Garden City tops Northeastern in series opener

By Mike Pilosof

Garden City, KS-There is no doubt about one thing with the 2020 Broncbusters: they can hit.

Madison Biller and Elisabeth McGill each went yard, Megan Walz struck out six to earn her second win of the season, and Garden City edged Northeastern 6-4 Friday afternoon at Tangeman Sports Complex.

And the offensive fireworks started early.

McKayla Encinias led off the game with a walk. After a strikeout and a sacrifice bunt moved her into scoring position, Biller took care of the rest, blasting Kalani Hikida's 1-1 fastball over the wall in right for a 2-0 lead. An inning later, they made it 3-0 on McGill's solo bomb to right.

Northeastern though began to chip away in the third. With two outs, Maddy Rule snuck a ball up the middle for a base hit to get the Plainsmen on the board. In the fourth, Jacey Moon pushed a run home when Ellie Walters booted a ball at third, to make it 3-2. Then in the fifth, Northeastern tied the game on Hikida's double to right before taking the lead when Bailey Deal pulled a ball down the left-field line.

Garden City fought back in the sixth. With two outs, Walters singled home Audrey Graf to tie it. The next batter, McGill, ripped a two-run triple the opposite way, and the Broncbusters were up 6-4.

Northeastern threatened in the seventh. Hikida singled with one out, and Stacy Bott was hit by a pitch, bringing the go-ahead run to the plate. But Biller got out of it, getting Deal to ground out to end the game

Biller collected her fifth multi-hit game of the year, finishing 2-for-3. McGill was 2-for-3 as well with a pair of RBI.

Hikida took the loss for Northeastern, giving up six runs on eight hits in six innings. She struck out six.