Welcome to Top Sports News

By TODD FERTIG

TopSports.news

A balance of good pitching, flawless defense and relentless hitting is sending the Topeka High softball team back to the state tournament for the second straight season.

Topeka High softball celebrates its Class 6A regional championship Wednesday at Hummer Sports Park. [Photo by Todd Fertig/TSN]

Topeka High softball poses for a team picture after winning a Class 6A regional championship Wednesday at Hummer Sports Park. [Photo by Todd Fertig/TSN]

The Trojans had no trouble handling the competition in Class 6A West Regional No. 3, blasting Wichita Heights 15-0 and Wichita Northwest 11-1 Wednesday at Hummer Sports Park.

The Trojans outhit their opponents 20-9 and did not commit an error in the field. Their pitchers combined to strike out nine batters and walked just one.

“We’re a complete team. If all three phases are working, we’re really tough to beat and a really tough out,” said Topeka High coach Shane Miles. “If we have two of the three working, we’re still pretty tough.”

In the opening game against Wichita Heights, Topeka High starting pitcher Kenslee Young struck out two batters in each frame of the four-inning contest.

Leading 10-0 in the bottom of the fourth, the Trojans decided to end the first game quickly. They wrapped six hits around just one out to plate five runs, ending the game by mercy rule.

Topeka High senior Taimane Isaia hit a pair of home runs, including a grand slam, as the Trojans won a Class 6A regional championship Wednesday at Hummer Sports Park. [Photo by Todd Fertig/TSN]

Highlighting the first game romp was a second-inning grand slam by senior Taimane Isaia. She finished the game with three hits and five RBI.

In the second game, junior Campbell Dawson worked around seven base hits to hold Wichita Northwest to just one run.

Isaia went deep again in Game 2, homering in the fourth inning. Young helped lead the offensive attack with two doubles and a single in the second game.

“Every team has on and off, but lately we have been on and on and on,” Isaia said. “We are here for a reason. No one ever really talks about us. And you know what? We are here to prove people wrong.”

Miles agreed that the Trojans may have been overlooked thus far this season. He believes the team could rectify that in next week’s state tournament.

“I think we will surprise some people,” Miles said. “I’ve felt that we haven’t had the respect this year that we deserve. We’ve played some of the East schools, you know, we’ve played some competition and we’re ready to go after it.

“I like being under the radar. I like being the underdog.”

In addition to praising his team’s huge run totals in the two games, Miles complimented the effort of his pitchers.

“Kenslee is tough to beat when she’s on, and Campbell’s really tough to beat when she’s on,” Miles said. “So, having that duo, I feel like we have one of the better pitching staffs in the state. And you can add Adrianna Adame in there, too. She’s thrown a lot of innings the last couple of weeks.”

The Trojans ran their record to 25-3 on the season. Their only losses came to Washburn Rural and Hayden. But as it turns out, the Trojans are the only Topeka team heading to state.

“We got there last year, and this group that we have right now, we’re still a very young team,” Miles said. “They had a lot of experience last year at the state tournament, so it’s nice just to get back there.”

SEMIFINAL

TOPEKA HIGH 15, WICHITA HEIGHTS 0

Wichita Heights (3-18) 000 0 -- 0 2 2

Topeka High (24-3)       244 5 -- 15 10 0

Neal and Wilson. Young and Chard. W -- Young. L -- Neal. 2B -- Wichita Heights: Wallace. Topeka High: Cushinberry, Poole. 3B -- Topeka High: Dawson. HR -- Topeka High: Isaia.

CHAMPIONSHIP

TOPEKA HIGH 11, WICHITA NORTHWEST 1

Wichita Northwest (16-14) 001 00 — 1 7 1

Topeka High (25-3) 440 21 — 11 10 0

Thomas, Brungardt (5) and Soetaert. Dawson and Chard. W -- Dawson. L -- Thomas. 2B -- Wichita Northwest: Thomas. Topeka High: Young 2. 3B -- Topeka High: Dawson. HR -- Topeka High: Isaia.

