Jay Daubenberger
After winning four straight games to begin conference action in the Jayhawk, the Seward County Lady Saints hit the road towards Great Bend where they faced off with the Barton Cougars and after holding strong in game one to grab a 9-7 win, they fell in game two 12-3 in five innings to split the doubleheader before returning home.
Seward County put themselves on the board in the first inning with a single on a fly ball to right field by Samantha Gomez to drive in Noemi Tudon to put SCCC ahead 1-0 that started a barrage of scoring for the Lady Saints. Aaliyah Gutierrez doubled on a line drive to drive in a pair of runs for Seward County to grow their lead to 3-0 in the second while a two-run homer in the third from Raeana Ortiz stretched it to 5-0. Three more runs in the top of the fifth put the game into run rule territory as the Lady Saints led 8-0 before Barton rallied in the bottom of the inning to score seven straight scores thanks in part to a three-run home run which put the score at 8-7. A final score for the green and white in the top of the seventh helped put them an extra tun ahead as Gutierrez drove in Jayah Tellez on a single to center field and make it 9-7 while some great field work by the Lady Saints defense secured the win in game one.
Alyssa Morgan started the second game of the day the same as how the first started with Seward County striking first as she knocked the ball out beyond the fences to put SCCC ahead 1-0 after the first. The Cougars, however, did not back away as they scored 8 runs in the bottom of the first as they drove in run after run to take an 8-1 lead over the Lady Saints. Another Barton score in the bottom of the second made the score 9-1 over SCCC but another Lady Saints’ home run closed the gap to six as Tudon hit one out beyond left field to score two in the third. Seward County however could not make their way around the bases the rest of the game as the Cougars scored another four runs to force the run rule in the fifth and split the doubleheader on the day.
Seward County remains even on the season with a 9-9 record on the 2024 season and still remains towards the top of the KJCCC standings with a 5-1 record in the conference. They will return back home to continue their season as they face Northwest Tech Thursday at 1pm at French Family Field.