Broncbusters drop heartbreaker to Hutch in game two
Game 2
Game 2
| Final (10) | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Hutchinson Community College
|
0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 6 | 9 | 3 |
|
Garden City Community College
|
1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 10 | 3 |
By Mike Pilosof
Photo by Adam Shrimplin
Garden City, KS-The one that got away.
Haley Miller collected three hits, and Aspen Goetz scored the go-ahead run on an error by Kayden Rodgers in the 10th as Hutchinson completed a two-game sweep of the Broncbusters with a 6-4 victory Saturday afternoon at Tangeman Sports Complex. Garden City fell to 10-14 overall and 4-6 in conference.
The Broncbusters were in control for much of this game. Lacey Kearsley kept Hutchinson off balance all afternoon, limiting the Blue Dragons to just one hit through three innings. At the same time, Alexis Maestretti's RBI double in the first and Micaela Mirabal's run-scoring single in the second gave Garden City a 2-0 advantage.
But the visitors finally broke through with two outs in the fourth when Carley Sterneker singled home Haley Miller to make it 2-1. It stayed that way until the sixth when the Blue Dragons surged in front on back-to-back sacrifice flies by Madison Grimes and Natalie Bevan that gave Hutchinson a 3-2 advantage.
The Broncbusters responded in their half of the seventh. With two outs, Ryanna Johnson tripled home Mirabal to tie the game. But with the winning run at third, Maestretti struck out swinging on three pitches. It was a missed chance that cost Garden City dearly.
The score remain tied until the top of the 10th when Kearsley struck out Miller for the second out. But inexplicably, Rodgers fired an errant throw to first base, which allowed Goetz to trot home. Grimes followed with an RBI double, and Bevan blooped a single to right to make it 6-3.
Garden City got a run back in the bottom of the 10th on Kearsley's RBI single and had the tying run at the plate on three different occasions. But reliever Riley Wertz fanned Alanna Neilsen, Tara Reid, and Mirabal to end the game.
Wertz improved to 5-0 in the circle for Hutchinson, breaking the school record with 18 strikeouts. She allowed just one earned run on five hits in seven innings.
Kearsley dropped to 1-4, giving up four earned runs on nine hits in 10 innings. She also finished 2-for-5 at the plate.
Next up: Garden City at Frank Phillips, Sunday, March 20-12 p.m. and 2 p.m.