Cougars come up short against ranked teams at Johnson Tournament

Cougars come up short against ranked teams at Johnson Tournament
The Barton Community College softball team battled with some very good softball over the weekend in Overland Park at the Johnson County Tournament, but came home with an 0-4 mark. The Cougars lost to 2 opponents ranked in the Top 6 in the NJCAA Division II poll and another who had just 5 losses on the season. The losses dropped Barton to 2-17 overall this season. Barton is back home Wednesday when Colby pays a visit in Region VI play. Colby is 19-11 overall this season and 5-3 in Region VI play.

Highlights
Barton opened play with the No. 6 ranked team in D-II in Iowa Central. The Cougars gave up 5 runs in the 3rd inning – 4 of which came on a grand slam home run. Asia Newberry and Kayla Hoskins each had 2 hits for the Cougars, which ended the game with just 5 hits in the 5-inning contest. With the win, Iowa Central improved to 33-2 on the year.

Barton followed that contest up with a night contest against the host and No. 4 ranked DII foe Johnson County. Barton gave the Cavaliers everything they wanted – giving up a pair of unearned runs in the 2nd and a run in the 4th. Those were the only runs Johnson would scored at Barton's pitching duo of Michelle Balliett and Kelsey Normandin limited the Cavaliers to just 5 hits and 3 walks over 7 innings. Barton, however, was able to get just 4 hits of its own – 2 by Savanna Rutkowski. With the win Johnson improved to 20-6 this season.

The Cougars started Sunday morning off with North Central (Mo), which came into the game 17-5. The teams traded the lead early in the game with North Central scoring 2 in the 1st and Barton taking a 3-2 lead in the 3rd. Kortney Friess delivered the big blow in the inning, doubling to left scoring Hoskins and Ashley Newberry for the 3-2 lead. Hoskins made it 2-1 when she doubled in Asia Newberry in the previous at bat. But the Cougars wouldn't score the rest of the way. North Central tied it with a single run in the 4th, added another in the 5th and put the game away with 4 in the 6th for the 8-3 win.

Barton and Allen County would trade the lead back and forth to complete the event with Allen winning in the end by a 3-2 score. Barton took a 1-0 lead in the 1st when Rutkowski doubled in Ashley Newberry who started the game with a single. Allen evened the score in the bottom of the 1st before the Cougars went back on top 2-1 in the 3rd. Ashley Newberry scored the run again, this time off the bat of Friess, who singled her in after a double. Allen tied the game in the 4th and hit a home run in the 5th to take the 3-2 lead that would eventually be the final score.

Prior to heading to Johnson, Barton lost a Region VI twinbill to Garden City in Great Bend. The Cougars fell 13-1 and 8-3 to the Broncbusters.  Barton will try to snap its 6-game skid when Colby visits Cougars Fields Wednesday for a 3 pm doubleheader. Ashley Newberry had a big nightcap for the Cougars, going 4-for-4 in the contest and scoring a run. She is hitting a team-high .428 on the season and leads Barton with 12 runs scored.

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

Next
April 7 – v Colby 3 pm (Region VI doubleheader at Cougar Fields in Great Bend)