Larned Battles Back to Sweep Lady Broncos

Game 1: Larned 12, Russell-Victoria 10
Game 2: Larned 7, Russell-Victoria 4

The Russell-Victoria Lady Bronco Softball team played their first home games in nearly a month on Tuesday at Memorial Park as they took on Larned. A promising start ended up in a sweep at the hands of the Lady Indians by scores of 12-10 and 7-4.

Game 1 was scoreless into the bottom of the third inning when the Lady Broncos took the lead on an RBI double by Ashlynn Henley.  After Larned evened the score in the top of the fourth, Russell-Victoria erupted for five runs on two Lady Indian errors and a two-run inside the park home run by Daryss Barrera to make the score 6-1 in favor of the home team after four frames.

Larned then came off the mat and scored four runs apiece in the fifth and sixth innings to seize a 9-6 lead.  The Lady Broncos followed that up with four runs of their own in the bottom of the sixth on an RBI single by Jasmine Jefferson, an RBI double by Jamie Toon, an infield single by Norah Mooney and an RBI groundout by Peyton Sohm to surge into a 10-9 advantage with a chance to close the game out.  However, Larned parlayed two RBI singles and a groundout into a three run rally in the top of the seventh and then finished off Russell-Victoria in the bottom of the inning to hang on for the win.  Gracelynn Dinkel took the loss for Russell-Victoria while Jayden Crosby pitched a complete game to get the win for Larned.

In the nightcap, the contest was scoreless through two innings before both teams tallied a run in the third inning with Toon driving in Jefferson to tie score at 1-1.  Larned then scored one run in the fourth and five more in the fifth inning to take a commanding 7-1 lead.  The Lady Broncos drew closer with three runs in the bottom of the sixth on Barrera's RBI double and a two-run single by Saige Moos.  However, Larned's Bryleigh Stahlecker settled down and worked around a one-out single in the bottom of the seventh to secure the win and the sweep.  Dinkel took the loss in Game 2, working three innings before Moos pitched the contest's final four frames.

Russell-Victoria (4-16) is next in action on Thursday, April 30 at Memorial Park when they host Goodland for a doubleheader.  First pitch for Game 1 is at 4 p.m. and both games will be broadcast live on KRSL 95.9 FM, online at KRSL.com and streamed on Alexa devices.