Barton picks up win in nightcap to earn split with Colby

Barton picks up win in nightcap to earn split with Colby
The Barton Community College softball team capped Thursday's doubleheader with a win over Colby to earn a split for the day in Region IV regular season play at Cougar Fields. Barton got a stellar pitching performance from Michelle Balliett in the finale for the Cougars' 3rd win of the season and the 1st in region action. Barton nearly pulled off a huge comeback in the opening game, rallying from 5 down the 7th, but lost the contest in extra innings, 10-6 in 9. Barton is now 3-18 for the season and 1-5 in region play. Colby is 20-12 and 6-4. The Cougars will step out of region for its next 2 twinbills, heading to Nebraska to play McCook Friday then hosting Brown Mackie Monday.

Highlights
Balliett allowed Colby just 5 hits in the contest while striking out 6 for the win. She gave up a solo homer in 1st inning then settled in to allow only a single run in the 6th. By that time Barton had built a 4-run lead, scoring 4 times in the 4th for a 5-1 advantage.

Christine Macias started the 5th with a single but was quickly forced out at 2nd putting Balliett on 1st. The next 3 Cougar batters all reached base, capped by a 2-run double by Kortney Friess to give Barton a 4-1 lead. The double scored Ashley Newberry, who had reached on an error and Kayla Hoskins, who doubled in Balliett in the previous at bat. Friess scored on a 2-out hit by Asia Newberry to make it 5-1. Barton had tied the game back in the 3rd when Kayla Becker doubled to start the inning and later scored on a passed ball.

Colby threatened in the 6th, putting its 1st two batters on. The Trojans did get one run in the inning but left the bases loaded. Colby again loaded the bases in the top of the 7th but failed to score in that inning as Barton wrapped up its 3rd win of the year.

The most exciting portion of the doubleheader took place late in the opening contest. Colby scored in four straight innings to build a 6-1 lead heading into what was to be Barton's final at bat of the contest. But in that 7th inning, the Cougars rallied with 5 runs to tie the contest and extend it to extra innings.

The Cougars first 3 batters all reached base in the inning with singles from Chelsea Bauer and Bailee Walter. Becker followed with a walk to load the bases with no outs. Asia Newberry drove in a run with a ground to short to make it 6-2. Sister Ashley Newberry followed with a single to make it 6-3. Friess again provided a big hit in the inning ripping a single to cut the lead to two and put the tying run on base with two outs. Savannah Rutkowski evened the contest with a double to score Newberry and Friess and send the game to extra innings.

In the top of the 8th, Barton again excited the crowd when Hoskins took a 1-hopper at the wall with 2 outs, fired it to Ashley Newberry, who relayed it to Rutkowski at home just in time to tag out the Colby runner and keep the game tied into the bottom of the 8th. A pair of Barton errors in the top of the 9th to go with 5 hits opened the floodgates as Colby scored 4 times in the inning for the win.

Barton is off to McCook for action Friday and home Monday to play Brown Mackie. Both doubleheaders will start at 3 pm. The Cougars next region contest will be at Seward Wednesday.

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

Next
April 9 – at McCook 3 pm (doubleheader at McCook Nebraska)