Lady Buffs fall to Lady Panthers, 11-2

Story Credit: GCHS Athletics

There was no doubt that the preparation for Tuesday’s Western Athletic Conference single game against Great Bend indicated the game had monumental importance toward determining who would win the conference.

Despite dramatic differences in season records, the Garden City Lady Buffaloes and Great Bend Lady Panthers each were unbeaten in the WAC entering Tuesday’s single game at John Ford Field at Tangeman Sports Complex.

The final 11-2 Great Bend victory did little to hide how competitive the youthful Lady Buffs were against a veteran Lady Panther squad that had entered the game with an 18-1 season record (only a 3-1 loss to Derby) and were 9-0 in the WAC.

The Lady Buffs, meanwhile, had gone through a roller-coaster season with a 9-8 record and were 5-0 in the WAC. The winner would have a leg up on the WAC title as the remaining two games between the teams on Thursday, April 30, will still determine the outright title.

For six of the seven innings, the Buffs and Panthers battled on near-even terms, with the Buffs holding a 2-1 lead through three innings. Freshman pitcher Brylee Hamblin had been sharp against the hard-hitting Great Bend offense, limiting them to just two hits and had not walked a batter.

“I thought we were doing a great job competing,” said GCHS head coach Trina Mai. “We’re still so young and growing, but I can’t really complain about how we competed. I’ll take this, and work with this to help build them into a really good team.”

The Lady Buffs struck first, scoring two runs in the bottom of the first when Marisol and Yas Angeles led off with a double and single and then came home on a throwing error by Great Bend second baseman Baze Hogan.

But the Buffs stranded runners on second and third after having just one out, and those runners left on base were the start of five stranded runners through the first three innings.

“When you get base runners against a good pitcher and good fielding team, you need to take advantage of that, and we just didn’t capitalize then,” Mai said.

The Lady Panthers’ big inning came in the fourth when they utilized four walks to combine with four hits that included three doubles to score all the runs.

“Aside from the one inning, I thought it was one of our best performances of the season,” Mai

said. “We had some timely hits, we got pretty good pitching, and our defense was outstanding (0 errors). I’ll take that any day.”

Marisol and Yas Angeles each had two hits among the seven hits for the Buffs.

While Hamblin suffered the loss, the freshman limited Great Bend to six hits in 3.2 innings, three unearned runs, walked four and had two strikeouts.

“She was really solid early and then I think she just had those freshman inexperience moments,” Mai said. “But she really did pitch well.”

Mai brought in junior Madison Polson with two outs in the fourth and the right-hander finished out the final 3.1 innings, giving up just two hits, two runs (1 earned), walked one and had one strikeout.

“That’s what I envision with the two pitchers,” Mai said. “If we can get those two clicking, then we have two pitchers with different styles, and I think that will be a positive for us to keep teams off balance.”

Great Bend had six extra base hits, including five doubles and a home run. Denver Ringo was the ringleader with a double, home run and three RBIs. Alyssa McCauley had a double and sacrifice fly to account for 3 runs driven in.

The teams will complete their season 3-game series on Thursday in Great Bend. First pitch will be at 4 p.m. The Buffs are now 9-9 overall and 5-1 in the WAC. Great Bend improved to 19-1 and 10-0.

Following the Great Bend series, the Buffs will have three games with Dodge City (May 5 and 7) and a single game at Hays (May 12). In between those WAC contests, the Buffs will play Wichita-Kapaun Mt. Carmel and Haysville-Campus at the Andover Tournament on May 8 and 9.

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Western Athletic Conference

Tuesday, April 28

At John Ford Field/Tangeman Sports Complex

GREAT BEND 11, GARDEN CITY 2

Great Bend…010…801…1…–…11…9…1

Garden City…200…000…0…–…2…7…0

Pitching—Great Bend: Prendergast and Koelsch; Garden City: Hamblin, Polson (4) and Peck. 2B—Great Bend: Ringo, McCauley, Mazouch, Swanson; Garden City: M. Angeles. HR—Great Bend: Ringo.