Carney blasts way into first softball regionals

By Zach West
zwest@oklahoman.com

Carney head softball coach Kendra Barnes wasn’t sure what was more amazing – her team of just nine players winning districts for the first time ever, or the way in which it was done. 

Last weekend, it was probably both.

In an astounding series of high-scoring contests, the Bulldogs won their Class B district over Paden and Mason.  In five games spanning two days, 170 total runs were scored, the most coming in a 28-26 Paden victory over Carney in the first game Friday. In the four games they played, the Bulldogs averaged 18.5 runs and failed to score in only one out of 27 innings.     

“It was one of those deals where the teams were scoring six or seven runs each inning,” said Barnes, in her first year as the Carney coach. “That was scary, coming into an inning knowing that you had to score a bunch of runs just to keep up. It was a lot of fun, though. It was better than sitting there walking runs in. They were hitting all over the place.”

After losing to Paden, Carney had to win two straight to advance. After winning the first contest 15-10, they took the second by a seemingly pedestrian tally of 15-7 – the lowest combined score of the tournament.     

“We were really pumped going in, but then we got beat on Friday,” Barnes said. “We had to battle back, suck it up and play ball.  When it was win or go home, we buckled down and won it. It was absolutely amazing.”