Mixed results: Buster softball splits with Frank Phillips
Garden City, Kan (westernkansasnews.com)-Busters starting pitcher Rachel Roe was at a loss for words:
“It’s hard to explain really.”
Head scratching would be a good way to describe Garden City’s 10-2 run-rule victory over Frank Phillips in game one followed up by a 13-5 run-rule loss in the finale at Tangeman Sports Complex Tuesday afternoon.
“As a team I don’t feel we did anything in that second game to rally,” Head Coach Becky Gundy said. “We’ve got to find some consistency as a whole.”
There was plenty of that in the opener. Trailing 2-1 in the second, Chassity Cerrato smacked a solo shot over the center field wall-tying the game 2-2.
In the third-Danielle Arnoff put the Busters (12-15, 3-3) in front for good with an RBI double. Jalen Espinoza and Mattie Miller followed with RBI singles before Lauren Shanks RBI groundout pushed the Garden City lead to 6-2.
Two innings later, Brooke Lovas’s two-run blast off reliever Austin Murillo sent the Buster crowd into a frenzy.
Garden City finished the job in the sixth with Arnoff’s two-run, game-clinching single.
Inexplicably in game two, the Buster bats were silenced and their defense, which was solid in game one, couldn’t get out of their own way-committing five errors.
Danielle Acevedo clubbed three hits and drove in three, including a run-scoring double in the fourth that saw the Lady Plainsmen (9-22) open up a 13-1 lead.
Garden City made things interesting in the fifth-plating three runs including Lovas’s two-run roundtripper. But the rally ended when Liberty Nelson fouled out to end the game-completing an astonishing turnaround.
Miranda Elliott lasted just an inning for the Busters-allowing five runs on three hits. Roe, scattered just five hits in game one, was tagged for six runs on seven hits in the finale before giving way to Jessica Soliday.
Next up: Garden City vs. Colby-Wednesday, April 2 1 p.m. and 3 p.m.
Final Box: gccc vs. frank phillips game 1 | gccc vs. frank phillips game 2
