By Todd Fertig
TopSports.news
The Seaman Vikings softball team received an “incomplete” grade Tuesday in an early-season test against nemesis Basehor-Linwood.
The last time Seaman faced Basehor-Linwood, the Vikings fell to the Bobcats 4-3 in the first round of the Class 5A state tournament. Basehor-Linwood went on to finish second in the tournament.
Seaman junior Jersey Jellison doubled for the Vikings in Tuesday's 9-7 first-game loss to Basehor-Linwood. [Photo by Kyle Manthe/Special to TSN]
Seaman senior Aspen Burgardt pitched the first game and contributed a double as the Vikings dropped a tight 9-7 UKC decision to Basehor-Linwood Tuesday. [Photo by Kyle Manthe/Special to TSN]
Seaman junior Rosalie Schneider delivered a double in the Vikings' 9-7 first-game softball loss to Basehor-Linwood Tuesday. [Photo by Kyle Manthe/Special to TSN]
The Bobcats returned nearly everyone from that teamand are expected to contend for the title again this season.
The Vikings measured themselves against the Bobcats Tuesday at Seaman, losing the first game of the doubleheader, 9-7.
The second contest was halted due to lightning with the Vikings trailing 3-0. The two schools will have to find a date to finish the contest, which was stopped in the bottom of the fourth inning, just two outs shy of an official game.
Basehor-Linwood's Taylor Cruse, an Ohio State commit, ripped the Vikings with a home run, a double, a single and a walk in the first game.
Pitching the opener, Cruse rolled through the Vikings for four innings, but the Vikings battled back, scratching out three runs to cut the Bobcat lead to 8-5.
It was then that lightning in the area forced a 40-minute delay.
“They got on a fast start,” said Seaman coach Jay Monhollon. “We always tell our kids when they’re facing someone who is as elite as (Cruse), you just gotta keep battling, keep battling and don’t get discouraged. Because she’s going to get the best of us sometimes, but hopefully we will have an opportunity to get a ball hit hard. So, we just kept our kids up, believing something good would happen.”
When play resumed, the Vikings hacked out two more runs against Cruse in the bottom of the sixth inning to trail 9-7. In the bottom of the seventh, Seaman put two on with one out, but failed to register the last big hit they needed.
The Vikings struggled against the Bobcats’ second-game starter, Grace Rose. They went quietly the first three times at the plate. Meanwhile, Basehor-Linwood capitalized on three errors in the top of the second to spark a rally. Dealing blows in the three-run inning were Abby Loun, who tripled, and Cruse, who lashed another double.
Trailing 3-0 in the bottom of the fourth, the Vikings put a runner on first due to a Bobcat error. With one out, the game was halted due to lightning in the area.
The weather shortened the test, but Monhollon knows Basehor-Linwood serves as a measuring stick for the Vikings.
“Last year, we dropped three close games with them,” Monhollon said. “They’re very well-coached. They’re fun to watch as a fellow coach. We’d like to get a win on them, because we’ve been on that short end.”
GAME ONE
BASEHOR-LINWOOD 9, SEAMAN 7
Basehor-Linwood (5-0) 422 001 0 — 9 9 1
Seaman (2-2) 002 032 0 — 7 10 2
Cruse and Rollo. Burgardt and McConnell. W — Cruse. L — Burgardt. 2B — Basehor-Linwood: Rollo, Cruse. Seaman: Schneider, Burghardt, Jellison. 3B — Basehor-Linwood: Rollo, Knutson. HR — Basehor-Linwood: Cruse.
GAME TWO
(Postponed in the bottom of the fourth)
BASEHOR-LINWOOD 3, SEAMAN 0
Basehor-Linwood (5-0) 030 0 — 3 4 1
Seaman (2-2) 000 x — 0 0 3
Rose and Thom. O’Rourke and McConnell. 2B — Basehor-Linwood: Cruse. 3B — Basehor-Linwood: Loun.
