GREAT BEND, Kan. - A convincing 11-1, five-inning win set the tone for the Dodge City Community College softball team to score four runs in the top of the seventh and overcome a two-run deficit to win 7-5 and sweep Barton County Community College at Cougar Field in Great Bend on Monday, April 10th. 

DC3 has now won seven-straight games to improve 23-11 overall and 11-7 in the Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference while the Lady Cougars fell to 22-11 overall and 7-7 in the KJCCC. 

The Conquistadors would waste no time in game one, as the first four Dodge City batters would safely reach base en route to batting around the order and scoring four runs on five hits and one BCC error. Barton would leave a pair of runners on in the bottom of the first, as DC3 would pick up right where they left off by taking advantage of another Lady Cougar error to score three runs and take a 7-0 lead. 

Two more runs would come across the board for Dodge City in the top of the third as a Baylee Rial single followed by Brittney Gonzalez single and BCC error would make the score 9-0 as the Conquistadors would take advantage of every mistake that Barton made. 

Dodge City would push across two more runs in the top of the fourth before being held to their only scoreless inning of the game in the top of the fifth as the Lady Cougars would breakup the shutout attempt by DC3 starting pitcher Kim Herron by scoring a single run in the bottom of the fifth. 

Taylor Menard along with Gonzalez would each go three-for-four in the game while Rial would collect three hits in three at-bats. All 15 of Dodge City's hits would be singles while Gonzalez, Kylie Fox, and Morgan Ihle would swipe one bag each. 

Herron Tossed her 15th complete game of the year, allowing just the one run on seven hits while striking out six and hitting one batter. 

Smooth sailing would not be the case in a crucial game-two, as a win by the Conquistadors would even the season series with Barton at two games apiece and give DC3 a four-game advantage in the win column in the KJCCC over the Cougars. 

A scorless first-inning would make way for BCC to take their first lead of the day in the bottom of the second after taking advantage of a two-out single followed by a Conquistador error. 

Adreanna Guerrero would draw a leadoff walk to start the top of the third, allowing for Sabrina Romero to sacrifice the Lubbock, Texas native to second. Rial would reach base on an error which would also allow for Guerrero to score and knot the game up at one. 

Barton County would be quick to re-take the lead in the bottom of the third, hitting a two-run, one-out home run to take a 3-1 lead before the next Lady Cougar batter would send another ball over the fence to take a 4-1 lead heading to the fourth inning. 

DC3 would score single runs in the fourth and fifth innings while holding Barton scoreless to trail to by a score of 4-3 heading to the top of the sixth where the Conquistadors would get a two-out walk stranded and down to only the seventh inning to make a comeback. 

A single run by Barton with one out would force a pitching change in the bottom of the sixth, as Dodge City would turn back to Herron to try and limit the Lady Cougars to just the one run in the inning and keep the deficit at 5-3. Herron would then get a groundout and strikeout to end the inning, and turn the ball back over to the DC3 offense with three outs to tie the game or take the lead. 

Two straight singles to lead off the inning along with a throwing error would allow both Rial and Gonzalez to score without an out being recorded in the inning as the score would suddenly be tied at five and the Conquistadors looking for more. Brooklyn Botts would come through with a two-out, two-RBI single to left field to give DC3 a 7-5 lead and flip the script on Barton heading to the bottom of the seventh. 

The Lady Cougars would not go quietly as an error and double would put the game-tying run on second with no outs before head coach Howie Smith would make a change in the outfield by shuffling around Gonzalez, Menard, and Rial. Herron would get the next BCC batter to strikeout followed by a flyout before a walk would put the game-winning run on base and Barton's two-hole hitter up to bat. Having already faced Payton Summers earlier in game one, Herron would force a flyout to Gonzalez in center field to end the game as DC3 would pick up the key win. 

Now at 16-6 on the year, Herron would pick up her second win of the day by tossing the final 1.2 innings and allowing just one hit while striking out two batters and facing a total of nine Lady Cougars. Jordyn McDaniel would take the no-decision after throwing the first 5.1 innings and allowing five runs (four earned) while issuing four free passes and striking out two. 

Despite being held without a stolen base in game two, Gonzalez would finish three-for-four at the plate as the leadoff hitter while Fox would collect two hits. Botts would have two of DC3's four RBI while Guerrero and Fox would have one each. 

Riding the recent momentum, Dodge City will be pegged with a monumental task their next time out when they take on Butler Community College College in a 2 p.m. doubleheader in El Dorado on Wednesday, April 12th. The Grizzlies have won 74-straight games dating back to last season, and are currently 36-0 while sporting a 12-0 conference record.