Garden City crushes Seward; closing in on fourth in Jayhawk

Garden City, KS-Maria Avendano crushed two homers including a walk-off grand slam, Mara Vonk also went deep twice, and Garden City pummeled Seward County, 17-9 in game one Wednesday afternoon at Tangeman Sports Complex.

Fori's second homer of the day put the run rule in place, a massive blast to right-center in the bottom of the sixth that capped the Broncbusters second six-run inning of the day. It was also her region-leading 25^th homer of the season. 

Chiara Olison notched the win in the circle, allowing five runs on five hits in five innings of work for Garden City, which improved to 24-19 overall and 16-13 in conference. They are currently a game behind Dodge City for fourth place in the Jayhawk standings. 

Belinda Hendrix's team turned one-run affair into a laugher in the third. Garden City hit four home runs in the inning including back-to-back jacks by Fori and Maysen Kurene-Iwikau. After Reagan Sword singled home a run later in the frame, Vonk smashed a two-run shot, and Alyssa Santana mashed a solo home run to dead center for a 9-2 advantage. 

Vonk homered for the second time in the fourth to make it 10-2. 

After Seward county pulled to within two following Anberlin Tatum's two-run round tripper in the sixth, the Broncbusters put the game away in the bottom half. 

Daryelin Rivas Chavez finished 3-for-5 at the plate and Vonk was 4-for-4 with three RBI and four runs scored for Garden City, which won for the eighth time in their last nine home games.