Broncbusters sweep Lamar at home

By Mike Pilosof

Garden City, KS-After dropping their first two games of the season, Garden City responded in a big way on Wednesday.

Ariel Denney struck out nine, Devin Hernandez knocked in three, and the Broncbusters swept Lamar 4-3 and 11-9 at Tangeman Sports Complex.

"It felt really good to get a couple of wins at home," Gundy said. "We played well."

Denney was on target in the opener, scattering eight hits over seven innings. But her team was still down 2-1 after Kasey Cruz drilled a solo shot to put the Lopes up 2-1 in the top of the fourth.

"Ariel did a really good for us in the circle," Gundy said. "And we got hits when we needed to."

Garden City immediately tied the game in the bottom half. Kaylee Rogers reached on an error, Madison Biller hit a sharp single, and Alexis Sconyers drove in a run with an opposite field base hit. Two batters later, Denney smashed a two-run double to the gap, putting the Broncbusters up 4-2.

"We had a lot of players contribute," Gundy said. "We did a good job of putting the ball in play."

The Lopes made things interesting in the seventh, pulling within a run on Christa Ramirez's two-out, RBI single. They even got the tying run on when Mykenzie Ferran followed with a single to right. But Denney put the game away, blowing a rise ball past Emily Womeldorff on a 2-2 count for strike three.

Denney threw 128 pitches in the opener. She allowed three earned runs on nine hits while collecting two hits at the plate.

Womeldorff took the loss for Lamar, allowing three runs on eight hits in six innings.

In the second game, Garden City's offense took flight.

The Broncbusters plated six runs in the second inning, fueled by Madison Brasher's two-run single, and Biller's two-run double.

But Lamar slowly chipped away, slicing the deficit in half in the top of the third when Ferran knocked in a pair with a double to center. Ramirez added an RBI single, and it was 6-3.

Garden City came right back in the bottom of the inning. Brasher's RBI base hit, coupled with Denney's run-scoring double to center and Hernandez's sacrifice fly, put the Broncbusters up 9-3. After, the Lopes scored again in the fifth, Hernandez and Audrey Graf chipped in RBI groundouts to push the Broncbusters lead to 11-4.

"We built that big lead and let them comeback," Gundy said. "But overall, I'm pleased with how our kids responded."

The Lopes again put themselves in a position to tie the game in seventh, plating five runs, the last of which came around on Graf's error at short. That's when Gundy summoned Denney to finish it off, and the sophomore delivered, inducing a strikeout and a ground out to the end the game.

Kaylee Rogers picked up the win in the circle, allowing seven earned runs on nine hits in six innings. Denney was 2-for-4 at the plate with two RBI and Biller was 3-for-4, driving in a pair of runs.