Garden City gets rolling early-coasts to win over Pratt in finale

By Mike Pilosof

Pratt, KS-To say Garden City was seething going into the second game on Wednesday would be a massive understatement. After all, they let one slip through the cracks in the opener.

There was no let down in this one.

Elisabeth McGill went yard, Carley Powley had three hits, and the Broncbusters earned a split, beating Pratt 11-7 in the finale at Lemon Park.

Garden City scored in every inning but the sixth and broke open a 1-1 game with two runs in the second-thanks to a massive miscue in left by Nikole Puetez that allowed Kaylee Rogers and Elisabeth McGill to score. Then in the third, it was one swing by McGill-a towering, three-run bomb to straight-away center that pushed the Broncbusters lead to 6-1.

That advantage eventually swelled to 9-1 when Rogers added an RBI single in the fourth; then scored on McKayla Encinias's RBI fielder's choice.

Pratt did manage to make things interesting, getting a run back in the fourth on Audrey Graf's error in center field. After Garden City scored in the fifth, the Beavers used a five-run fifth, capped by Marissa Reina's two-run homer that made it 10-7.

But that's as close as the home team got. Rogers, who was just named the Jayhawk Conference player of the week, allowed just one hit over the final 2 1/3, and McGill pushed across the Broncbusters' final run in the seventh when she drilled a long single to left center that scored Powley.

Powley finished 3-for-4 at the plate with three runs scored, McGill was 3-for-5 with a season-high four RBI, and Rogers knocked in a pair of runs.

Alyssa Reyes took the loss for Pratt, allowing nine runs on seven hits in 3 1/3.