Broncbusters lose opener to Hutch

Hutchinson, KS-Morgan Tomlinson struck out nine, and Hutchinson beat Garden City, 5-2 Tuesday afternoon at Fun Valley. 

Kaibryn Kruger, Bailey Backhaus, Gabby Stauyffer, and Addison Lutz each collected two hits for the Blue Dragons, which won their seventh straight game to improve to 17-5 overall and 11-1 in conference. 

After Garden City (14-11, 6-6) took the lead in the top of the first following Maria Avendano-Fori's RBI single down the right-field line, the Blue Dragons, which received votes in the latest NJCAA national poll, answered with four runs in the bottom half. Backhaus singled; then stole second and third before Tailor Golly knocked her in with an RBI groundout. Stauffer, Brie Brawner, and Lutz followed with run-scoring base hits, and (Brie) Brawner stole home to make it 5-1. 

Meantime, the Broncbusters squandered a scoring chance in the third when Avendano-Fori struck out swinging with a runner at second. They failed to capitalize on a two-out error in the fourth and had two-on with two out in the sixth before Reagan Sword flied out to left-center to end the inning. In the seventh, Mara Vonk hit her seventh homer of the season, a lead-off solo shot that made it 5-2. But Tomlinson struck out the final three batters: Keiry Abreu, Julissa Galicia, and Kenzie Garza to end the game. 

Yina Ballesta Vargas, who dropped to 8-6 in the circle, was tagged for five runs on 10 hits over six innings. She struck out four and walked one.