Garden City Lady Buffs fall to Talented Young Great Bend Team in WAC
The Great Bend Lady Panthers Softball team continues to roll on the the 2012 season, after sweeping the Garden City Lady Buffs on Thursday in Western Athletic Conference action at Great Bend 6-2 and 5-1. Lady Buffs head Coach John Ford, says he didn’t think his girls played poorly, it was just the aggressive and talented Great Bend team that produced solid defense, great pitching from two freshmen starters and backed that up with some well placed hits. The Lady Panthers produced 4 runs from four hits in the bottom of the first inning to take a 4-0 lead in game one, Garden City came back with two runs of their own in the top of the 3rd, but that would be all they would get. Great Bend added some insurance runs in the bottom of the third to go up 6-2, then it was a pitching dual the rest of the way, with freshman Hunter Middleton collecting the win and the Lady Buffs junior starter Korie Thornton taking the loss only her first on the season. Thornton had the best bat in game one as well, going 2 for 3 with an RBI, plus the St. Clair sisters, Jennifer and Jamie went 1 for 3 with two doubles, but it was not enough as Garden City lost game one 6-2. In the night-cap game the Lady Panthers would strike early again with one run in the bottom of the first, adding another in the 2nd. Garden City got on the board with a run in the 4th, after junior Leslie Ford singled and then Jennifer St. Clair recorded the RBI single scoring Ford to make it a 2-1 game for the Panthers. Great Bend would score two more in the 4th and finished it off with their 5th run in the fifth inning to take a 5-1 advantage that ended up being the final score, as freshmen pitcher for the Panthers Braylin Bretz would shut down Garden City over the final three innings. Bretz recorded the win for Great Bend sending her record to 8-0, while Leslie Ford took the loss, dropping her record to 3-3 on the year. The Lady Panthers are 15-1, 7-1 in WAC, while Garden City falls to 2-2 in Conference and 6-4 overall. The Lady Buffs are scheduled to play rival Dodge City today at Tangeman Sports Complex, at 3 and 5 pm in the 2012 Hall of Fame games, that will see Coach John Ford’s daughter Katie Ford inducted by the Garden City Softball fast pitch Hall of Fame. Ford graduated in 2007, and was a four time All-WAC selection and player of the year in 2007, received All-State recognition, plus took her game to the next level at Johnson County Community College and was chosen a two-time NJCAA All-American.
