GCCC Softball splits double header at Colby
Image courtesy of Garden City Community College Athletics.
Game 1:
Colby, KS-The Broncbusters took another step towards clinching a top four seed.
Maria Avendano Fori and Mara Vonk each homered, Yina Ballesta Vargas returned from injury to strike out 10, and Garden City beat Colby, 11-5 Monday afternoon.
The Broncbusters improved to 25-19 overall and 17-13 in league play, meaning a win in the series finale on Monday and regular-season finale on Tuesday vs. Seward, would clinch fourth place in the Jayhawk-setting up a first-round showdown with Dodge City in Friday’s Region VI Tournament. They could still earn the No. 4 seed with a loss to the Trojans in game two as long as they beat the Saints in Tuesday’s matchup, which was suspended last Wednesday because of rain.
Fori smacked a two-run homer in the second to make it 6-0 before Vonk’s solo shot in the third gave the Broncbusters a 7-0 advantage.
After Colby scored four in the third to make it a three-run game, the Broncbusters added some insurance in the sixth when Maysen Kurene-Iwikau singled home a run. Fori added a two-run single in the seventh.
Vargas, who won her 14th game in the circle, allowed five runs on eight hits in seven innings. She walked three.
Game 2:
Colby, KS-Bailey Jackson clubbed two homers and drove in five runs, Tess Polad had three hits, and Colby outlasted Garden City, 11-8 in game two on Monday afternoon.
The loss means that Garden City must win Tuesday’s suspended game vs. Seward to secure the No. 4 seed in this week’s Region VI Tournament.
Maria Avendano Fori and Maysen Kurene-Iwikau blasted back-to-back jacks in the first to give the Broncbusters a 4-0 edge. Fori added a sacrifice fly in the second to make it 5-1.
Colby, which snapped a three-game losing streak to improve to 30-25 overall and 11-21 in conference, answered with a crooked number in the second, thanks to Jackson’s three-run homer that gave the home team a 6-5 lead.
Alyssa Santana responded with a solo homer as part of a two-run third that gave the Broncbusters a 7-6 edge. But Colby went back in front for good in the fifth when Kinleigh Haskell crushed a breaking ball for a two-run homer to make it 9-7. Jackson added a two-run blast in the sixth.
Chiara Olison struggled in the circle for Garden City, allowing seven runs on eight hits in four innings. Fori hit her conference-leading 27th homer of the season.
