The Seward County Lady Saints softball team stayed in the race for the conference championship with a sweep of the Barton County Lady Cougars Wednesday afternoon at Lady Saints Field.
Game One of the conference doubleheader started off as a pitcher’s duel. Courtney Auger took the mound for the Lady Saints and kept the Lady Cougar hitters off-balance through the first five innings.
Sarah Permenter started for the Lady Cougars and shut down the Lady Saints offense for the better part of the game.
In the sixth inning Auger found herself in a jam. Two runners had reached base, and Lady Cougar Rachel Olguin came to the plate and knocked a ball over the left field wall to give Barton the lead.
The Lady Saints answered with a run of their own in the bottom half of the inning after two consecutive doubles.
Auger was able to get out of the seventh inning unscathed with Barton runners in scoring position.
The Lady Saints started to build momentum by starting off the bottom of the seventh with a flurry of singles. Brittany Kent and Cara Russell started the inning with singles. Jamie Gilbert laid down a bunt single to load the bases for Alicia Reyes.
Reyes singled scoring Kent and set the stage for Katelyn Glenn who also singled to score Russell tying the game, 3-3.
Gilbert and Reyes were in scoring position and a wild pitch to Marisa Coats scored Gilbert giving the Lady Saints the win. Auger was the winning pitcher bringing her record to 17-5.
Erin Roufosse entered the white circle for Game Two for the Lady Saints and had plenty of offense to back her up by putting up 12 runs in a 12-6 win.
“It makes it a lot easier,” Roufosse said. “When you have offense it takes a lot of the pressure off.”
Roufosse proved to be relaxed by only giving up one run after three innings, and maintained a 4-1 lead. Roufosse ended up allowing six runs in the game.
“I felt good, but I didn’t really feel like I was on. I wish I had thrown my change-up more because I would have been able to fix it,” Roufosse added.
Shelby Casey contributed to the explosion of offense with a 2-3, 3 RBI performance.
Casey drove in a run in the first with a double off the right-center field fence. Casey then scored on a close play at home.
In Casey’s next at-bat she once again hit an RBI double. “Coach was trying to send me to third, but I didn’t go,” Casey said. “I had jammed my knee when I slid into home in the first inning.”
Casey’s third at-bat was a sacrifice fly that scored her final RBI of the game.
“I went out there and was trying to do everything I could to help us win.”
The Lady Saints are now only one game back in the Jayhawk West Conference standings
They will face the Butler County Lady Grizzlies and the series will play a major factor in deciding the Jayhawk West Conference Champion.
“We have a great chance to go in there and give ourselves a chance to win the conference,” Coach Gustafson said.
“The key is going to be for the girls to be relaxed and go up there and believing in themselves that they can do it. Their pitchers are very hittable and they are a very beatable team. As long as we stay relaxed we can beat them.”