Barton goes 1-2 at Region VI tournament; finishes season 11-31

Barton goes 1-2 at Region VI tournament; finishes season 11-31
The Barton Community College softball team finished up its 2010 season with a 1-2 mark at the Region VI Tournament held at Wilkins Stadium in Wichita this past weekend. Barton won its opener against Colby by a 4-1 score then lost to Seward and Butler – the top two seeds – in the next two contests to finish the season with an 11-31 record. The Cougars played the 1st two games Friday then finished up Saturday on the campus of Wichita State University. Seward eventually won the tournament and move to the NJCAA National Tournament later this month in St. George, Utah. Seward is now 47-12 for the year.

Highlights
Barton fell behind the 1st inning of its opener with Colby by a 1-0 count but took the lead for the 1st time in the3rd and never trailed again. Barton scored twice in the top of the 3rd as sophomore Kortney Friess came through with a  2-run single with the bases loaded to score Chelsea Bauer and Ashley Newberry – who both singled to start the frame. The Cougars pushed the lead to 4-1 in the top of the 7th with a couple of insurance runs. Ashley and Asia Newberry started the inning with singles and both later scored. Ashley scored on a Colby error and Asia scored on a Kayla Becker single with two outs for the 4-1 lead.

From there Karen Harris closed things out in the 7th to earn the win with the complete game on the mound. Harris scattered 9 hits and walked four but Colby stranded 12 runners in the contest. Ashley Newberry was the lone Cougars with 2 hits but 7 different Cougars collected a hit in the win.

The win propelled the 5th seeded Cougars into a match-up with the region's top seed in Seward. The Cougars stayed with Seward for most of the contest but 4 runs over the 5th and 6th innings allowed Seward to break away for a 6-0 win. The Saints took a 2-0 with a 2-run homer in the 2nd and that is where the game stayed until the bottom of the 5th as Harris limited Seward to just 5 hits in the loss. Four Barton errors didn't help the cause resulting in a pair of unearned runs for the Saints.

The biggest obstacle, though, was the pitching of Seward's Sydney Cicchetti who took a no-hitter into the 7th and final inning. Barton collected a pair of hits in that final inning to break up the no-hitter but failed to dent the scoreboard.

The season ended Saturday as Butler won 8-1 over the Cougars in the loser bracket contest. Butler scored in every inning but 1 on its way to the win. The lone run for Barton came in the 3rd as Barton cut the lead to 3-1 following a sacrifice fly by Friess that drove in Ashley Newberry. Barton collected just 5 hits in the loss with Asia Newberry leading the way with 2.

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

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Season complete with 11-31 record