Late-inning homer proves costly again

La Junta, CO-Destiny Martinez belted a three-run homer, Marissa West and Anna Barraza each had three hits, and Otero completed a sweep of Garden City with a 14-11 victory in game two on Sunday afternoon. 

Chiara Olison and Mara Vonk both hit home runs for the Broncbusters, which suffered their third straight loss to fall to 9-7 overall. Yina Ballesta Vargas dropped her second decision of the day, giving up a walk-off three-run bomb to Martinez in the seventh. 

That one pitch erased a valiant comeback by Garden City, which overcame an eight-run deficit to tie the game on Vonk's grand slam in the top of the seventh. Prior to that, the Broncbusters slowly chipped away, scoring a run in the fifth and four in the sixth, which was spearheaded by RBI singles by Alyssa Santana and Kenzie Garza. Then in the seventh, Maysen Kurene-Iwikau and Olison both walked, and Reagan Sword singled before Vonk crushed the game-tying grand slam to left. 

But Olison struggled early. She gave up two runs in the first and a five-spot in the second. The Rattlers then scratched three more across in the fourth, loading the bases before a pair of RBI singles by Whitney Boone and West gave them an eight-run advantage. 

Keira Gray picked up the win for Otero, allowing 11 runs on 12 hits in seven innings.