By RICK PETERSON

TopSports.news

Washburn Rural softball certainly had its opportunities against Campus in Wednesday's Class 6A regional championship game, putting runners on base in all seven innings.

Washburn Rural senior Reagan Chapman had a two-run single in the Junior Blues' 4-3 loss to Campus in Wednesday's Classs 6A softball regional. [Photo by Doug Walker/TSN]

But the underdog No. 6-seeded Colts minimized the damage and rode back to back fourth-inning home runs to a 4-3 upset win over the No. 3-seeded Junior Blues.

"We had chances all game long,'' Washburn Rural coach Joy Marie Galliart said. "I lost track at the end, but with the two runners that we left on base at the end I think we left either 13 or 14 runners on base. So we averaged two an inning and we just didn't get big hits with runners in scoring position when we needed them.

"They recorded two outs with runners that we put on the dirt and 19 outs were in the air and at this level that's just not going to cut it. I don't feel like we challenged their defense the way that we needed to by putting the ball on the ground and using one of our tools, which is our speed.''

Campus, which dropped a 10-6, 14-4 doubleheader at Rural on May 7, will take a 16-12 record into the 6A state tournament next week while Washburn Rural finished its season 22-6.

The championship game was tied 1-1 at the end of the first inning and Campus went up 2-1 in the bottom of the third before senior Reagan Chapman delivered a two-run double to put Washburn Rural in front 3-2  in the bottom of the third.

But the Colts, who have just two senoirs on their roster, answered right back with what proved to be the game-winning blows in the top of the fourth, with juniors Emerleigh Cooper and Brooklyn Burling blasting consecutive home runs to put Campus ahead by the final margin.

Washburn Rural stranded seven runners over its final four at-bats and had runners at first and second in the bottom of the seventh before Campus sophomore pitcher Kylie Matthews was able to record the final out to finish off her complete-game effort.

"We got beat by a good team, but I think we're a great team,'' Galliart said. "We just didn't get it done today.''

Campus opened its day with a 13-2 semifinal win over Liberal while Washburn Rural rolled to a 20-0 win over Dodge City in two and a half innings.

Chapman pitched a three-inning no-hitter, allowing just one base-runner while the Junior Blues scored eight runs in the first inning and 12 in the second inning while finishing with 14 hits.

Read more …

By VINCE LOVERGINE

TopSports.news

Cair Paravel Latin girls soccer rode hat tricks from KellyAnn Chada and Avry Stafford to a 9-6 Class 4A-1A regional win over Mulvane in Tuesday's high-scoring affair.

 

“It was really good to get those passes and get those reps in for our next game,'' said Stafford, a junior. "I'm just excited that we can get to move on and play again.''

CPLS trailed early as Mulvane’s Brittani Peschel scored about five minutes into the match, one of her four goals in the game.

Then, the Lions would get on a roll and score four unanswered.

It started with freshman Avery Rosenow tying the match. Then, senior Chada would trade goals with Rosenow, scoring two apiece before in the first half, one of them Chada crossed to Rosenow as CPLS led 4-1 at halftime.

In that first half alone the Lions had five shots hit the goal post and six overall.

“It was crazy,” Cair Paravel coach Doug Woolery said. “I mean, I guess that stuff happens, you just don't see it that often in a game and I thought we had a couple that, one came off the crossbar and went down and it looked like by its bounce that might have been in, too, and then we had another one that they called a goal.

"We played them once before this season and played pretty well. I think my kids came out a little over confident. They have a good team, well-coached and No. 3 (Peschel) is a dynamic player.”

The second half is when the scoring barrage began, beginning with Stafford pushing the lead to 5-1 off another Chada assist.

The teams would eventually trade goal for goal until the Wildcats brought it to within two (6-4) off of two rebounds that led to goals.

CPLS would then get those two goals back with Chada and Stafford registering their hat tricks, making it an 8-4 contest.

Lions senior Karsyn Hastert scored the ninth goal off a short corner, cleaning up the rebound deep in the box.

Read more …