BY JIM MISUNAS
jmisunas@gbtribune.com

LIBERAL — Great Bend sprinted to an 8-0 lead and held off Liberal 8-5 in Tuesday's Western Athletic Conference softball game. Great Bend (1-4) returns home Thursday to play Liberal in a doubleheader.

All nine Panthers delivered base hits, seven scored runs and six players drove home runs in a dazzling 16-hit attack. Sydney Unruh and Grace Rowland each drove in two runs.

Analiz Rivas doubled home Paige Thexton in the first inning. Thexton's single drove home Melyne Fletchall in the second inning.

An error opened the door for a five-run third inning. Rowland singled home Pamela Bujanda. Brooke McReynolds singled in Rowland. Unruh tripled home McReynolds and Fletchall for a 6-0 lead. Unruh scored on Jordan Turner's groundout. Rivas scored on Rowland;s fourth-inning groundout for an 8-0 lead.

The Panthers' defense saved the game. Third baseman Rowland turned a double play on Jaciana Rivera's fourth-inning lineout. Catcher Brenna Bownes tagged out Millycent McClure at home after a three-base error in the fifth inning. Bownes picked off Logan Dodge in the sixth inning. 

Ren Watt doubled home Nohemi Gomez and Lizzy Cisneros doubled home Watt and Logan Dodge in the fourth inning. McClure doubled home Cisneros and Jenna Ormiston in the seventh inning. Reliever Paige Thexton recorded the final three outs. Gomez was thrown out at third base for the game's final out.

Great Bend 115 100 0 — 8 16 0 

Liberal 000 300 2 — 5 11 1

Turner, Thexton (7) and Bownes. Ormiston and M. McClure. W—Turner, 1-1. L—Ormiston 2-3. 2B—GB—Thexton, Rivas; L—Dodge, Watt, McClure, Ormiston. 3B—GB—Unruh

WESTERN ATHLETIC

Dodge City 0-0 3-0 

Garden City 0-0 2-0

Hays High 0-0 2-1 

Liberal 0-0 2-3 

Great Bend 0-0 1-4 

TUESDAY—Dodge City 6, Hays 1; Great Bend 8, Liberal 5

THURSDAY—Liberal at Great Bend; Dodge City at Hays; Garden City at Wichita Heights