Pitching woes cost Garden City in opener vs. Hutch

Garden City, KS-Gabby Stauffer hit three home runs and knocked in eight, and Hutchinson beat Garden City, 18-6 in game one on Thursday afternoon at Tangeman Sports Complex. 

Chiara Olison allowed 11 runs on 12 hits in just 2 2/3 for the Broncbusters, which fell to 22-19 overall and 14-13 in conference. Ashlyn Powell yielded seven runs in three innings of relief. 

The Blue Dragons broke open a 2-2 game in the second when Stauffer hit her second homer of the day: a grand slam to right field that capped a five-run inning and put the visitors up 7-2. 

Hutchinson (33-6, 25-2) scored three more in the third, then put the game away in the sixth. Addison Lutz roped an RBI single, Haley Kruger ripped a two-run double, and Staffer capped an unbelievable offensive day with a two-run shot to center to make it 18-6. 

The Broncbusters though were competitive early in this one thanks to Maria Avendano Fori, who tied the game with a two-run homer in the first. Daryelin Rivas Chavez, who's missed the last two weeks with a wrist injury, returned to hit a solo homer in the third before Avendano Fori mashed her second long ball of the game in the fifth. 

But the offense took a back seat as the pitching struggled for a third straight game. Olison surrendered three home runs, and Powell didn't record a strikeout in 3 1/3 innings of relief.