LARNED — The Great Bend High School softball team split a doubleheader at Larned on Friday afternoon at Ralph Terry Field.
The Lady Panthers took the first game 8-5 and Larned controlled the second game on the back of Brittney Perez’s pitching performance, winning 4-1.
The Lady Indians went up 2-0 in the bottom of the second inning in game one. Tiara Diaz put a slap bunt down to score Perez from third. Diaz was out at first on the play.
Katie Seeman scored two batters later with Annie Russum placing the sacrifice bunt.
Stephanie Morrison, who went 2-for-3 with a pair of RBIs in the first game, pulled GBHS within one in the top of the third with an RBI double, driving in Bonny Boultinghouse.
“Abby came out and pitched a good game,” GBHS head coach Carrie Minton said. “We came to the plate ready to hit. I felt like we did a good job. The girls worked hard.”
Boultinghouse went 2-for-2 in the first game, including a two-run single in the top of the sixth. She found her way on base in all four of her plate appearances with a pair of walks as well.
Larned got that run back in the bottom of the third when Bailey Schartz drove in Roxy Foster with a single.
In the top of the fourth, things turned around for the Lady Panthers.
Jordan Haney ripped a triple, driving in Abby Morrison. Haney scored on a passed ball to tie the game at 3-3.
GBHS scored three more runs in the fifth inning and another two in the top of the sixth.
Abby Morrison went the distance on the mound, giving up seven hits and no walks while recording five strikeouts.
Perez’s pitching highlighted game two. She went the full seven innings for Larned, recording nine strikeouts, allowing only four hits and walking one.
“She played well,” Hoisington head coach Carl Miller said of Perez. “She pitched the inside corner well. They never did get a hang on that inside corner. So she did a good job there.”
The only run Great Bend scored on Perez came in the top of the second. Lexie Brack got on base with a single and stole second.
“We knew we dug ourselves a little bit of a hole defensively,” Minton said. “We made a couple of errors. Some indecisiveness when we had a chance to make some plays cost us. Then we never really found our rhythm at the plate in the second game.
“Brittney (Perez) did a good job. The girls just couldn’t find it.”
Kaitlee Spray drove her in with a single.
Larned had already scored two in the bottom of the first inning. Schartz drove in a run with a single and then scored on a wild pitch.
The Lady Indians added two more runs in the top of the third inning. Schartz scored another run on a passed ball. Seeman reached first on a throwing error while McKenzie Galliart scored from third.
“Second game, I thought we played sound as a team,” Miller said. “There were at least four times where we had runners at second or at least one at third with two outs, and we couldn’t get that run in. But that’ll come.
“This is a young team that, I mean we have some good seniors, but we’ve got some young players. We’re going to get better as the season progresses.”