Broncbusters split final two with Northeastern Colorado

By Mike Pilosof

Garden City, KS-The Broncbusters split their final two games with Northeastern Colorado on Sunday, falling 10-3 in the first game and winning the finale 10-9.

In game one, the road team opened the second with back-to-back-to-back home runs by Katy Ridener, Riley Johnson, and Lindsay Niederkorn for a 3-0 lead. A few batters later, Natalie Searle hit an RBI single, and the Broncbusters were in a four-run hole.

Becky Gundy's team fought back in the bottom of the inning, thanks to Kelsey Ray's three-run bomb that cut the Northeastern Colorado lead to one.

But the Plainswomen added an insurance run in the third; then drilled two more homers in the fifth-one by Annaliese Cordova; the other by Johnson, and another in the seventh when Gracie Cordova went yard to put Northeastern Colorado up 10-3.

Erin Hersey got the win in the circle for the Plainswomen, allowing three runs on five hits. Samantha Akers took the loss, giving up six runs on six hits including four home runs. She struck out two and walked four.

In the second game, Garden City dug out of a 6-2 hole, beginning with a three-run fourth, powered by Devin Hernandez's RBI single and Ariel Denny's two-run double that pulled them to within one. After the Plainswomen scored again in the sixth, Denney hit a sac fly in the bottom half to cut the deficit to one before Garden City forced extra innings with two in the seventh including Hernandez's doubled that plated Nancy Wiebe to tie the score at 8.

Once Northeastern took the lead back in the top of the eighth, Dilley scored on a passed ball to tie it before Angel Jiminez hit a line-drive single to left that scored the winning run. 

The Broncbusters offense produced runs in every inning but the second and fifth. Denney did damage control in relief, allowing two runs on three hits in three innings while striking out four-picking up her first win of the season. Erin Hersey took the loss for Northeastern Colorado, yielding four runs in 3.1 innings of relief.

Next up: Garden City vs. Frank Phillips-Monday, Feb. 26 1 p.m. and 3 p.m.