Buffalo softball sweeps Goodland

Goodland, KS-In years past, Trina Moquett has relied on stellar pitching to get her teams to the state tournament.

And while it took a little longer for them to come around this year, Garden City’s hurlers are once again paving the way for a late run into May.

Hailey Dart struck out 12 and Yazmin Vargas allowed just one hit as the Buffaloes ran right through Goodland 9-1 and 19-1 on Monday afternoon.

“These were important games,” said junior Reagan Nordby, who went 6-for-7 at the plate in the two games. “We needed these wins.”

They did indeed. In the fight for home field in the region tournament, the Buffaloes are in a three-way tie in the loss column with Dodge City and Wichita Southeast.

In game one, the Buffaloes scored first and never looked back. Laura Famer singled home a run in the first, Ryleigh Whitehurst knocked in two in the third followed by Reigan Crawford, who drew a bases-loaded walk to make it 4-0. An error followed by back-to-back doubles by Vargas and and Erykah Foster in the fifth pushed the lead to 7-1 before Vargas smashed a two-run homer in the seventh.

Game two was defined by a 15-run second inning. The Buffaloes sent 19 batters to the plate, recorded 15 hits while the first 12 players reached base. They added four more in the third before the game was called.

Vargas tossed three innings of one-hit ball. She struck out four and walked two. Vargas and Foster knocked in four runs, and Nordby and Crawford drove in three.