Cougars end season with losses in Region VI tournament

Cougars end season with losses in Region VI tournament
The Barton County Community College softball team went 1-2 at the Region VI double elimination tournament this past weekend in Liberal, ending its season with a 30-36 record. The Cougars lost the 1st game of the tournament in a heart-breaking fashion before staying alive with a win in the loser's bracket. Barton 2nd chance was short-lived, however, as the Cougars lost the final game of the day Saturday to be eliminated from competition.

Highlights
The Cougars dropped a heartbreaker in the opener to Garden City 2-1, losing in the final at bat of the game. Barton had rallied from a 1-0 deficit in the 5th with a Natosha Stewart single that scored Teal Meyer, who was running for catcher Amanda Baker. But the Cougars left 2 runners stranded in the inning, missing a chance to take the lead. That hurt the Cougars as Garden City hit a 1-out homer in the bottom of the 7th for the win. It was the only earned run given up by Rosamar Gonzalez, who struck out 10 and allowed just 4 hits and 2 walks in the loss. Stewart was 3-for-4 in the loss with the RBI.

In the 2nd game, Gonzalez again pitched a good game, earning the 4-3 win over Colby. Barton jumped to a 4-3 lead in the contest with single runs in the 2nd and 3rd innings and two more in the 4th. Vanessa Roy drove in the 1st run with a single that scored Yanir Mendoza. The Cougars pushed the lead to 2-0 in the 3rd as Kelly Delgado singled in Stewart. Barton scored two more runs they would need later as they built a 4-0 lead. Baker and Stewart drove in the runs in the 4th to take the 4-0 lead. Colby rallied with a 3-run 5th inning in which the Trojans collected 4 of their 5 hits during the game but Barton held them off.

The Cougars saw their season come to a close during the final game of the day Saturday thanks in large part to a 5-run 4th inning by Cloud County as the Thunderbirds defeated Barton, 7-2. Barton led 1-0 after Baker reached on an error and eventually scored on a ground out in the 3rd inning. But in the bottom of the 4th, the ceiling fell in for Barton as Cloud collected 4 hits and with the aid of 2 Barton errors put up 5 runs for a 5-1 lead. Barton cut it to 5-2 in the 6th when Delgado scored but two more Cloud runs in the bottom of the 6th made the task in the 7th a tall one for Barton. One they couldn't overcome as the Cougars lost the contest and saw their season end.

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

Next
Season complete with 30-36 record.