Barton’s Breakout Fuels Trojans Past Foresters in Back-and-Forth Battle

HUNTINGTON, Ind. – Delaney Barton delivered her best game of the season to lead Taylor to a 9-7 victory over Huntington after a walk-off loss in the opener on Tuesday.

Barton came up big in the nightcap of the twin-billing, rocketing three hits and driving in four runs, including the tiebreaker in the top of the seventh.

Huntington (12-8, 1-5 CL) took an early 1-0 lead before Livie Lehmann drove in Emri Agre in the third to level the score at one apiece.

Barton delivered a solo home run to give Taylor its first lead of the day and added another run later in the inning before the foresters tied it up in the bottom half of the inning.

The junior backstop drove in a pair of runs in the fifth with a double to push the lead to 6-3 and give TU the momentum late in the contest. The home squad was unfazed and scored three unanswered runs in the next two frames to tie it up again.

Heading into the seventh level at six, Lehmann laced her 54th career double to tie the program record to lead the inning off. Kaylee Larkin followed with a walk, and Barton ripped her third hit of the game and drove in the decisive run to give Tayor the final lead of the night. Two more insurance runs crossed the plate to give TU some breathing room, which was needed as Huntington scored a run in the bottom of the seventh before Claire Cullen shut the door and earned her seventh win of the season.

Missed opportunities in the opener proved costly, as a late comeback was thwarted by a walk-off double in the seventh.

The Trojans continued their terrific trend of scoring in the first, with Lehmann driving in Madisyn Standridge after she singled and scored. After that, they loaded the bases with one out, but a pair of strikeouts left a trio of Trojans stranded.

Cullen came in relief after trailing 4-1 through three innings and shut down the Foresters for the next three innings to keep TU within striking distance.

A pair of pinch hitters reached base to begin the top of the seventh, and Jayci Kitchen followed with an RBI double, and the tying run was now in scoring position with nobody out. An RBI groundout preceded a line-drive single by Standridge to knot the game at four going into the bottom of the seventh.

Unfortunately, the Foresters scored quickly, with the leadoff batter reaching on a walk and stealing second, and scoring on a double one batter later.

Taylor (14-6, 5-3 CL) continues its busy week on the road with two games against Grace (4-8, 0-6 CL) on Friday, March 21, in Winona Lake, Indiana, with first pitch set for 3:00 pm.