(Great Bend, KS) -- Dodge City Community College was able to have a good offensive performance leading to a split against Barton Community College on Sunday. In the first game, they had a tough loss after holding leads going into the bottom of the seventh and bottom of the eighth leading to the 11-10 loss. In game two the Conqs would not allow that to happen as they got a fantastic pitching performance and the offense exploded in the 17-3 victory.
The first game started with Barton getting out to the early edge after scoring three runs in each of the first two innings. Dodge City, meanwhile, was able to score just one on a solo home run from
Gianna Browdy, her 2
ndof the year. From there it was an uphill climb with the Conqs already down 6-1. They would be up for the challenge, however, as the Conqs would get right back into the game in the 3
rdinning via a
Jessica Espinoza double, and
Lexy Perez knocking in two runs on her 4
thround-tripper of the season. Both teams would then go quiet for the 4
thand 5
thinnings before Dodge City would take their first lead of the game in the 6
th, scoring 4 runs to take the 8-6. In that inning, an
Ericka Calderon single would score two, and two unearned runs were scored by Calderon and Espinoza. Unfortunately, Barton would start the habit of answering in the bottom half, scoring two runs to tie the game at 8. In the top half of the 7
thCalderon would get another RBI, giving the Conqs the 9-8 lead. Barton would answer with a double to push the game into an 8
thinning. The Conquistadors would again take the lead on a 2
ndhome run by
Lexy Perez (her fifth on the season). That lead would once again be short-lived as Barton would have a two-RBI walk-off base hit to end it in the bottom half of the inning.
Dodge City would not be deterred or deflated, however, as they came up big in the second game. The first two innings made it seem like it would be a similarly contested game to the first. This would not be the case as Barton would score 3 runs in the first two innings and then be shut down by Espinoza for the remainder of the contest. For the Conqs bats, it would be quite the opposite as they were hitting everything that the Barton pitchers would throw at them. It started in the 2
ndinning with
Samantha Montano walking with the bases loaded. This would set up, you guessed it,
Lexy Perez for her third homer of the day, this time clearing the bases to give the Conqs a 5-1 lead. The Conq bats would not slow down. In the very next inning,
Caley Best would knock in two runs on a double. In the fourth,
Courtney Huff would join the party with a three-run home run, taking a 10-3 lead. The run parade would continue in the 6
thfor the Conquistadors as they would score 7 in the frame. Huff started it with a single knocking in a run, she would be followed by
Alex Pacheco doing the same. Two batters later, Calderon would make it a third RBI single in the inning. That led to
Jessica Espinoza, she wanted nothing to do with a single and joined the homer party for the Conqs hitting their second grand slam of the day and her first Collegiate home run to add to her spectacular pitching performance going all 6 innings and giving up just 1 Earned Run to lead Dodge City to the 17-3 victory.
Lexy Perez had a monster day for the Conquistadors, hitting three home runs, knocking in 7 RBI's, and scoring 5 runs on her 3 hits.
Courtney Huff had a 4-7 day with 4 RBI's and 4 runs scored.
Ericka Calderon also had a big day, going 4-8, with 4 runs batted in. Last, but certainly not least, was
Jessica Espinoza. She not only hit well but had a day in the circle on top of it. She pitched a total of 7.1 innings, giving up just 3 earned runs on the day. She helped her own cause plenty by having 3 hits and knocking in 5 runs.
MEDIA: For more information, please contact Sports Information Director
Josh Van Valkenburg-Gernert at 620-227-9414.
Photo ID: A group shot of several members of the team is attached.
