2014-15 Barton Softball News
Erica Harper of the Barton Community College softball team was recently named to the National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) third team recognizing Division I players of the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA). The Emporia State University signee was also recognized by the NFCA as one of four outfielders to garner first-team honors in the West Region team. The accolades follow a record breaking season by Harper earning the Most Valuable Player and first team awards in both Region VI and the Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference (KJCCC).
Four Barton Community College softball players were recently named to the KJCCC Division I All-Conference Team. Sophomore Erica Harper led the selections earning the Most Valuable Player award with fellow sophomore Bailey Hensley and freshman Kylie Everill joining Harper on the first team while sophomore Briana Ward landed on the second team. The awards follow second-year Head Coach Marc Benjamin and the Lady Cougars’ Region VI Championship season falling just shy of a trip to nationals in the District E Championship finishing the 2014-15 campaign at 36-20.
Trying to match the 1993 team’s accomplishments of capturing the last Region VI title and berth to nationals, the 2015 version of the Barton Community College softball team had its stellar season come short one step away from nationals falling in two games to Western Nebraska Community College Thursday in Scottsbluff, Nebraska, for the District E Championship. Two fifth inning runs proved to be the difference in the Region VI Champions falling 6-4 in the opening best of three series game while five unanswered runs by the Region IX Champions in the final three innings put the Cougars away 7-4 in the nightcap. Winning fifteen more games than the 2014 squad, Barton finishes the season at 36-20 while WNCC improves to 56-12 and 24-0 at home in advancing to the NJCAA Division I National Tournament next week in St. George, Utah.
A day prior the Barton Community College softball team had the spark of an underdog knocking off two higher seeds in the first day of the Region VI Tournament. On Sunday the Lady Cougars took El Dorado's East Park with a champion?s confidence shutting out and defeating Garden City Community College 6-0 to earn the school?s first Region VI Division I Championship since 1993. The victory improves Barton to 36-18 while ending Garden City?s season for the second straight year as the Broncbusters finish the 2015 campaign at 34-27. Next on the mission for a berth to nationals will be a trip to Scottsbluff, Nebraska, for a three game series against the 53-12 Western Nebraska Community College Cougars. The teams will play a doubleheader on Wednesday and if needed, a rubber match game on Thursday. First pitch times to be announced.
The Barton Community College pulled off a couple of upsets Saturday at El Dorado's East Park earning their way into Sunday's Region VI Division I Championship game. The Lady Cougars, seeded fifth in the region, knocked off top seeded and host Butler Community College 5-4 before taking care of Garden City Community College 3-1 in the winner's bracket final. Improving to 34-18 on the season, the Lady Cougars will await the winner of Sunday's noon contest between Garden City and Butler for the 2:00 p.m. championship game. In the double elimination format, Barton is in the driver's seat in being one victory away from its first Region VI Championship since 1993. Complete video and live stat coverage of the Lady Cougars championship run can be found at www.BartonSports.com.
Kylie Everill added her name alongside three other members of the Barton Community College softball team earning conference recognition recently being named the Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference (KJCCC) Division I Co-Softball Player of the Week. Hitting two home runs and driving in four runs last week, Everill helped lead the Lady Cougars to a doubleheader split versus Pratt Community College. Batting .600 (3-of-5) in the twin bill held at the Great Bend Softball Complex, Everill had a 1.800 slugging percentage and .667 on-base percentage as the Utah redshirt freshman hit her twelfth and Region VI fourth best thirteenth homerun of the season.
In perhaps its biggest team-wide effort of the season, the Barton Community College softball team rallied from a five run deficit Thursday at Cougar Field to defeat Dodge City Community College 11-5. Winning the best of three first round series improves Barton to 33-18 on the season while more importantly advances the Lady Cougars to the final four of Region VI Division I softball tournament play for the third straight season while ending Dodge City’s season at 23-22. Barton will next head to El Dorado, Kansas, where the Lady Cougars will take on top seed and Western Division champion Butler Community College as the 33-13 Grizzlies play tournament host. First pitch scheduled for 2:00 p.m. as the Lady Cougars and Grizzlies will follow the 12:00 p.m. between Seward County Community College and Garden City Community College.
It seemed only fitting after splitting the regular season series, the Barton Community College and Dodge City Community College softball teams wouldn’t leave Cougar Field with anything decided as the teams split Wednesday’s postseason doubleheader. In a best of three series to advance to the final four of Region VI, Dodge City held off Barton in the opener 7-6 while the Cougars had to hold off the Conquistadors in the nightcap winning 9-8. Barton, 32-18 on the season, and the 23-21 Conquistadors will return Thursday to Cougar Field for the deciding 2:00 p.m. contest with the winner advancing to Saturday’s 2:00 p.m. game against host and Jayhawk West Champion Butler Community College.
Needing a sweep to work into a third place tie in the final Jayhawk West standings, the Barton Community College softball team left the Great Bend Sports Complex Wednesday evening with the taste of a disappointing doubleheader split against Pratt Community College. The Cougars scored nine second inning runs in winning a five-inning 9-1 opener but dug a ten run hole in the nightcap eventually falling 12-3 in six innings. The split leaves Barton in fourth place in the final standings at 12-12 and 31-17 while Pratt finishes the conference regular season in ninth place at 6-18 and 9-35.
