Broncbusters fall in loser's bracket final

Dodge City, KS-It was a play that Kenzie Garza makes nine times out of 10. But on this day, one small mistake morphed into a game-changing jolt that ignited an early Butler rally. 

Kyler Demel homered and drove in three runs, Jenna Jobe also went deep, and the 16^th-ranked Grizzlies used an eight-run first inning to plow past Garden City, 18-6 in five innings in the Region VI loser's bracket championship game Sunday afternoon at Legends Park. With the loss, the Broncbusters finished the season 28-22. 

Yina Ballesta Vargas, who was magnificent through the first three games of the tournament, showed some signs of fatigue, allowing eight runs, although only one was earned. She never made it out of the second. 

But things could have looked vastly different. 

Vargas got the first two Butler hitters out to begin the bottom of the first. In fact, she cruised through, getting Claire Lopez to pop up to shallow left before Krysten Moran hit a ball right back to the sophomore pitcher. But with two outs and two strikes, Kim Yepez mashed a scorching line drive that bounced off Garza's glove. Jobe followed with an RBI double, and what appeared to be a one-two-three inning turned into a mirage. 

After back-to-back walks, Chloe Cardona singled home a pair before another run scored when Reagan Sword bobbled a ball in right. Then Demel delivered the big blow: a two-run shot to right that made it 6-0.  Moran added an RBI single, and Lopez scored on a wild pitch. Eight runs on five hits, all with two outs. 

Jobe homered as part of a four-run second, and Yepez drilled a two-run bomb during a three-run fourth. 

The Grizzlies scored at least three runs in every inning. 

Maysen Kurene-Iwikau finished 2-for-2 with a homer and three RBI for Garden City, which made its deepest postseason run in 11 years.