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Cougar softball set for first pitch Monday on new turf
Softball field.jpg
The Cougars field some balls on the new turf at practice recently. Barton will play its first games on the new field Monday when the Bethany JV come to town for the first doubleheader of the season. - photo by COURTESY PHOTO

Things are a bit more calm for Tyler Gunelson as he enters his second season as the softball coach at Barton.

But that wouldn’t take much. After a whirlwind few months last year that saw him go from being hired as an assistant in August to taking over as head coach a couple months later, this year has been smooth sailing.

Oh, add to that the Cougars had just two players back last season and it was definitely a start from scratch scenario.

It showed as Barton started last year by losing its first eight games. The Cougars eventually settled in and found a groove, finishing 14-14 in the Jayhawk and 18-25 overall.

This year, Gunelson is now in his second season at the helm and has a good core of returning players in place.

“We just kind of flew by the seat of our pants last year,” Coach Gunelson said. “This year we have a more solid foundation. We have a larger roster with more depth which gives us more options. I am excited about that.”

The 2019 edition of Barton softball will get started Monday when the Bethany JV comes to Cougar Fields for a doubleheader starting at 1 pm.

There a few new things this year as well.

First, there is the fact the Cougars now have a turf field to play on.

“They just did finish it up,” Coach Gunelson said of the turf. “We are just getting it broken in. It’s a little rough but it is really, really nice.”

Also new is the alignment of the Jayhawk Conference. The Cougars will be part the Jayhawk East ths season.

Hutchinson and Independence are moving up from D-II to play D-I this spring. With 10 teams now playing D-I, the conference has broken into an East and West.

Joining Barton on the East is perennial power Butler along with Pratt and the two new D-I teams in Hutch and Indy.

Barton was picked to finish second in the East preseason poll behind Butler. So the Cougars will play those four teams in home-and-home doubleheaders while playing the schools from the West – Seward, Colby, Garden, Dodge and Northwest Tech in a single doubleheader.

Back for Barton is its workhorse on the mound and four of its top hitters from last season.

Emma Horsch, a sophomore from Sterling High School, is back on the mound. Horsch threw more than half of the Cougars’ innings last season. She finished with a 9-12 record and a team-best 5.86 ERA.

“It’s good to have your innings leader from the previous year back,” Coach Gunelson said. “We have some girls to surround her with this year so we don’t have to leave her out there as long.

“Emma can do more than pitch, so if she runs into some trouble, we can move her elsewhere and bring in another quality pitcher.”

Among those quality pitchers the Cougars are looking to help this year is Karsyn Smith, a left-handed freshman from West Plains, Mo.

Also looking to get a of innings is sophomore Tia Kohl. Kohl, a Maize South graduate, played last season for Indian Hills.

“We should have a good rotation with that trio,” Coach Gunelson said. “They each bring their own unique style to the circle.”

Hitting-wise, the Cougars have three players back that were among their leaders and a fourth that caught fire as the year went along.

Leading the way is Hailey Pop and Alexis Sharples. The tandem finished second and third on the team in hits with 53 and 51 last season.

Pop hit .387 with six homers and 34 RBI and tied for the team lead with 43 runs scored. Sharples also scored 43 runs while hitting .362.

Horsch was a weapon at the plate as well as on the mound. She hit .291 with five home runs and 28 RBI.

Nasadiya Salazar came on strong late for the Cougars after a slow start. The outfielder from Kansas City finished with a .277 average with 14 RBI.

From there, Coach Gunelson is excited about the new faces joining those returing.

“We have a good group coming back and I think a solid group of freshmen to mix in,” Coach Gunelson said. “I’m excited about that.

“I’m not sure how we will lineup the first few games. I told the girls the other day I didn’t know yet who was starting where.

“I do know we have the depth to mix and match some lineups and that is exciting to me. To have the capability to change things up is really good for us.”

After opening the season at home Monday, Barton will be on the road for nearly the rest of the month. The Cougars will play in a tournament in Texas as well as take a trip to Arkansas and into Oklahoma before getting back home the final day of February for its second home doubleheader.

Jayhawk play begins in March.

“I really feel like we are moving in the right direction,” Coach Gunelson said. “This is a group I want to go compete every time out as a quality unit.

“We have a group that has more solidity in positions and more depth in positions that last year. We just need to continue to move forward and hopefully we can finish better than we did last year.”