Garden City sweeps rival Dodge City

By Mike Pilosof

Garden City, KS-The Broncbusters proved they could win in different ways on Saturday.

Taylore Hartman's walk-off single capped off a dramatic 5-4 victory over Dodge City in game one before Garden City demolished their Eastern-rival 10-0 in the finale.

As they did vs. Pratt a week earlier, Garden City found a way despite falling behind in the opener.

The Conquistadors broke open a scoreless game in the fifth, scoring a run when Jessy Ortiz misplayed Brittney Gonzalez's bunt; then another on Brittany Kendall's sacrifice fly.

But the Broncbusters fought back in the sixth. Erica Vessels hit an RBI triple, Aylssa Dilley followed with a run-scoring groundout, and Hartman crushed a solo shot to center, putting Garden City (15-13, 5-5) up 3-2.

The game seesawed again in the seventh with Dodge City (9-19, 2-8) regaining the advantage. Kendall brought in a run on an RBI groundout and Samantha Montano ripped a double that scored Gonzalez from third to make it 4-3.

That setup the dramatics in bottom of the inning.

Devin Hernandez reached on an error, Angel Jimenez moved her over to second, and Vessels was intentionally walked. With two outs, Dilley pushed a ball to center that Gonzalez misplayed, allowing Hernandez to score the tying run. Then Hartman finished off the comeback by singling up the middle off of Jordyn McDaniel.

Samantha Akers notched her fourth win in the circle, striking out eight in seven innings. Hartman collected two hits and knocked in two runs.

McDaniel took the loss for Dodge City, allowing three earned runs on six hits in 6.2 innings.

Game two was never close.

The Broncbusters jumped all over Kendall in the first. Hartman hit an RBI single, Bailee Muxlow-Volk hit a sac fly, and Hernandez scorched a two-run double to make it 4-0. Muxlow-Volk added a run-scoring base hit in the third, Hartman doubled home Dilley in the fifth before Jimenez's monster three-run homer finished off the run rule.

Ariel Denney was nearly flawless in the circle, surrendering just four hits while fanning nine batters in five innings. All but two Broncbusters recorded hits including Denney, who helped her own cause, going 3-for-3 at the plate. Hartman added two more hits, and Hernandez and Jimenez combined for five RBI.

Next up: Garden City vs. Butler-Monday, March 26 2 p.m. and 4 p.m.