Cougars battle back through loser’s bracket; fall in Region VI title contest
The Barton County Community College softball team dropped its opening game of the Region VI Championships this past weekend then battled all the way to the championship before falling to Butler in Wichita. The Cougars lost their opener Friday to Colby but won 3 games Saturday before finally losing in their 4th game of the day in the championship contest. Barton entered the 7-team tournament as the No. 5 seed. The Cougars finish their season with a 26-36 overall record.

Highlights
The tournament didn’t get off to a very good start for the Cougars, losing the opening game to Colby in extra innings. Barton led throughout the contest, taking a 2-0 lead in the 2nd that improved to 3-0 in the 4th. Colby scored twice in the 5th then tied the game in the bottom of the 7th before scoring the winning run in the bottom of the 9th. Jennifer Jackson went the distance, allowing the 4 run – 3 earned – on 8 hits. Brooke Pearce was the only Cougar with 2 hits in the game while Alicia Salazar and Pearce each had an RBI.

Saturday, though, was a different story for the comeback Cougars. After getting the bye in the 1st round of the loser’s bracket Friday night, Barton opened play with Seward – the Championships’ No. 2 seed. Barton had lost to the Saints on all 4 occasions this season, 2 by the run rule. But the Cougars started the day on fire, scoring 5 times in the bottom of the 1st inning and never looked back. Brittany Allen set the tone by leading off the inning with home run. Whitney Boeh added a grand slam later in the inning for the 5-0 lead. Barton pushed it to 8-2 with a 3-spot in the 3rd as Boeh belted her 2nd homer – this time a 3-run blast. A Myra Ramos 2-run homer in the 4th made it 10-3 and from there Boeh handled things on the mound, shutting out Seward the final 3 innings and ending the Saints tournament early than expected.

The Cougars kept that momentum going in the next outing, taking a 6-0 lead in the top of the 2nd inning against Neosho. Instead of the big home runs hit against Seward, this time Barton had 5 different players drive in runs in the 6-run inning. Erin Humphrey drove in 2 with a single while Deanna Young, Cheryl Raesz, Pearce, and Ramos each drove in 1. The Panthers tried to keep pace with 4 of their own in the bottom of the 2nd but the Cougars would not stop scoring runs. Barton scored 3 in the 3rd, 2 more in the 4th, and 8 in the 5th to win the game 19-8 in 5 innings. Ramos had a 3-run homer in that 8-run 5th and ended the game with 4 RBI. Humphrey and Pearce each drove in 3. Roxanne Longoria and Pearce both scored 3 times while Humphrey, Longoria, and Pearce all had 3 hits as Neosho was eliminated.

That left just 3 teams remaining as Barton and Garden played for the right to move into the title contest against Butler. The Cougars rode the strong pitching effort of Christine Cervera to a 7-0 win as the sophomore allowed just 5 hits and walked just 2 batters in 7 innings of work. Barton took a 2-0 lead on the Broncbusters – another team that had swept the Cougars this year – in the bottom of the 1st as the theme of jumping to an early lead continued for the red hot Cougars. Allen and Raesz homered in the contest with Raesz and Boeh each driving in 2 runs. Ramos had 3 hits for Barton and 7 different Cougars scored a run.

The Cougars ran out of steam as their day reached game 4. Butler – who is now 48-6 on the season – jumped to a 3-0 lead after the 1st and pushed it to 7-1 after the 2nd. The Grizzlies put the game away with 10 in the 4th as Barton could muster just 3 hits. On of those hits was Boeh’s 3rd homer of the weekend – a solo shot in the 2nd.

Results
1st Round
(1) Butler received a bye
(4) Colby 4 (5) Barton 3 (9)
(3) Garden 9 (6) Neosho 4
(2) Seward 19 (7) Cloud 0 (5)

Winner’s Bracket Semifinals
(1) Butler 12 (4) Colby 0
(3) Garden 6 (2) Seward 5

Loser’s Bracket 1st Round
(5) Barton received a bye
(6) Neosho 12 (7) Cloud 2 (5) – Cloud eliminated

Loser’s Bracket 2nd Round
(5) Barton 10 (2) Seward 3 – Seward eliminated
(6)Neosho 10 (7) Colby 7 – Colby eliminated

Winner’s Bracket Championship
(1) Butler 9 (3) Garden 5

Loser’s Bracket Semifinals
(5) Barton 19 (6) Neosho 8 (5) – Neosho eliminated

Loser’s Bracket Finals
(5) Barton 7 (3) Garden 0 – Garden eliminated

Region VI Championship
(1) Butler 18 (5) Barton 3 (5) – Barton eliminated

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

Next
Season complete

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Check out Barton Softball Online at www.bartonccc.edu/sports