in Region VI play later this week when they play road games at Seward Wednesday and Garden City Thursday.

Highlights
Barton picked up its 1st sweep of the season with 5-0 and 12-5 wins over the Lions Monday. Barton rode a strong pitching effort from Karen Harris in the opener. Harris went the distance allowing just four hits and striking out 7 Lions for the shutout win. The Cougars plated 3 runs in the 1st – 2 unearned thanks to a pair of Brown Mackie errors. Michelle Balliett added a 2-run homer in the 4th to make it 5-0.

Barton built a 4-0 lead in the 2nd game only to see it disappear with a 5-run 4th by Brown Mackie. Barton started the game with 4 straight hits – singles by Ashley Newberry and Kayla Hoskins, followed by a Kortney Friess double to score them. Savannah Rutkowski singled in Friess for a 3-0 lead. Barton made it 4-0 when Hoskins singled in Asia Newberry in the next inning. But things fell apart in the top of the 4th for Barton as the 1st 5 Brown Mackie batters reached base and eventually scored for a 5-4 lead. The Cougars quickly responded with 5 of their own in the bottom of the inning highlighted by a 2-run triple from Kayla Becker. Barton added two more in the 5th and Ashley Newberry a solo homer in the 6th for the 12-5 final. Kelsey Normandin came on in relief in the 4th to pick up the win while Harris tossed the final 3 innings for the save. It wrapped up an impressive 4-day, 4-game stint on the mound for Harris. Ashley Newberry had 4 hits in the win with Rutkowski adding 3. Friess drove in 3 runs.

Friday at McCook, Barton lost the opening game of the series 3-1 then won in extra innings in the 2nd game by a 6-5 score. Barton took a 1-0 lead in the opener when Christine Macias singled in Asia Newberry in the top of the 2nd. That, however, would be the only run Barton would get on the day. McCook took a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the 2nd then added a 3rd run the next inning. The teams went scoreless over the last 4 frames of the contest. Harris came on in relief for Barton in the 3rd inning and didn't allow a base runner in her 3 and 2/3 innings. In fact she recorded 11 outs and faced just 10 batters – forcing a double play from the 1st batter she faced to get out of the 3rd inning. Barton put runners on in 3 of the final 4 innings, getting a runner to 2nd in two of those innings. The Cougars biggest threat came in the 4th when Barton hard runners at 2nd and 3rd with 2 outs but couldn't produce a run.

Barton nearly let the 2nd game slip away but recovered in time and won the extra inning game. Barton took a 4-2 lead in the game with 3 runs in the 5th inning in large part thanks to a pair of errors by McCook. The Cougars added a run in the 7th to take a 5-2 lead into the final half inning. But McCook scored 3 times to send the game to an extra frame. The extra inning included the international tie breaker rule. Barton took advantage of that and McCook did not. Asia Newberry – Barton's runner on 2nd to start the inning – went to 3rd on a passed ball and scored on Becker's fly out to left. McCook didn't get its runner to 3rd until there were two outs and then Harris ended the game with a strike out for the Cougars. Harris again came on in relief in nearly unhittable fashion, allowing just one hit in her 1 2/3 innings of work to pick up the win. She struck out two in the extra inning. Ashley Newberry had 3 hits in the win and scored 2 times from her leadoff spot. Hoskins added two hits and Friess drove in 2 for Barton.

Stats
Stats can be found at www.bartonccc.edu/sports

Next
April 14 – at Seward 3 pm (Region VI doubleheader at Liberal, Kansas)