BY JIM MISUNAS
jmisunas@gbtribune.com
Great Bend's Chayla Prendergast and Braelyn Turner are well known for their pitching prowess.
Prendergast and Turner displayed their hitting talent with home runs that started with a 13-2 victory over Hays High in Thursday's Western Athletic Conference showdown.
The Panthers (17-1, 7-0 WAC) extend their WAC winning streak to 23 consecutive games.
PANTHERS 13, HAYS 2 (G1) — Prendergast (9-1, 1.24 ERA) struck out three batters and yielded one earned run.
Alyssa McCauley singled home Camdyn Post and Katherine Mazouch in the first inning.
Kamryn Koelsch's homer sparked a 6-run second inning. Denver Ringo scored on a passed ball. Post's single scored Jaya Stroup and Baze Hogan. Post scored on Mazouch's groundout. Kya Behr scored on an error.
The Panthers' 5-run fourth helped end the run-rule win. Mazouch scored on McCauley's sacrifice fly. Behr scored on Callie Umphres' single. Ringo and Umphres scored on Prendergast's homer.
PANTHERS, HAYS (G2) — Turner matched Prendergast with a 2-run homer. Prendergast quickly regained bragging rights among the pitchers with her second roundtripper.
Denver Ringo joined home-run derby with a 2-run blast.
Hays High 002 00 — 2 3 4
Great Bend 260 5x — 13 9 1
Raymer and Augustine. Prendergast and Koelsch. W—Prendergast, 9-1. L—Raymer, 3-3. 2B—H—Kippes. HR—GB—Koelsch, Prendergast.
Hays High 000 2 — 2
Great Bend 602 3 — 11
Summers and Augustine. Turner and Koelsch. W—Turner, 8-0. L—Summers, 3-7. 2B—GB—Mazouch, Umphres, McCauley; H—Kippes, Summers. HR—GB—Turner, Prendergast, Ringo.
WAC SOFTBALL
Great Bend 7-0 17-1
Garden City 5-0 8-8
Hays High 4-4 7-9
Liberal 0-6 4-10
Dodge City 0-6 1-11
4-21—Great Bend 18, Hays 6; Garden City 11, Liberal 2
4-23—Great Bend 8, Hays 2; Garden City 13 Liberal 1; Lakin at Dodge City