Big innings power Cougar Softball to sweep of Cowley

The Barton Community College softball team displayed its explosiveness Sunday afternoon chalking up two fifth inning victories over Division II nationally receiving votes Cowley College.   Barton lit up the Cougar Field scoreboard scoring seventeen runs in two innings coming from behind to win the opener 20-11 then put up a second inning six spot going on for an 11-1 victory to secure the sweep.   Winners of fourteen straight, Barton improves to 16-1 while dropping Cowley to 3-12 on the season.   The Cougars will have a twin bill at Sterling College on Tuesday before hosting No. 6 Butler Community College on Thursday.

Barton would bat .516 on the day pounding out thirty-two hits including eleven for extra bases with four of those sailing out of the park against a stiff north wind.  Sophomores Jenna Hosey and Lili Ertmann led the way combining for 8-of-14 with Maddison Schofield driving in a team high six runs from the leadoff position.

The first two Cowley batters reached base to begin the contest as Holly Posegate struggled early in the circle with a hit batsman and a walk.  The runners would later score on Jolona Shield and Kylie Dillon singles with a double steal resulting in a 3-0 lead.  The Tigers would increase the lead out to four the next inning as a one-out walk and single led the way to another run crossing on an infield groundout.

Hosey got things rolling in the home half leading off with her fifth double of the season scoring on Payton Summers reaching on the second of seven Tiger errors in the game.  An Ertmann walk followed by Schofield's single loaded the bases with two coming home on Cadie O'Donnell's drive up the middle drawing Barton to within one.

Barton would send thirteen Cougars to the plate in the home half of the third to seize the momentum.  Brittany Wood and Hosey singles opened the inning followed by a three-run blast to left center into the teeth of the gusting win from Summers for her fourth of the season.  One pitch later Posegate followed with her third of the season and suddenly Barton had a two run lead.  An Ertmann triple would push across another scoring one batter later on Schofield's ground out.  Barton would register three more singles while being aided by two more Tiger errors sending nine runs across the plate to lead 12-4.

A leadoff single scoring on a ground out with an additional single and walk to follow set the stage for Dillon's triple down the line drawing Cowley to within five.

For the second straight inning the Cougars would send thirteen to the plate, this time scoring eight.  A leadoff single by McKenna Mauler would open the inning and one out later Schofield would send a liner to right field for her fourth home run of the season and her third hit of the game.  Jayden Gonzales would later double for the second time of the game coming home on Wood's single up the middle.  A Posegate double and singles by Mauler and Ertmann would complete the inning as Barton would explode the lead out to 20-7 headed for the fifth.

The Tigers wouldn't go down without a fight getting a leadoff walk and single.  Following a ground out scoring one, Alex Holzman kept the inning alive with a two-out two RBI double and one batter later, Shield would chase Posegate from the game with a single to right field.   Enter "Sandman" as Madison Didion came into the game thwarting the threat inducing a harmless grounder to shortstop to end the game.

Hosey and Schofield each finished with three hits while Schofield joined Summers producing three runs batted in each as all but one starter had two or more hits.  Surviving in the circle, Posegate picked up the win staying unblemished in the loss column improving to 8-0 on the season.

With Didion in the game two circle mowing down five of the seven batters she faced through the first two innings, the Cougars got cranking in the home half batting around the order for the third time on the day as eleven batters would produce six runs.  Summers led off the inning with a double and two singles by Mauler and Ertmann packed the bases for Schofield's three-run triple scoring one out later on Gonzales's single  up the middle.  Coming into the day on the nation's fifth spot in homeruns and RBIs, Wood added to the total with a centerfield round tripper completing the six run inning.

Morgan Kirk singled to lead off the third, stole second, and came across the plate on a fielder's choice for the Tigers' lone run.

Barton added two more in the home half getting a walk from Ertmann and singles by Schofield and Gonzales before putting the game away in the fourth with three more.    A leadoff single by Hosey and Summers walk before Posegate's loud single off the fence pushed across the first.  Mauler finished the scoring off completing her four RBI of the day with a right field single plating two.

Didion went the distance improving to 8-1 on the season scattering five hits while pushing her consecutive innings streak of not surrendering a base on balls to twenty-nine innings over her last six games.  Adding eight more strikeouts to the stat sheet, Didion ranks in the nation's top ten striking out seventy in forty-eight innings of work.

All starters collected at least one hit in the nightcap with Schofield, Gonzales, Hosey, and Mauler collecting two each with Schofield leading with three RBIs from the leadoff position.