Better competition; Buffs softball splits with Goodland

Goodland, Kan (westernkansasnews.com)-It’s been a week since Garden City’s twin-bill no-hit performance against TMP Hays. On Tuesday, Goodland presented a little bit more of a challenge. 

Garden City earned a split on the road-winning game one 11-8 before falling in the finale 8-4. 

“Things went well in game one,” Head Coach Trina Moquett said. “Game two we scored those four runs early, and then couldn’t do much after that.”

Things didn’t start great in the opener. Gabby Rangel ripped a two-run bomb off of Dusti Befort in the bottom of the first. Megan Siruta padded the lead with a two-out, run scoring single-giving Goodland a 3-0 advantage. 

The Cowgirls tacked on two more runs in the bottom of the second before the Buffalo bats finally came to life. Jordan Terrones led off the to top of the third with a double. Then with one out, Kennedy Brunson-moving Terrones into scoring position. Garden City followed up Rylee Crawford’s sacrifice with four straight singles to pull within 5-3. 

The Buffs took the lead for good in the fourth-scoring five runs on RBI hits by Befort, Abbi Dart, Shai Cartmill and Shea Nordby. Befort’s two-run double double in the fifth padded the lead before Cartmille’s solo shot in the 6th plated the 11th run of the game. 

In the second game-Garden City (3-2) built an early 4-2 lead. But Moquett watched her squad squander it when the Cowgirls tied it in the fifth. Then Goodland went to work on Dart in the sixth. 

Brianna White led off the inning by scorching a double to center field. The senior came around to score on Rangel’s RBI single. Cochran and Berkley White added RBI hits to give the Cowgirls an 8-4 advantage. 

“Goodland is a lot better team than they’ve been in the past,” Moquett said. “They proved that today.”

Next up: vs. Liberal-Tuesday, April 22-2:45 pregame; 3 pm first pitch on westernkansasnews.com