Great Bend High School unleashed the full gamut against visiting Dodge City in a Western Athletic Conference doubleheader sweep on Tuesday afternoon at Harms Field
Solid pitching, timely hitting and consistent play in the field helped the Lady Panthers make for an open-and-shut case against the Lady Demons, winning 11-0 in five innings in the opener and 12-2 in six innings in the nightcap.
Great Bend improves to 9-1 overall, including 4-0 in the WAC, as it prepares to travel to Hays for a crucial conference doubleheader on Thursday.
“We’re very pleased with where we’re at,” Great Bend head coach Carrie Minton said. “We’ve really got some tough teams coming on our schedule, so we’ve got to keep that in mind heading down the stretch in the last half of the season.”
Right-hander Abby Morrison spun a three-hit shutout in the opener, where GBHS scored nine first-inning runs, highlighted by three-run doubles by Emily Seiwert and Abby Morrison, and never looked back.
“Abby comes out to ready to play every day,” Minton said. “She loves the game.”
Stephanie Morrison, who finished 3 for 3 in the opener, led off the first with a double and slap-hitting Nicole Reiter added an infield single to get the wheels turning. Morgan Fletchall also had a single in the inning for the Lady Panthers, who had all but one player in the batting order score in the first.
Abby Morrison also had a two-run double in the third to hike the margin to 11-0. She had five runs batted in and on the mound, she retired nine of the first 10 batters she faced, including striking out three of four during that stretch. She finished with five strikeouts, keeping her shutout intact after wiggling out of a bases-loaded jam in the fourth.
“I don’t know if I’d say it was our best outing,” Minton said. “I think we came out, especially in the first game, really strong and I think we lost some of our intensity after we got out to our big lead.
“Halfway through the season, you kind of like to see them maintain their intensity. In the second game, I thought we did a better job at the plate, going up and looking for some good at-bats the entire game.”
In the nightcap, Seiwert kept the Lady Demons off-balance, allowing one run on seven hits before giving way to Jordan Haney in the fifth.
The Lady Panthers, leading 4-1 after four innings, put the 10-run rule into effect after scoring four runs in the fifth and four more in the sixth.
Haney had a two-run single in the first and then Great Bend built its lead to 4-1 after scoring a pair of runs in the second on wild pitches.
A four-run uprising in the fifth extended the Lady Panthers lead to 8-1. Abby Morrison doubled to lead off the inning and after consecutive walks to Haney and Lexie Brack, Kaitlee Spray doubled to left-center, driving in Abby Morrison and Haney to make it 6-1.
After an out was recorded, Seiwert hit an RBI groundout to third for a 7-1 cushion. Spray later scored on a wild pitch to make it 8-1.
Dodge City scored a single run in the top of the sixth on Ashley Stephenson’s RBI single to make it an 8-2 ballgame.
But Great Bend answered in a big way, plating four runs in the bottom of the inning to put the 10-run rule into effect.
Stephanie Morrison led off with a walk and after an out was recorded, Abby Morrison drove in Tanisha Unruh, running for Stephanie Morrison, with an opposite-field single to right to make it 9-2. Haney followed with an RBI double, scoring Abby Morrrison for a 10-2 edge. Haney then scored on a wild pitch, and Spray, who earlier singled, scored on a bases-loaded walk to Cassidy Tutak, making it a 10-run game.
Haney was 2 for 3 with three RBIs in the nightcap.
Abby Morrison, who was 3 for 3 at the plate in the second game, scored three runs and drove in another. She finished the day 5 for 5, including three doubles.

WESTERN ATHLETIC
CONFERENCE
SOFTBALL
At Great Bend
Harms Field
Tuesday

GAME 1
Great Bend 11, Dodge City 0 (4 1/2)
                       123    45        R    H    E
Dodge City    000    00        0     3    0
Great Bend    902    0x       11    9    0
     Morgan Schaller & Jessica Shipps; Abby Morrison & McKenna Mauler. W — A. Morrison. L — Schaller. 2B — Great Bend (Stephanie Morrison, Emily Seiwert, A. Morrison).

GAME 2
Great Bend 12 Dodge City 2 (6)
                           123   456     R   H   E
Dodge City        100   001     2    8    0
Great Bend        220   044    12   9   0
     Brittany Waldman & Jessica Shipps; Emily Seiwert, Jordan Haney (5) & Abby Morrison. W — Seiwert. L — Waldman. 2B — Great Bend (A. Morrison, Kaitlee Spray, Haney).