Broncbusters bounce back; earn series split with Dodge City

By Mike Pilosof

Garden City, KS-It's as if game one never happened; that's been Garden City's mentality this season. And in Thursday's series finale, the Broncbusters did a complete 180 again.

Lacey Kearsley struck out six, Nya Chacon knocked in two runs, and the Broncbusters earned a split, edging Dodge City 6-4 at Tangeman Sports Complex. With the win, the Broncbusters improved to 18-12 overall and 11-3 in conference play. They currently have a two-game lead over Colby for first place in the west.

"We definitely cleaned things up in that second game," Head Coach Amy Schmeckpeper said. "I thought Lacey did a really good job with her command."

It wasn't the offensive pyrotechnics that most have become accustomed to seeing this year from Garden City. But they found a way, and Chacon's RBI groundout in the first gave them an early 1-0 lead. They padded it with five more in the second, including three-straight run-scoring singles by Carly Powley, Chacon and Kearsley that made it 6-0.

"We were able to string some things together, especially in that second inning," Schmeckpeper explained. "We figured out what we needed to do."

Dodge City responded in the third, taking advantage of an error by Elycia Johnson at third. AJ Poell responded with a two-run single, and Karliann Bauer hit a sacrifice fly to cut the Broncbuster lead to 6-3.

Kearsley though patched the hole very quickly working around a two-out double in the fourth to strike out Makayla Garcia. She executed a 1-2-3 fifth and escaped major damage in the sixth once a pair of errors allowed a run to score. The freshman yielded a two-out double in the seventh before ending the game by fanning Poell.

Kearsley earned her sixth win of the season, allowing four runs on four hits in seven innings, and Erykah Foster went 2-for-2 at the plate.

Makayla Kolojay took the loss for Dodge City, giving up six runs (only one earned) on nine hits in six innings. She walked three.