Jay Daubenberger
Liberal, Kansas – Seward County reached their twentieth win of the 2024 season on Wednesday in a rematch against the Barton Cougars where the Lady Saints fell behind early in game one but charged back in front to overtake Barton in game one and then run rule the Cougars in game two to complete the sweep and win the season series 3-1.
Barton took an early 2-0 lead over SCCC in the first inning which Anberlin O’Dell helped split in half with a double on a fly ball to center that drove in a Lady Saints run to make it 2-1 before the Cougars rallied and pushed ahead by six at 7-1 in the third. A double play in the bottom of the inning made things look bleak for Seward County until O’Dell and Raeana Ortiz combined for a pair of home runs that trimmed the gap down to three at 7-4. Aaliyah Gutierrez slugged out a triple to drive in Alyna Frazier while a double by Noemi Tudon helped Gutierrez score a run of her own and close the Barton lead down to one at 7-6 entering the fifth where Brooklyn Castagnetta tied the score with an RBI single on a line drive. With two on base, Frazier stepped back to the plate and hammered out a three-run homer beyond the fences to give the Lady Saints a three-run lead and they never trailed again. Another run for each team in the sixth made it 11-8 where the score would stay as Seward County grabbed a win in game one over the Cougars.
The Lady Saints kept gaining momentum inning by inning in game two as Ortiz popped out a double on a fly ball to give Seward County three runs in the first to pull in front first while another double in the second from O’Dell grew their lead out to 6-1 in favor for SCCC. A multitude of swings in the third put the score into run rule territory as an RBI single from Alyssa Morgan made it 10-1. Hailey Michalik stepped up in a big way when appearing at the plate with a strong hit that launched the ball past the fences for another three-run homer to put it out of reach for the Cougars as the Lady Saints ended game two with a 13-3 win in just five innings.
Seward County now improves to 20-14 overall on the 2024 season while moving up in KJCCC play with a 14-6 record now including a sweep over Barton. SCCC will look to complete a perfect week on Saturday when they take on the Mavericks of NW Kansas Tech in a doubleheader in Goodland with game one starting at 2:00 PM CDT.
