Coming off a pair of wins over nationally ranked teams it was no surprise the Barton softball team was a little sluggish.
But just a bit. The Cougars traveled to Oklahoma for a pair of doubleheaders against junior varsity teams from Bacone College and the Oklahoma Wesleyan. Barton swept all four contest in fairly easy fashion.
“We were a little sluggish to start,” Barton assistant coach Anna Voss said. “Thankfully, we still pushed through and got wins.”
Barton defeated the Bacone JV, 7-0 and 12-2 on Wednesday in Muskogee then swept the Oklahoma Wesleyan JV, 12-3 and 10-0, Thursday in Bartlesville.
The Cougars are now 10-1 on the season.
Barton didn’t put Bacone away in the first game until a 3-run seventh inning. In fact, Barton led just 1-0 heading into the fourth inning. Barton scored single runs in the fifth and sixth before the crooked number in the seventh.
The Cougars had 15 hits in the wins, including a pair of doubles from Brittany Wood. Holly Posegate and McKenna Mauler each had doubles in the win as well. Payton Summers and Jayden Gonzales both had three hits.
Freshman Madison Didion, 4-0, shutout Bacone in the opener on just five hits with seven strikeouts and no walks.
Barton had a bit easier time of it in the second game, scoring eight times in the second inning to take control of the contest. The big blow in the inning was a grand slam home run by Gonzales.
Wood added a 2-run shot later in the game, her sixth of the young season. Wood had two hits in the win and scored three times.
Posegate earned the win to improve to 4-0, allowing two hits and striking out five in four innings of work. Bacone broke up a 12-0 shutout with two runs in the bottom of the fifth inning.
The Cougars followed a similar pattern Thursday. Barton led the entire first game but it was only 5-3 heading into the fifth inning. Barton scored seven times in the next two innings to end the game early, 12-3.
Back-to-back doubles by Mauler and Maddison Schofield keyed a 4-run fifth. Schofield blasted a 2-run homer in the sixth.
Schofield, a freshman from Australia, went 4-for-4 at the plate, drove in four and scored three times. Lili Ertmann added three hits and Mauler scored three times for the Cougars.
Posegate went the distance to improve to 5-0, giving up three runs – one earned – on three hits. She struck out six.
Barton had an easier time the fourth and final game of the trip, jumping to a 3-0 lead in the first and scoring in each of the first four innings for the 10-0 in five.
Gonzales and Wood were at it again, homering in back-to-back at bats and each finished in three RBI. Wood also tripled for the Cougars.
Didion was sharp again on the mound, allowed just two hits in her four innings of work to improve to 5-0. She struck out eight and now has 47 strike outs for the season.
The Cougars are back on the road Tuesday for a doubleheader at the Bethany JV. Then things pick up with home doubleheaders Thursday with Brown Mackie and Sunday with Cowley College.