Barton goes 3-2 in 1st Crossover; stands in 3rd in District C

Barton goes 3-2 in 1st Crossover; stands in 3rd in District C
The Barton County Community College softball team went 3-2 over the weekend at the Region VI, District C 1st Crossover in Wichita. The Cougars defeated Allen County, Kansas City Kansas, and Fort Scott while falling to Johnson County and Highland. Barton is now 5-2 in District C, tied for 3rd place. The Cougars are 11-18 overall this season and have now won 9 of its last 14 contests. The 2 crossover events with the East schools and the doubleheaders with the West schools in the District will position the Cougars for the post-season playoffs. The Cougars will take on District C co-leader and current Jayhawk West leader Hutchinson Wednesday in a key battle in Hutch.

Highlights
The Cougars came out hitting in the opening game of the Crossover Saturday, scoring 8 runs in their 8-2 win over Allen County. Barton took the lead in the top of the 1st as Ruby Garza doubled in Taylor Gorjiyan. Martysha Mosley singled in Kalesha Bownes and Garza to make it 3-0. Amanda Baker rounded out the scoring in the opening inning of play, singling in Mosley for a 4-0 lead. Karina Ramirez added a 2-run double in the 2nd for a 6-0 lead and Barton rounded out the scoring in the 7th with 2 more runs as Bownes and Vanessa Roy drove in Ashlee Earley and Gorjiyan. Tiffany Sallee picked up the win allowing 2 runs on 6 hits.

The Cougars didn't fare as well in the 2nd game, dropping a 4-2 decision to Highland. The Scotties took a 4-0 lead in the bottom of the 2nd as Barton committed 3 errors – allowing Highland to score 3 unearned runs. The Cougars didn't crack the scoreboard until the 7th inning when Garza and McCoy drove in Gorjiyan and Bownes.

The Cougars finished off Saturday with a big 2-1 decision over KCK in 9 innings of play. Karina Ramirez went the distance for the Cougars on the mound, allowing just 5 hits over 9 innings of work. Neither team scored the first 7 innings of play, sending the game to extra innings at 1-all. Barton took a 1-0 in the top of the 8th as the teams battled under the international tiebreaker rule where a runner is placed on 2nd to start the inning. But that runner was thrown out on a fielder choice for the 2nd out of inning, forcing the Cougars to score a runner from 1st with 2 outs. That runner, Gorjiyan, eventually ended up at 3rd on passed ball and scored when Ramirez singled her in. But KCK matched that run with a run of its own in the bottom of the 8th. The Cougars scored again in the 9th, this time in a more traditional international tiebreaker fashion. Bownes was placed on 2nd, moved to 3rd on a sacrifice by McCoy and scored on a fly out by Mosley. This time Ramirez and the Cougars would keep KCK from matching that score for the 2-1 win. They had to do with runners on 1st and 3rd and no outs put a grounder back to Ramirez, a pop-up to 2nd and a ground out sealed the win for Barton.

Barton could not string together wins as the Cougars fell 6-1 to Johnson County – a co-leader with Hutchinson in District C. Johnson County broke open a 1-all game with 3 runs in the 4th and 2 more in the 5th for the 6-1 win. Barton's only run came 3rd when Ramirez tripled in Gorjiyan.

The Cougars closed out the event Sunday with a 4-1 win over Fort Scott. Barton fell behind 1-0 in the bottom of the 2nd before taking a 2-1 lead with 2 runs in the top of the 3rd. The Cougars evened the score when Gorjiyan doubled in Earley and took the lead when Gorjiyan scored on an error. The Cougars made it 4-1 the next inning as Megan Suiter scored on a passed ball and Earley drove in Karah Yeakley. Ramirez did the rest on the mound as she improved to 6-2 with the win.

Stats
Stats can be found on the Barton website at www.bartonccc.edu/sports

Next
April 7 – at Hutchinson, 3 pm (Jayhawk West, District C contest in Hutch)