Yuma Bound: Butler Softball Tops Barton to Win 2025 Region 6 Championship
Grizzlies Win 5 Straight After Loss on Opening Day of Tournament
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | R | H | E |
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0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 13 | 0 |
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DODGE CITY, Kan. – For the 14th time in program history, the Butler Community College softball program has punched its ticket to the NJCAA Division 1 Softball World Series.
The top seeded Grizzlies (44-7) defeated the third seeded Barton Cougars (35-16), 6-5, in the Region 6/Plains District Championship game on Monday at Legends Park.
TICKET PUNCHED! @bucosoftball is Yuma bound! pic.twitter.com/727RSmIzt9
— Butler Grizzlies (@ButlerGrizzlies) May 5, 2025
Butler will find out its first-round matchup in the NJCAA World Series on Tuesday, May 13th, at 4 p.m. ET on the NJCAA Network Selection Show. The tournament is being held in Yuma, Arizona, at the Pacific Avenue Athletic Complex from May 19-24.
Following a 4-2 loss to Garden City on the first day of the tournament, the Grizzlies ripped off five consecutive wins battling back through the bottom of the bracket to win the title. Butler defeated Barton 9-1 on Sunday afternoon to force the winner-take-all championship game rematch on Monday in the double elimination tournament.
"These kids were determined and there was nothing stopping them," said third year head coach Morgan Bohanan. "The early loss created a little more self-awareness that we need to be gritty. You aren't going to just walk in and get stuff handed to you and I think the kids took that to heart."
The Grizzlies struck first taking a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first as Jenna Jobe delivered a two out RBI double to left field scoring Claire Lopez.
Lopez drove in two runs of her own on a single to center field in the bottom of the second to give Butler a 3-0 lead. After Kyrsten Moran walked following Lopez's double, Barton pulled starter Meleia Ingram (L, 19-7) for Alicia Goseland who forced a 5-3 double play that ended the Grizzly threat.
SB vs Barton | B2
— Butler Grizzlies (@ButlerGrizzlies) May 5, 2025
Claire Lopez drives in a pair of runs and the Grizzlies now lead 3-0 in the second!
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Barton got on the board in the third inning as Allyson McDougal hit an RBI groundout to make it 3-1. Following another base hit that placed Cougars on second and third with one out, Butler made a pitching change as Addy Ewing entered for starter Ellie Randall. Ewing induced two groundouts to get the Grizzlies out of the jam.
Randall's final line was 2.1 innings pitched, no earned runs on five hits with a strikeout and no walks.
Barton's Chloe Enslinger cut the Grizzly lead to one at 3-2 in the top of the fifth on an RBI single to center field. Butler proceeded to counter with three runs in the bottom of the fifth as Kylie Forney produced an RBI double and Kory Schoenfeld had an RBI single to center field. Barton changed pitchers again and two batters later Claire Lopez walked with the bases loaded to put Butler ahead 6-2.
SB vs Barton | B5
— Butler Grizzlies (@ButlerGrizzlies) May 5, 2025
Kylie Forney gets the run back for Butler, driving in Nightingale to make it a 4-2 Grizzly lead
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The Cougars used a run in the sixth to pull within three at 6-3. Butler stranded a two out Forney single in the bottom of the sixth and headed to the seventh with a 6-3 lead needing three outs to seal the game.
Barton's first two runners reached before a groundout to second base got the first out of the inning. Two consecutive RBI singles saw the Grizzly lead wither to one, but Ewing got a fly out to right field for the third and final out as Butler completed the rally through the bracket earning the win.
Ewing recorded her seventh save of the season throwing 4.2 innings allowing four runs on eight hits. It marked her second consecutive save after she closed the previous game with the Cougars out on Sunday evening.
Lopez finished 3-3 driving in a team-high three runs and a stolen base. Jobe was 2-4 with an RBI while Schoenfeld also added two hits, a walk and an RBI. Forney was 2-3 with a run scored, an RBI and a walk. Chloe Cardona scored a team-high two runs while Kyler Demel walked twice.
Barton outhit Butler 13-10 in the game while each team had nine runnners left on base. Barton had five players with multi-hit games. Laney Wood finished 2-4 with an RBI and two runs scored.
Butler has won eight of the last nine Region 6 Championships, and this is their second under Bohanan.
"If we keep playing like this and take every game one inning at a time," said Bohanan. "If we continue to lock in on that, we have a shot at going far."
The Grizzlies entered the tournament winners of 14 straight and 24 of their last 25 after capturing the regular season Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference crown, sharing it with Hutchinson who Butler eliminated on Saturday.
