By MIKE KESSINGER

mkessinger@gctelegram.com

When the Garden City Community College softball team looks back on the 2008 season, it remembers the most painful memory of all -- not qualifying for nationals.

Of course, for this Lady Broncbuster team, there will always be more to look at than just the what if?

And it starts with records.

"I don't remember from past years if it's ever been like this, but we broke a heck of a lot of records," Garden City head coach Phil Terpstra said. "When you're going through the season, you don't realize how many you've broken until you look back. The season didn't end the way we would have liked it to, but we had a pretty good year."

During a season in which the Broncbusters won a school record 34 games, it's hard to overlook all the other marks set.

Thirty-seven team and 29 individual records to be exact.

"Our No. 1 goal was to win Region VI and go on to nationals, and when you don't do that, it's kind of hard to see the positives until you sit back and look at what we accomplished," Terpstra said. "It's all about what the girls did, and they did some very nice things this year. It makes not winning the regional a little easier."

The team's 34 wins this season tops the record set in 2007 when the Busters won 30 games for the first time. The Broncbusters finished with a win percentage of .667 -- the best in the program's history. The combined 64 wins over the last two seasons means the six sophomores have been a part of the most successful stretch in school history.

"(The sophomores) have done a lot of good things," Terpstra said. "They've given us two good years."

Of the 29 individual records broken, no one stands higher than center fielder Becky Diehl. Although she didn't have a chance to finish the season, Diehl still managed to set 20 individual team records. On April 25 in the first game of a doubleheader against Neosho County, Diehl dislocated her ankle catching a fly ball at the fence. Her foot was caught in the fence causing the injury.

The Busters played the final three regular season games and four Region VI games without her.

"You never want to see a record-breaker go," Terpstra said of Diehl. "It's never easy to find someone who can put up the numbers she did, and so we'll just have to find ways to fill in her run production."

Besides breaking the school career home run record with 24, Diehl batted .466 in her two years. She also had an on-base percentage of .525 and posted 110 RBIs over her career.

While those numbers alone may be a lot to lose, Garden City has plenty of help on the offensive and defensive ends coming back. Freshman shortstop Megan Hamilton did her part in helping the Busters produce a Garden City record 395 runs and average 7.7 a game. Hamilton also set a single-season record with 91 hits, and scored the most runs in a season with 62.

Starting pitcher Taylor Cange completed her freshman season with the top win percentage in school history at .739.

To go along with Cange's success on the mound, the Buster defense had the least amount of errors and the best fielding percentage in a season in school history.