Dodge City takes game one from Garden City

By Mike Pilosof

Photo by Adam Shrimplin

Garden City, KS-Dodge City put together four straight solid innings, eventually putting the Broncbusters away early.

Caley Best hit a home run, Jessica Espinoza drove in four, and the Conquistadors scored three or more runs in four straight frames to beat Garden City 19-8 in five innings Wednesday afternoon at Tangeman Sports Complex.

After a scoreless first, the Conquistadors went to work in the second. Best drove in a run with an RBI single, Ericka Calderon slapped a two-run double, Espinoza added an RBI base hit, and Lexy Perez tacked on a sacrifice fly to put Dodge City up 5-0. In the third, Espinoza plated two on a double to right-center, and Samantha Montano clubbed an RBI extra base hit to push the lead to 8-0.

Garden City got two back in their half of the third when Brittany Dowell doubled home Ariel Denney, and Gabby Hernandez smoked a two-run double to slice the deficit to five runs. But Dodge City countered with five in the fourth and six more in the fifth, summed up by Alex Pacheco's RBI triple, and Best's two-run homer to center that stretched their advantage to 19-6.

The Broncbusters though definitely had their moments. In the fourth, Audrey Graf smashed her fourth home run of the season, and Madison Biller followed with a two-run bomb in the fifth.

Biller got roughed up in the circle for Garden City, giving up six earned runs on six hits in 2.1 innings. But she had a solid day at the plate, going 3-for-4 with two RBI and two runs scored. Graf knocked in three.

Espinoza got the win for Dodge City, yielding six runs on eight hits in four innings.