Tenth Ranked Barton Muscles Up On Seward

The Seward County Lady Saints were on the unfortunate end of an impressive offensive onslaught Wednesday afternoon at Lady Saints Field in Liberal, watching the visiting and 10th ranked Barton Cougars launch six home runs in the first two innings of game one in route to a 21-10 win before the Cougars held off a late Seward rally in game two to win 6-5 and not only sweep the doubleheader, but sweep the season series from the Lady Saints.

To say that game one didn’t get off on the right foot for the Lady Saints would be an understatement. On just the fourth pitch of the game, the powerful Barton lineup already found their home run swing, getting a solo shot to lead off the game and put the Cougars in front 1-0. The next three hitters reached before back to back doubles cleared the bases and made it 4-0 Barton. The Cougars weren’t done yet, then launching a two run home run to take a 6-0 lead before the Lady Saints even got a chance to hit.

Seward got off to a decent start offensively too, plating a run of their own in the bottom of the 1st on an RBI double from Kristyna Garcia, but they would only get one and trailed 6-1 after one.

The 2nd didn’t start any better than the 1st for the Lady Saints as for the second straight frame to start the game, the Cougars launched a leadoff home run, their third of the game to make it 7-1. Seward went to their bullpen, but there was little relief. Barton continued to swing scalding hot sticks, watching as 10 straight batters reached with two outs in the inning including two more ringing doubles and two more long home runs to score 12 runs and blow the game open to an 18-1 lead.

Seward went down in order in the bottom of the 2nd, but Lady Saints hurler Alexis Cuellar limited the Cougars to just one in the top of the 3rd as Barton pushed their lead to 19-1.

With the game well in hand, the Lady Saints continued to fight. Garcia drove home her second run of the game with a single and a Barton error allowed another run to come home to make it 19-3. A line drive off the wall from Venice Batts scored two more Seward runs and another double from Hannah Clark scored Batts from second to trim the Barton lead to 19-6.

Cuellar again limited Barton to just one in the top of the 4th and the Lady Saints came out swinging again in the bottom half.

Another Barton error allowed the Lady Saints to extend the inning and Seward took advantage, getting an RBI single to right from Brittany Corrales and a towering three run home run over the left field fence from Batts to make it a 20-10 game.

For the third time in five innings, the Cougars led off the 5th with a home run to make it 21-10, but again Cuellar limited the damage to that to close out the inning.

Needing four runs to keep the game going in the bottom of the 5th, the Lady Saints loaded the bases with three straight singles for the middle of their lineup, but a short pop up and then strikeout ended the threat and in turn the game as the Cougars took home the 21-10 win.

Barton pounded out 28 hits in the win while Seward finished with 13. Batts led Seward with two hits and five RBI’s in the loss while four other players also recorded multi-hit games for the Lady Saints. Kelly Kearney was hit hard and took the loss in the circle, failing to get an out in the second inning while allowing eight hits and seven runs, all earned, while serving up three home runs to fall to 11-10 on the year.

SEWARD COUNTY/#10 BARTON GAME ONE BOX SCORE<http://www.sewardsaints.com/sports/sball/2015-16/boxscores/20160406_dyaf.xml>

Surprisingly, game two was a pitcher’s duel at the start as Seward’s Jaidyn Mawhinney retired each of the first nine hitters that she face and Barton’s Holly Postgate allowed just one hit to the Lady Saints through three as the game breezed to the 4th scoreless.

Barton finally got things going in the top half of the 4th, picking up their first two hits of the game back to back to begin the inning before using a Seward error and then a sacrifice fly to plate a pair of runs to take an early 2-0 lead.

Seward got back to back hits of their own to start their half of the 4th, eventually using a Barton error to score their first run of the game and slice the Cougar lead in half at 2-1.

Both teams went down in order in the 5th and the game sailed to the 6th with Barton still in front 2-1.

Barton added three big runs on three hits and a walk in the 6th to stretch their lead to 5-1 and looked well in control of things as they pushed across another insurance run in the top of the 7th after a Seward error to make it 6-1.

After two quick Seward outs in the 7th, the game looked like it was in the books, but that’s when the Lady Saints all of a sudden started to show a little bit of life. An infield single from Taylor Kathler and a chopper up the box from Megan Olsen loaded the bases and rolled the Seward lineup over. Kennedy Brunson then decided to toss her slap hitting aside and put a charge into a ball in the gap, clearing the bases and getting to third on a three run triple to in the blink of an eye make it a 6-4 game. A bullet double to right off the bat of Corrales easily scored Brunson to make it a one run game and put Corrales in scoring position as the tying run. After working a seven pitch at bat, Garcia bounced a single through the hole on the left side and Corrales motored around third and was on her way to score the equalizer when a strike from Barton outfielder Brittany Wood in left cut down Corrales at the plate to end the inning and the game with the Cougars hanging on for a 6-5 win.

Seward actually outhit Barton 9-7 in the loss, getting three hits from Garcia and three runs driven home from Brunson. Mawhinney took the loss on the rubber for Seward, allowing seven hits and six runs, four earned to the Cougars to fall to 8-11 on the year.

SEWARD COUNTY/#10 BARTON GAME TWO BOX SCORE<http://www.sewardsaints.com/sports/sball/2015-16/boxscores/20160406_j0xr.xml>

The Lady Saints see their three game Jayhawk West win streak come to an abrupt halt as they fall to 20-26 overall and 3-11 in conference action after the sweep while the Cougars pick up wins numbers 40 and 41 on the season, improving to 41-3 while seeing their Jayhawk West mark rise to 12-2.

Seward will see a familiar face in their next outings as they take on a Garden City team in Garden that was just in Liberal Monday, a doubleheader that the Lady Saints swept. The Busters and Lady Saints will go at it at 2:00.