The Garden City Telegram
NEW E-Edition!
Subscription
Required
Add Your Comment | Read (0) Comments
Offense paces GCCC softball
Published 3/1/2010 in Sports
By BRETT MARSHALL
bmarshall@gctelegram.com
For a team that has had little outdoor practice in a month the Garden City Community College softball team had its offense in mid-season form Saturday at Tangeman Complex with a doubleheader against North Platte (Neb.).
After more than five hours, the Lady Broncbusters walked off the softened grounds with a sweep of the Knights, rallying in the first game to win 8-3, then outlasted North Platte in the second game, 16-14.
The victories move GCCC (9-2) into Thursday's Jayhawk Conference Western Division opener at Seward County on a positive note. The first game starts at 2 p.m.
"It was two crazy games and I thought we did a good job of coming back (in the opener) after being down early," GCCC coach Phil Terpstra said. "Considering we have not seen much live pitching or outside work, I thought we swung the bats well and played pretty good overall."
In the first game, North Platte was ahead 3-1 after four innings before offensively the Busters took over.
GCCC pushed five runs across in the fifth, aided by two errors on the Knights. Jen Buchwalter and Megan Courtois each drove in a run during the Busters' rally as they sent 11 batters to the plate. GCCC would tack on a pair of insurance runs in the sixth when Dee Mobley singled, scored on an RBI double by Blair Stalder, then Stalder scored on a passed ball and a fielding error by North Platte.
Highlighting North Platte's 3-run fourth outburst was a home run by Cassy Hoffman and a double by Raeann Lenz. Mobley led the nine-hit attack with three hits and Harvey had her pair of doubles. Stalder had two RBIs. Brandi Lovato picked up the victory for the Busters.
In the second game, North Platte went up 3-0 after its half of the first inning. GCCC bounced back with three runs in the second and three more in the third. Courtois had a run-scoring single and Trisha Haslam doubled home a pair of runs in the Busters' second. In the third, Stalder slammed a 2-run home run over the left centerfield fence and Courtois added another run-scoring single to up the lead to 6-3.
North Platte, though, took advantage of freshman pitcher Jordan Barnett in its half of the fourth by tagging her for five runs on seven hits, the biggest being a 3-run home run by Amanda Paris.
Unfazed by the outburst, the Busters answered back with a nine-run burst in the bottom of the fourth. Buchwalter hit a grand slam that provided the biggest fireworks for GCCC. Mobley and Alex Wall each had 2-run doubles in the inning. North Platte came back in its fifth and sixth innings, plating three and two to slice the deficit to 15-13. Wall would drive in the final run for the Busters in the bottom of the sixth with a triple down the left field foul line but was thrown out at home trying to stretch it into an inside-the-park home run.
A fielding error by Haslam in center field paved the way for North Platte to add a single, then score a run on an infield out to trim the lead to 16-14. Lovato, who had come on in relief of Barnett in the fifth, induced a pop-up to first, walked another hitter to put the tying run on base and the go-ahead run at the plate. She got the final out by getting Knapp to bounce out softly to her at the mound and easily threw her out.
"Two wins with as little outdoor work as we've had, I guess you can't be disappointed," Terpstra said.
For sophomore Alexa Harvey it was another day of not having to pitch. The southpaw was part of the 1-2 pitcher rotation a year ago. She went 2-for-3 and 3-for-4, and scored four runs.
"It's been very relaxing not to have to worry about the pitching and scouting report," Harvey said. "We've got three solid pitchers so there's not the pressure that I had a year ago. I can hit for myself and it's been a bit more laid back."
See linescores in Scoreboard, Page B2.
Found 0 comment(s)!