Garden City clinches at least a share of west crown; falls to Dodge City in game two

By Mike Pilosof

Dodge City, KS-Garden City had a division championship within its sights on Saturday. But Dodge City had other plans.

Madyson McCage homered, Kalei Villegas drove in two, and the Conquistadors pounded the Broncbusters 10-3 in game two at Legends Park. The loss meant Garden City won at least a share of the division title with Colby. A win, and they would have taken the league crown outright.

And again, Tara Reid, who enjoyed a tremendous first half of the season, struggled to find consistency in Saturday's finale. The freshman threw 103 pitches and was tagged for eight runs on eight hits. She was yanked after the fifth.

Her struggles began in the first when she issued a walk and a double, which was followed up by McCage's sacrifice fly, and Makayla Garcia's run-scoring extra base hit. Danika Utajara then took advantage of McKayla Encinias' error at second that made it 3-0. Then in the second, the Broncbusters committed another untimely miscue when Lacey Kearsley misplayed a ball at first with two outs that pushed another run across.

Garden City rallied back in the third, thanks to Encinias, who slapped a two-run double followed by Alexis Maestretti's RBI single that pulled the Broncbusters to within a run.

But that's as close as they got.

Dodge City answered with a three-run fourth before adding another in the fifth and two more in the sixth, powered by McCage's solo blast to center that put the home squad up 10-3.

Garden City was limited to just six hits and committed three costly errors. Elycia Johnson went 2-for-3 at the plate, and Reid dropped to 13-6 in the circle.

Utajara notched the win for the Conquistadors, allowing three runs on six hits in seven innings. She struck out three.