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Lady Broncbuster softball splits home doubleheader with Lamar
Published 4/25/2009 in Sports : GCCC
BY BRETT MARSHALL
It had been more than two months, early February in fact, since the Garden City Lady Broncbusters softball team had seen the Lamar (Colo.) Runnin' Lopes.
It was the season-opening series in Lamar for the Busters and they came home with a sweep. It all seemed so easy then.
Things have changed mightily since then, not nearly as much for the Busters, who have had an excellent season to date, but more so for the Runnin' Lopes, who have already clinched the Region 9 regular season title and have received a bye into their postseason playoffs next week.
The two schools met once again, Friday at Tangeman Sports Complex, and the Runnin' Lopes, after falling behind 6-1 after two innings of the opener and eventually dropping a 7-4 decision, came back in the nightcap and dominated the Busters by an 8-1 margin to earn a split and a measure of respect and confidence.
"That's exactly how it looked from where I was watching," Garden City coach Phil Terpstra said. "From the second inning on of the first game, they outplayed us. We were fortunate to have a good lead in the opener and managed to come up with just enough big plays and big pitches to get out of the first game with a win."
In the opener, catcher Kayla Jeanjaquet got the Busters off and rolling with a one-out home run over the left field fence in the bottom of the first inning.
"She was trying to get me to back off the plate," said Jeanjaquet, who went 3-for-4 in the game. "Then I was able to see the next one coming and made a good swing."
The Busters would then plate five runs in the second on just two hits, aided by two Lamar errors and four walks by pitcher Brittany Borque. That produced a 6-0 lead and it appeared the Busters were on their way to another cakewalk victory.
"I think sometimes we just tend to get comfortable, we get up and get (over) confident," said Taylor Cange, the sophomore right-handed pitcher who picked up the victory. "I didn't have my best stuff today, but we managed to come up with some big plays and I was able to make some key pitches at the right time."
The Lopes kept pecking away at the Busters, scoring once in the fourth on a Kayla Bruner double, and then got three more in the fifth -- two of which came on a line-drive to left field by Bruner, which easily cleared the fence.
It was Cange, however, who got the critical out against Bruner in the sixth inning that proved to be decisive. With the bases loaded, two out and being down in the count 2-1, Cange induced Bruner to pop out to third baseman Dee Mobley to end the would-be rally.
"It wasn't her best control," Terpstra said of Cange, "but she got it when she needed it and for not having her best stuff, I thought she showed a lot of toughness. She had a lot more movement on her riser today and that helped."
After Alexa Harvey drove in the final Busters run with an RBI single in the sixth, Cange came back and gave up just a single in the top of the seventh before getting the final three outs to earn her 12th win of the season and has now gone 10-2 since starting the season 2-5.
"Her screwball was working well today, but then her riser was much better so we threw that a lot more," Jeanjaquet said of Cange. "She was moving the ball around and the riser just gives her one more pitch to have to keep the hitters off balance."
The Runnin' Lopes pounded out 11 hits in the nightcap, nine off starter Alexa Harvey, who saw her record fall to 15-5. Harvey was pulled for Cange in the top of the fifth with the bases loaded. By the time the inning was over, Cange had walked in a run and then an error allowed another runner to score. Lamar's Sheena Hardman had hit two home runs and drove in three runs as the Lopes built a 7-1 lead.
Lamar starter Emily Huhta finished off the Busters. She gave up just seven hits but only in the third -- when GCCC scored its lone run -- did she yield more than one hit.
"I was happy with the way things came out, especially the way we started," Lamar coach Craig Brooks said. "We got in a hole early in the first game, fought our way back to where we had a chance to tie or win in the later innings and that momentum seemed to carry into the second game. We played a very good game and put a lot of pressure on Garden in the second game."
Bruner was the big pain for Harvey and Cange as she finished the twinbill with seven hits in eight at-bats, had a home run, a triple, two doubles, drove in three runs and scored three times.
The Busters will be on the road Sunday for a doubleheader in Trinidad, Colo. where they will play Trinidad in the opener at 1 p.m. and then Colorado College at 3 p.m. They are back home Tuesday for a rescheduled twinbill with Colby at 3 p.m.
Game 1
Garden City 7, Lamar (Colo.) 4
Lamar 001 030 0 -- 4 8 1
Garden City 150 001 x -- 7 8 1
2B -- L (Bruner). 3B -- GCCC (Stefanski). HR -- L (Bruner), GCCC (Jeanjaquet).
L -- Borque and Bruner; GCCC -- Cange and Jeanjaquet. W -- Cange (12-7). L -- Borque (15-8).
Game 2
Lamar (Colo.) 8, Garden City 1
Lamar 022 031 0 -- 8 11 0
Garden City 001 000 0 -- 1 7 4
2B -- L (Bruner, Eddleman). 3B -- L (Bruner). HR -- L (Eddleman 2).
L -- Huhta and Bruner; GCCC -- Harvey, Cange (5) and Courtois, Jeanjaquet (5). W -- Huhta (16-7); L -- Harvey (15-5).
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