Garden City wins conference opener in Dodge City

Dodge City, KS-Yina Ballesta Vargas struck out seven, Mara Vonk and Maysen Kurene-Iwikau each went yard, and Garden City improved to 9-4 with a 4-1 victory over Dodge City in their conference opener Friday afternoon at Legends Park. 

Vargas scattered five hits and allowed one earned run on passed ball in the fourth for the Broncbusters, which won their ninth game in a row. Jade Hendrix collected two hits and an RBI. 

Garden City got on the board in the fourth. After Julissa Galicia singled up the middle, Vonk demolished a breaking ball over the left-field wall for a two-run homer. That was followed by Kenzie Garza's triple and Hendrix's run-scoring double that made it 3-0. 

After the Conquistadors scratched a run across in the bottom half, Kurene-Iwikau provided some massive insurance with a leadoff blast to begin the fifth. 

From there, Vargas worked around a two-out single in the fifth before tossing a one-two-three sixth. In the seventh, the sophomore got both Karen Valaviz and Kloe Nelson to line out before Riley Moore popped out to second to end the game. 

Vargas surrendered one run or fewer for the fourth consecutive game dropping her ERA to a miniscule 1.35 in 36 1/3 innings worked. She improved to 5-2 in the circle.