Seward & Barton Split Wednesday Twinbill

After tossing back to back shutouts against rival Garden City on Monday, the Seward County Lady Saints pitching and defense knew they would have a tougher task on their hand Wednesday when they took on one of the top hitting teams in the NJCAA in Jayhawk West foe Barton.  Seward grabbed an early lead against the Lady Cougars in game one of their doubleheader, but the Lady Saints bats went dead after that and Barton scored single runs in three different innings to knock off the Lady Saints 3-1.  In game two Seward was more consistent.  The Lady Saints scored in five of their six offensive innings and got a solid effort from Jaclyn Wagner on the mound to come away with an 8-3 win to split the doubleheader. 

Seward got off to a good start in game one of the doubleheader, taking an early 1-0 lead after a Barton error and a two out single from Danielle Orr in the 1^st. 

It remained a 1-0 game into the 4^th when Barton finally got their big bats going and a leadoff double followed by a one out double tied the game at 1. 

After the quick start, the Seward bats went dead.  The Lady Saints went down in order in the bottom of the 4^th and Barton took advantage, manufacturing a run in the top half of the 5^th to take a 2-1 lead. 

The Lady Saints looked like they were in business to take the lead back in the bottom of the inning as the first two hitters of the inning reached base to put two on with nobody out for the meat of the Seward order, but the Lady Saints big bats couldn't come through and Seward stranded both runners to remain behind 2-1. 

Three pop outs was the result of the Lady Saints half of the 6^th and Barton added an insurance  run on a solo home run from Erica Harper to make it a 3-1 game. 

Barton tried to give the Lady Saints the game in the bottom half of the 7^th inning, committing a pair of errors and walking a batter to load the bases for Seward without the benefit of a hit.  But once again, the heart of the Seward order couldn't come through and the Lady Saints left the bases loaded to lose the game 3-1. 

Seward managed a measly 2 hits in the loss while Barton had 7.  Alexa O'Brien takes her first loss in three Jayhawk West outings, allowing 7 hits and 3 runs while striking out 7 to fall to 6-4 on the year. 

SEWARD COUNTY/BARTON GAME ONE BOX SCORE

As they did in game one, the Lady Saints came out swinging in game two and immediately took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the 1^st inning on an RBI groundout from Orr. 

The Lady Saints added to their lead this time though, getting an RBI groundout from Vanessa Oakden in the 2^nd to make it a 2-0 game. 

Barton got on the board for the first time in the top half of the 3^rd inning as Seward starter Jaclyn Wagner hit the first batter of the inning, watched her steal second then move to third on a wild pitch before scoring on a sac fly to make it a 2-1 game. 

Seward responded with two runs in the bottom half of the inning, getting an RBI single from Hannah Clark to make it 3-1 and another run via a Barton wild pitch to make the score 4-1. 

The Cougars kept clawing though and were able to score two unearned runs after some shaky Lady Saints defense in the 4^th to make it a one run game at 4-3. 

Looking to sweep the twinbill, Barton Head Coach Marc Benjamin rolled the dice, bringing back their game one starter to try to keep them in a close contest in game two.  The strategy backfired as Seward got two runs in the bottom half of the 4^th on an RBI single from Hamilton and a sacrifice fly from Grace Petersen to push their lead back to three at 6-3. 

Seward added a pair of insurance runs in the bottom half of the 6^th on a Petersen two run single to make it 8-3 and Wagner shut it down from there, keeping Barton off the board in their final at bats in the top of the 7^th to give the Lady Saints an 8-3 win. 

Wagner held Barton to just 3 hits in a masterful 7 innings of work.  The sophomore allowed just 1 earned run while striking out 5 Cougar hitters.  The Lady Saints managed 9 hits on the offensive end, getting 2 each from Jaidyn Mawhinney and Hamilton at the top of the lineup while Petersen drove in 3 for Seward. 

SEWARD COUNTY/BARTON GAME TWO BOX SCORE

Barton picks up their first win in Liberal since the 2007 season and snaps a 24 game Seward winning streak in the process with the game one victory.  The Lady Saints go to 13-9 overall on the year with the split and  4-2 in Jayhawk West action while Barton moves to 15-6 overall and 2-2 in league play. 

The Lady Saints will wrap up an eight game home stand on Friday when they host North Dakota's Williston State to Lady Saints Field.  Seward and Williston will get underway at 2:00.