Great Bend Post Sports
Following Tuesday's sweep of Dodge City Tuesday at the Sports Complex, the Lady Panther softball team headed west Thursday to wrap up the three-game set against the Lady Demons. After outscoring Dodge City 23-3 in the first two games, Great Bend won Thursday's game 4-1 to move to 11-1 on the season.
Senior Paige Thexton entered the game with a .574 on-base percentage that included a team-high 14 walks. She led off the game with her 15 base on balls of the season, then scored on a bunt from freshman Camdyn Post and an error in the first inning.
Dodge City evened the score in the bottom of the second and the score remained 1-1 into the fifth inning. Thexton drew another walk, then Kya Behr reached on a single. That set up a 3-run homer from DeShawnna Bryant to provide some comfort.
Before Thursday, sophomore Braelyn Turner and freshman Chayla Prendergast had accounted for 64 of the team's 68 innings pitched this season. Coach Carrie Minton mixed things up some in the circle with Alyssa McCauley going the first two innings. The sophomore struck out two and allowed one earned run on three hits. Thexton threw 3.1 innings, striking out four and allowing two hits. Turner struck out a batter in the sixth for her lone recorded out. Prendergast accounted for the final four outs with two strikeouts and a hit allowed.
The Lady Panthers needed just four hits to go with five walks in the win. Bryant entered the game batting .526 and had two of the hits, including the 3-run homer. Behr saw her team-best .610 batting average drop with a 1-for-4 showing. Post, batting .500 on the season, went 1-for-3. Kamryn Koelsch, with a .600 on-base percentage, drew two more walks and went hitless in her one official at bat.
A busy week continues in Dodge City today as the Lady Panthers take on Goddard-Eisenhower and Maize South. Great Bend will play Derby and Wichita Northwest in Dodge City on Saturday.