Garden City blows out Independence; has two game lead for first in the west

By Mike Pilosof

Independence, KS-After sweating things out in their series opener with Independence on Sunday, the Broncbusters didn't take anything for granted in game two. And their approach gave Amy Schmeckpeper's first-place squad their third straight win.

McKayla Encinias mashed two home runs, Lacey Kearsley picked up her second win of the day, and Garden City topped the Pirates 10-2. The win gave Garden City a two-game lead over Colby for tops in the Jayhawk West.

And it was Encinias providing the early statement.

After fouling off six pitches to lead off the game, the sophomore finally got ahold of one, taking Brooke Vicory deep for a 1-0 advantage. In the second, Alexis Maestretti followed suit with a lead-off bomb, Nya Chacon singled home a run in the third, and Garden City was up 3-0.

The Pirates got a run back in the fourth on Parker Moore's run-scoring double. But the Broncbusters were quick to counter thanks to Arianna Griego, who used a little two-out magic in the fifth with a single to center to push Carly Powley across for a 4-1 lead. An inning later, Kearsley smoked a two-run triple to deep center, and Maestretti clubbed a hard infield single to give the Broncbusters a six-run edge. Maestretti eventually stole home, Encinias homered again in the seventh, and Garden City was up 10-1.  

Encinias finished 3-for-5 at the plate for Garden City, snapping a season-long three-game hitless streak. Chacon recorded her 20^th multi-hit game of the season and has now hit safely in 29 out of 30 contests this season while the bottom four of the order: Maestretti, Reid, Griego and Micaela Mirabel combined to go 8-for-16 with three runs scored and three RBI.

Vicory took the loss for Independence, allowing 10 runs on 15 hits in seven innings. She labored for most of the day, tossing 136 pitches.