LIBERAL, Kan. – Butler softball continued its dominance on the road with a doubleheader sweep of the Seward Saints at French Family Field on Friday afternoon.
No. 17 Butler (30-6, 18-2 KJCCC) picked up its 30th win of the season and is now 15-2 in road contests this year. Seward falls to 16-14, 10-6 in KJCCC play.
Butler now travels to Northwest Tech for a Saturday doubleheader in Goodland set for a noon first pitch.
Game 1: Butler 11, Seward 4
Butler used two big innings, the third and seventh, to grab an 11-4 game one win. The Grizzlies pounded out 14 hits while holding Seward to just six.
Cheyenne Handsaker (W, 13-2) threw a complete game 7.0 innings, striking out eight and walking one, allowing four runs (two earned) on six hits.
The offensive attack got started in the third as Butler plated five runs in the inning to take a 5-0 lead.
Claire Lopez, Chloe Cardona, Aly Hageman and Alivia Darbe all drove in runs in the inning for the Grizzlies.
Leading 7-3 entering the seventh, Butler sent home four runs in their final at bats to lead 11-3. Cardona drove in another run on an RBI single to right and Cady Dickey cleared the bases with a three-run double to left center.
Lopez, Cardona and Dickey all had two hits. Aly Hageman paced the Grizzlies with four hits, two runs and two RBI.
Seward used three pitchers in the game with starter Kamryn Martinez (L, 9-7) taking the loss as she allowed five runs in 3.0 innings.
Game 2: Butler 5, Seward 4
Game two came down to the wire as Butler plated the winning run in the sixth inning, holding on through the seventh for a 5-4 win.
For a second consecutive game a Grizzly pitcher threw a complete game as Chloe Odle (W, 10-4) went all 7.0 innings allowing four runs (two earned), striking out six and walking two. The 7.0 innings for Odle was a career-high innings pitched.
Butler was out to a quick start scoring four runs in the first. They did not score again until the sixth. The first inning saw Aly Hageman with an RBI double, Alivia Darbe with a two-run single to left and Caylee Mann with an RBI single through the left side.
Seward scored four unanswered runs from the third through the fifth to tie the game 4-4.
Mann's second RBI single of the afternoon in the sixth inning that scored Darbe gave Butler a 5-4 lead.
Odle worked around a walk in the sixth inning to hold Seward off the board. She sent the Saints down in order in the bottom of the seventh to secure the win for the Grizzlies.
Mann finished with three hits and two RBI.
Seward's Morgan McDaniel (L, 0-1) suffered the loss in the circle allowing four runs in 0.1 innings.
