Broncbusters miss opportunity to sweep; fall at home to Grizzlies

Garden City, KS-There were plenty of missed opportunities in Wednesday's finale. 

Caylee Mann homered, Claire Lopez went 4-for-5 at the plate, and No. 14 Butler topped Garden City, 13-5 in six innings in game two at Tangeman Sports Complex. 

The Broncbusters, which managed just four hits (their third fewest in a game this season), were just 2-of-8 with runners in scoring position. They were 0-for-2 with the bases loaded. 

Garden City starter, Chiara Olison, navigated her way through five innings, allowing five runs on 11 hits. She left with the game tied at five. 

Once Belinda Hendrix went to Ashlyn Powell in the sixth, the Butler bats came alive. Alivia Darbe hit a go-ahead RBI single, which was followed by back-to-back run-scoring doubles by Kylie Forney and Jenna Jobe. Two batters later, Mann hit a grand slam, and the floodgates had officially opened. The Grizzlies plated eight in the inning. 

The Broncbusters jumped out in front early on Olison's solo shot to lead off the second. They took a two-run lead when Maria Avendano Fori slapped an RBI single into left field in the third. 

But Butler (12-2, 6-2) answered in the fourth with a pair of extra base hits by Mann and Claire Lopez, spearheading a three-run inning that gave the Grizzlies a 3-2 advantage. They added two more in the fifth. 

Garden City though managed to even the score in their half of the fifth. Fori and Maysen Kurene-Iwikau were hit by a pitch, Michela Pugliese-Levi drew a bases-loaded walk, and Mara Vonk was hit on the forearm on a rise ball up and in with the sacks full. Keiry Abreu then added a sacrifice fly to tie the game. But with the go-ahead run in scoring position, Alyssa Santana struck out on a breaking ball away. 

Butler southpaw Ellie Randall kept the Broncbusters guessing all game, fanning seven batters while scattering four hits over six innings.