EL DORADO, Kan. - The Dodge City Community College softball team fought off elimination for the second consecutive game with a 4-3, eight-inning win over Garden City Community College before losing a back-and-forth 9-8 game to Seward County Community College at the Region VI Softball Tournament at East Park in El Dorado, Kansas on Sunday, May 7th. 

DC3 ends their season at 25-18 after going 2-2 in the Region VI Tournament while the Busters saw their season come to a close at 18-36. Seward County improved to 42-21 and will face Butler in the Region VI Tournament championship game. 

Against Garden City, the Conquistadors would leave a runner on third to end the bottom of the second before breaking a scoreless tie in the bottom of the third on a Breanna Guerrero RBI single to score Brittney Gonzalez. GCCC would be held to just two hits through the first five innings of play before taking their first lead of the game on a two-run home run with one out in the top of the sixth. 

DC3 would fight back to tie the game at two with Guerrero coming around to score following a lead off single in the bottom of the sixth, but runners would be stranded at first and second heading to the seventh. 

A lead off home run for Garden City in the top of the seventh would allow the Lady Busters to reclaim a 3-2 lead and put Dodge City back on the brink of elimination, but a Morgan Ihle lead off double and Gonzalez RBI double with one-out tied the game again and sent the game to extra innings. 

In extra innings, GCCC would go down in order before Adreanna Guerrero woudl reach on a fielding error and move to second on a sacrifice bunt before Kylie Fox would end the game with a walk-off single.

Kim Herron's complete game improved her record to 18-10 on the year after allowing just three runs and striking out two. Gonzalez and B. Guerrero would lead the Conquistadors with two hits apiece atop the DC3 lineup while also driving in one run each. 

A quick start to game two in the third elimination game in two days for Dodge City would see Gonzalez lead off the game with a solo home run over the center field fence as the Conquistadors would take a 2-0 lead after half an inning of play. 

Seward would collect a pair of home runs in the bottom of the first to jump into the lead at 3-2 before an out would be recorded as Dodge City would settle down to get out of the inning without any more damage done. 

Ihle would draw a walk to start the top of the second and move to second on a Baylee Rial sacrifice bunt. Runners would wind up on the corners after a Gonzalez single before both runs managed to score on a throwing error by the Lady Saint catcher trying to throw out Gonzalez stealing second to put DC3 back up 4-3. 

The Dodge City lead would get pushed to 5-3 as Fox would hit a one-out double in the top of the third and move to third on a fly out before scoring on a wild pitch. 

SCCC found their groove once again in the bottom of the third to score three runs on four hits and mark the third lead change of the game by taking a 6-5 lead after three innings with both team taking advantage of a breezy day at the ballpark. 

The score would remain at 6-5 until the top of the sixth when Gonzalez and B. Guerrero would hit back-to-back one-out singles to bring up Taylor Menard. Menard would hit a third-consecutive single for DC3 and wound up coming all the way around to score as Seward County's third error of the game allowed Dodge City to reclaim the lead at 8-6. 

A two-out rally by the Lady Saints would be capped by a three-run home run to put SCCC back on top for good as the game-tying runner for DC3 would be thrown out trying to steal third before a strikeout ended the game in the top of the seventh. 

Herron would start the game and throw three innings, giving up six runs on seven hits and striking out three before turning the ball over to Jordyn McDaniel (7-8) who would take the loss. The freshman would throw the final three innings and give up three runs on four hits. 

Gonzalez would once again lead DC3 in the hit department by going a perfect four-for-four at the plate while scoring three runs and stealing one base. Fox would go three-for-four while Menard was the other DC3 player with multiple hits in the game (2). 

Record Notes: Brittney Gonzalez ends 2017 campaign with a .455 batting average, the fourth-highest in single-season history at DC3 with a minimum of 100 at-bats. The freshman also has 29 stolen bases which is the second-most in single season history behind only Bre Huff (36, 2003) and puts her in a tie for sixth in a career heading into next season. 

Gonzalez also ranks tied for eighth in hits in a season with 65 scored the second-most runs in a single-season in DC3 history with 56 (trails only Candy Winters with 65 in 2000). 

Kylie Fox ends her DC3 career with 15 doubles this season, the ninth-most in a single season at DC3 tied with Jalyssa Miller (2003), Erin Schwager (2003) and Melissa Ward (1999).

Baylee Rial finishes her DC3 career with five career triples, the sixth most in school history tied with Candy Winters (1999-2000). 

Kim Herron finished her season with 18 wins to give her the fourth-most in a single season and a career total of 35 (third-most in a career at DC3). With 146 strikeouts this season, Herron trails only Danielle Damron (299, 151) in single-season strikeouts and finishes with a career total of 246 K's (third-most in a career at DC3).