DODGE CITY, Kan. - A 10 day layoff due to the cancelation of four games over spring break proved to be troublesome for the Dodge City Community College softball team, dropping a 5-2 and 13-3 (5 inning) home doubleheader to Barton Community College at Legends Park in Dodge City on Saturday, March 18th.
DC3 is now 14-8 overall and 4-4 in the Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference while the Lady Cougars improved to 20-5 overall and 5-1 in th KJCCC.
Run support would be a problem for Dodge City throughout the twinbill as the Conquistadors would leave a runner on third in the bottom of the first after retiring BCCC in order in the first. A pair of doubles along with a two out single would provide the damage in the second inning for Barton, taking a 2-0 lead after two innings of play. Both teams would go down in order in the third to keep things a two-run game before the Lady Cougars would strand runners on second and third in the fourth with an opportunity to add to their lead wasted. A leadoff bunt single by
Brittney Gonzalez followed by a
Makayla Tegtmeier single would allow for
Adreanna Guerrero to sacrifice home Gonzalez and cut the Barton lead in half. DC3 would then have an opportunity to tie the game or take the lead with runners on second and third with two outs, but would see a groundout to shortstop end the inning. A scoreless fifth inning would make way for Barton to get the run back in the top of the sixth by taking advantage of a leadoff double to center field before a ground-rule double would make the score 3-1 and the Conquistadors chances becoming slimmer. Dodge City would go down in order in the bottom of the sixth before a two-run home run would give the Lady Cougars a pair of insurance runs to put the game at 5-1 heading into the bottom of the seventh where the Conquistadors would score a single run on a
Cassie Overturf RBI double.
Sophomore
Kim Herron would take the loss on the mound, throwing all seven innings and striking out six while issuing one free pass and giving up all five runs on 10 hits.
Kylie Fox would be the only Dodge City player with multiple hits in game one, finishing two for three. Guerrero and Overturf would have the only RBI's of the game for DC3.
Game two would be a defensive disaster for the Conquistadors as Barton would jump out to a quick 4-0 lead after half an inning by scoring four runs on one hit and taking advantage of four Dodge City errors. DC3's first hit of the game would come in the bottom of the second on a Herron single up the middle, but the Lady Cougars would keep Dodge City in check to keep the score at 4-0 after two innings of play. A one out error and single for the Lady Cougars would allow for a three-run home run to push the lead out to 7-0 in the third inning as DC3 would find themselves with little going for them heading into the bottom half of the frame. A leadoff walk issued to
Brooklyn Botts would allow for Botts to come around to score on a Gonzalez RBI single followed up by a two-out RBI double by
Taylor Menard to give DC3 some life heading into the fourth. The wheels would come off the wagon in the top of the fourth for Dodge City, allowing six runs on five hits and two errors while using three pitchers in the inning. A
Baylee Rial triple in the bottom half of the inning would be all that DC3 would muster before plating a single run in the fifth to see the game end via run rule.
Jordyn McDaniel would take the loss in game two, throwing three innings and giving up nine runs (three earned) while striking out one. Overturf (0.2 innings) and
Matti Tieben (1.1 innings) would see action in relief. Four of the six DC3 hits would come from the top of the order (one by Fox, two by Gonzalez, one by Menard) with Herron and Rial collecting the other hits.
A chance to rebound from the losses will come in non-conference action for the Conquistadors, who start a season-long eight-game road trip on Thursday, March 23rd with a 2 and 4 p.m. doubleheader at McCook Community College.
