BUHLER, Kan.— Bombs away. Buhler softball (11-3) blasts seven home runs in a sweep of Augusta Thursday in Wheatland Park. Baseball (10-4) takes two also.
SOFTBALL GAME ONE: Buhler 18, Augusta 17
Game one could not have produced more drama. Buhler trailed Augusta, 12-1, in the fourth inning and 17-9 in the seventh. And then the bottom of the seventh inning happened.
Buhler tallied six hits, including four home runs, in the final half inning of regulation. One of those long balls was a grand slam off the bat of Annie Cram. The final was a solo shot by Torri Tustian that tied the game at 17.
Fast forward an inning later, Maddie Stallman scores on an Alexa Adame single to left for the walk-off win.
Sydney Quint and Taylor Kesinger also went deep in the game. Every Crusader batter accounted for at least one of the team’s 19 hits.
SOFTBALL GAME TWO: Buhler 14, Augusta 0
While the home run fest continued in game two, the drama did not. Buhler won convincingly over Augusta this time, scoring 14 runs off 16 hits in four innings at the plate.
Annie Cram hit her second home run of the day, a two-run shot in the third that made it 6-0. For the series, Cram went 4-7 at the plate with eight runs batted in. Sydney Quint and Taylor Kesinger also went deep for Buhler.
In the circle, Lilly Horne tossed five scoreless innings and allowed just three Oriole hits.
BASEBALL GAME ONE: Buhler 7, Augusta 4
Buhler broke a 3-3 tie by plating three runs in the bottom of the fourth inning against Augusta in game one. Mitchel McDaniel drove in a pair with a two-out single. He then scored on a double to center field by Brayden Henry. McDaniel finished the game 3-4 at the plate with two runs scored and two driven in.
Dylan Scripsick collected two of Buhler’s seven hits in the game and accounted for three runs batted in.
Though not his sharpest outing, Nixon Standlee proved steady on the bump, striking out seven Oriole batters and earning his third win of the season.
BASEBALL GAME TWO: BUHLER 14, AUGUSTA 4
Buhler scored at least one run in every inning but the fifth in game two. The home team put four runs on the board in the fourth and five in the sixth.
The four-run fourth included a three-run home run off the bat of Mitchel McDaniel. A towering shot to left field. The Crusaders’ five runs in the sixth inning came off just one hit, a single by Cash Carson, and seven walks.
Carson, who has hit safely in 12 of 14 games this season, went 2-3 in the game with three runs scored and three batted in.
A WEEK OFF
Both teams have Monday off before beginning a string of six games away from Wheatland Park next Thursday at Mulvane.
