Broncbusters come from behind to complete sweep of Northeastern

By Mike Pilosof

Garden City, KS-So far in 2017, the Broncbusters have had a little flair for the dramatic. And it's been fun to watch.

Elisabeth McGill knocked in a pair of runs including the game-winning sacrifice fly in the bottom of the seventh as Garden City completed a two-game sweep of Northeastern with a 7-6 victory at Tangeman Sports Complex on Friday afternoon.

And again, the Broncbusters dug themselves an early hole.

Bailey Deal homered in the first, and Kaylin Cruz blasted a two-run shot in the second to put Northeastern up 3-0. But the Broncbusters slowly worked their way back into it. McGill smacked an RBI base hit in the second, Audrey Graf drew a bases-loaded walk in the third, which was followed up by Megan Walz's single to center that knotted the game.

Northeastern though used a three-run fifth to take command again. Jacey Moon's RBI single, and Abby Harpman's two-run double put the Plainsmen up 6-3.

Cue the comeback.

With two outs in the home half, Graf reached on a error; stole second before scoring on Walz's single to center. An inning later, McKayla Encinias provided some two-out magic when she powered Abby Harpman's fastball to left-center for a run-scoring single that pulled the Broncbusters to within one, 6-5.

After Madison Biller worked a scoreless seventh, Garden City went back to work. Graf drew a leadoff free pass, and Biller doubled to left. That set the table for Waltz, whose extra base hit to the gap in right-center, tied the game at 6. Head Coach Becky Gundy then inserted Lauren Davis to courtesy run for Biller, who scored the winning run on McGill's sac fly. Game over, and another comeback complete.

Biller picked up the win in the circle, working 2 1/3 scoreless innings while fanning three. Started Taylor Hill went 4 2/3, yielding six runs on seven hits. She surrendered two long balls. Encinias went 3-for-4 with an RBI in the leadoff spot, and Walz had three hits and three RBI.