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Barton keeps pace near top of Jayhawk with sweep of Seward
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 It is possible to sweep a doubleheader from a team for the first time in 14 years and not play very well?

That seemed to be the case for the Barton softball team Wednesday afternoon at Cougar Fields. Barton swept Seward County in a twinbill for the first time since 2002. Barton won the opener by a 7-3 score and secured the nightcap with an 11-6 victory.

The sweep improves the Cougars to 26-2 overall and 3-1 in the conference. Seward is now 0-4 in the Jayhawk West and 7-17 overall.

Barton is sitting in third in the West with that mark. Colby leads the West at 4-0 while No. 11 Butler is 5-1. 

The Cougars never trailed in the opener but were never able to get a comfortable lead. Barton scored twice in the bottom of the first as Maddison Schofield walked and Cadie O’Donnell single to start the game. Both came around to score to give Barton the lead.  

Barton opened it up to 5-1 in the third as O’Donnell, Jayden Gonzales, and Brittany Wood all singled and scored in the inning. 

Seward whittled the lead to 5-3 heading into the bottom of the sixth. Barton would add two more. McKenna Mauler turned a walk into a run on Schofield’s double. Schofield would score on a Wood sacrifice fly for the 7-3 lead. The Cougars scored four of its runs on sac flies.

Madison Didion allowed eight hits and three home runs on her way to a 14-1 record with the win.

The Cougars trailed briefly in the second game before big third and fourth innings turned that around.

Wood gave Barton a 3-2 lead in the third with a double to score Schofield and O’Donnell. Those two had led off the inning with singles. Jenna Hosey singled in Wood to make it 4-2.

The Cougars opened it up to 8-2 in the bottom of the fourth. The key play was Schofield legging out a play at first to beat out a potential double play and keep the inning going. That was followed by a triple by O’Donnell, a single by Gonzales and a HR by Wood.

Seward had another rally but three more Barton runs in the sixth put the game away. Posegate picked up the win, pitching into the sixth inning and giving up just two earned runs – five runs all together. She improved to 11-1 on the year.

Barton will be at Dodge City Friday for another conferenced tilt. Dodge City is 2-2 and 10-8.