Following a disappointing 4-2 loss in Wednesday’s first game at Cougar Field, the Barton Community College softball team took out some frustration with a 9-0 shutout in six innings to earn the split with Garden City Community College. The battle for third place left both teams where they began on the day with the Lady Cougars moving to 11-11 in conference play and 30-16 overall while Garden City left town at 11-11 and 25-24 on the season. In reaching the thirty win mark, the 2015 version of the Lady Cougars are the first to reach the mark since the 2005 squad went 30-36 and have secured the best season since the 40-19 2002 squad. Wednesday’s action was the first of eight games Barton will play in the upcoming four days as the Lady Cougars have road doubleheaders at Tabor College junior varsity on Thursday and Kansas State University Club Team in Manhattan on Saturday before returning home for a doubleheader on Sunday against the junior varsity of Kansas Wesleyan University.
Barton Community College softball team stepped out of conference play Saturday evening taking care of the junior varsity squad from Sterling College 13-2 in a game shortened five innings. Scheduled for a pair of games, inclement weather forced the cancellation of game two as the Lady Cougars led 2-0 in the top of the second. The trip to Sterling concluded a three win two loss four-day road stretch for Barton improving to 29-15 on the season heading into Wednesday’s conference battle for third place with Garden City Community College. The Lady Cougars, 10-10 in the Jayhawk West, host the Broncbusters sitting at 9-9 and 23-22 on the season in a 3:00 p.m. first pitch doubleheader at Cougar Field.
Two days after a sweep in Dodge City, the Barton Community College softball team dropped a pair of Jayhawk West contests Friday afternoon in El Dorado falling 7-3 and a 3-2 tenth inning pitcher’s duel to Butler Community College. The losses keep the Lady Cougars in third place at 10-10 and 28-15 overall setting up a pivotal conference doubleheader Wednesday hosting fellow third place Garden City Community College while Butler jumps into first place at 12-4 and 25-13 on the season. Barton will wrap up their four-day six day stretch Saturday with a 6:00 p.m. non-conference doubleheader at the Sterling College junior varsity.
The outstanding season for Erica Harper of the Barton Community College softball team continues week after week as the Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference (KJCCC) again recently named her the Division I Softball Player of the Week for Week 9. The award marks the third straight week and fourth time this season the sophomore from Topeka, Kansas, has received the honor. Hitting two grand slams in a three home run week, Harper drove in fourteen runs batting 12-for-20 (.600) with a 1.150 slugging percentage and .667 on-base percentage. The 5’5” right fielder lifted Barton to a pair of road victories to begin the week batting .778 (7-of-9) before sparking the Lady Cougars’ mid-week sweep at Colby Community College with two grand slams driving in nine runs batting .500 in the series. Winding up the week with a series split with first-place Seward County Community College, Harper continued to be a baserunner for her team with a .571 on-base percentage while hitting her then NJCAA leading 16th home run and second best 67th RBI.
The Barton Community College softball team completed its second conference sweep in the last three conference series taking care of Dodge City Community College Wednesday in Dodge City. Avenging a disappointing sweep on the Cougars’ field nearly a month ago, Barton turned the tide on the Conquistador’s home turf with five home runs in a come from behind 11-6 game one victory followed by a 9-1 five inning run rule in the nightcap. The sweep improves the third place Lady Cougars to 10-8 in the Jayhawk West and 28-13 overall while dropping Dodge City to the fifth slot at 7-9 and 20-14. Barton will continue their four-day six day stretch with a trip to El Dorado on Friday taking on Butler Community College who sit atop the standings at 10-4 and 23-13. The teams split their two-game series two weeks ago at Cougar Field as Barton snapped a twenty game losing streak to Butler with a 11-3 five inning run rule in game one with Butler getting revenge in the nightcap with a five inning 12-4 victory.
For the second straight week and third time this season, Erica Harper of the Barton Community College softball team was named earlier this week the Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference (KJCCC) Division I Softball Player of the Week. Harper hit five home runs and drove in sixteen runs batting .621 last week (18-of-29) with a 1.241 slugging percentage and .645 on-base percentage. The 5’5” sophomore right fielder had multi-hit games in all but one of the eight played, including three or more hits in three of games. Leading Region VI and the NJCAA in home runs, the Topeka, Kansas, native not only drove in eight runs in a 5-for-9 effort against Pratt Community College, but followed it up with a 4-for-6 two RBI series versus Butler Community College helping the Lady Cougars snap a twenty-game losing streak to the Grizzlies. Over the weekend the Topeka Seaman High School graduate added two more homeruns and six runs batted in bringing her leading homerun total to thirteen and a nation’s sixth best fifty-three RBI.
Friday’s action at Cougar Field was going to snap either the Barton Community College softball team’s five game win streak or Seward County Community College’s ten game winning streak. Both events happened in six inning run-rule fashion as the Cougars took the first 12-4 while the Lady Saints shut out Barton for only the second time this season taking the nightcap 8-0. The split leaves Barton in third place in the Jayhawk West at 8-8 and 26-13 overall while Seward County remains atop the standings at 11-3 and 28-14. The Lady Cougars will take a few days off for the Easter break before embarking on a six-game road stretch beginning next Wednesday with a 2:00 p.m. conference doubleheader at Dodge City Community College.
