GCHS Softball secures #1 seed and hosts regional, Baseball on the road in Wichita

Garden City, Kan. (Western Kansas News) – Buff Tough, Buff Proud. Words that echo across The Garden during every letter of intent signing this year ring true today as the end of the 2024-25 sports season looms.

For the seniors on the Garden City High School softball and baseball squads, they mean different things. For softball, it’s been a year of resilience and grit, one that has determined the trajectory of this team after a disappointing 2024 campaign. For the baseball team, the 2025 season has been one of personal development and accountability for a ball club that, on paper, won fewer games than last season, but is one that arguably has more talent in the pipeline than the previous season. There’s a lot to look forward to in the next couple of years for GCHS baseball.

Both teams begin postseason play this week, with softball hosting regionals at Tangeman Sports Complex, and baseball on the road for the second consecutive season doing battle at Wichita-Haysville Campus, the #2 overall seed in the 6A West bracket.

Baseball, who finds themselves slated as the #15 seed in the west bracket after a 6-16 regular season campaign, is situated in one of the tougher brackets for the 2025 regional tournament. The winner of the #2 vs #15 game (Campus and GCHS) will play the winner of the Washburn Rural and Wichita North (#7 vs #10) game for the right to advance to state. Last season, Garden City was felled in the first round of regional play against Manhattan at host Maize High School.

Softball will open the postseason action on Wednesday against a suffering Junction City team that has won two games on the season. Garden City, who starts the postseason as the definitive #1 overall seed in the 6A West bracket, will play host to #8 and WAC foe Liberal, #9 Wichita South, and #16 Junction City. The Lady Buffs, courtesy of their #1 seed, will know who they would potentially face, as their opening bout against Junction City is the second game on Wednesday’s docket.

The Lady Buffs are no stranger to the regional and state conversation as a perennial power in Southwest Kansas, but they have also had extraordinary trouble advancing past the regional championship and the state quarterfinal. In 2023, GCHS hosted the regional tournament at Tangeman and ended up losing 5-2 to Lawrence-Free State in 8 innings. The Firebirds were 10-12 on the season entering the matchup with the #2 seed in the west in Garden City. In 2021, marking the last time the Lady Buffs advanced to the state tournament, Garden City lost in the opening quarterfinal round to Gardener Edgerton. The only time that Garden City has advanced past the opening quarterfinal round after making a state appearance was in 2017, when #5 seed Garden City took down #4 seed Blue Valley before taking a semi-final loss and winning the 3rd place crown. The 2017 Lady Buffs held two all-state selections: pitcher Abbie Dart (first team) and infielder Yazmin Vargas (second team).

For context on this season’s regional tournament, GCHS is 3-0 against Liberal (wins of 12-2, 7-4, 12-10) and has a perfect 9-0 record against teams with a .500 or worse record. Against teams that are better than .500, GCHS is 8-5 on the season, with the most glaring loss coming to the 5A West favorite in Maize South, who boasts a perfect 26-0 record heading into their home regional. While historically, the regional round, even with hosting privileges, has not been a kind one to GCHS Softball, the eyes of institutional history observe this 2025 squad with keen interest.

Broadcast Schedule:

Softball (Game 2): Pregame at 2:40p with first pitch at approximately 3p on 99.9 The Rock.
Baseball (Game 1): Pregame at 1:40p with first pitch at 2p on 99.9 The Rock.

Should GCHS advance in either sport, the regional championship game will take place approximately 25 minutes after the conclusion of Game 2 in the regional bracket.