By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
With junior NiJaree Canady setting the tone with a dominating three-game pitching performance, Topeka High completed a perfect 25-0 season with the school's first-ever state softball championship Friday at the Shawnee Mission District Stadium, rolling to a 7-1 victory over Olathe North.
Canady recorded 16 strikeouts against North (18-7) in her third straight complete-game performance in the pitching circle while the Trojans also got their offense cranked up en route to completing a title quest that got its impetus with a first-round state-tournament loss in 2019.
Topeka High junior NiJaree Canady helped lead the Trojans to a perfect 25-0 season and High's first-ever state softball title, capped by Friday's 7-1 win over Olathe North in the championship game. [File photo/TSN]
Canady ended her two-hitter against the Eagles with her 16th strikeout of the game and her 48th strikeout of the state tournament, setting off a wild, and long-awaited, championship celebration.
After Canady's sixth-inning home run and four-hitter got the Trojans to the final with a 1-0 semifinal win over Gardner-Edgerson, Topeka High took control of the championship game with a six-run third inning.
Topeka High's star senior catcher, Zoe Caryl, helped get Topeka High's going with a run-scoring double against the Eagles while sophomore Adisyn Caryl, sophomore Quincy Smith and junior Elycia Joyce all contributed run-scoring singles in the third and senior Zoie Kincade got another run home with a suicide squeeze.
Olathe North, which advanced to the championship game with a 3-2, 11-inning semifinal win over defending champion Free State, helped Topeka High's cause with four errors.
The Eagles, meanwhile, managed just an unearned run in the top of the sixth, the only run Canady allowed in the Trojans' three state tournament games. Topeka High answered North's run with a run in the bottom half of the inning.
Topeka High had seven hits in the final, with Zoe Caryl's double the lone extra-base hit in the contest.
The Trojans' toughest test of the state tournament game in the semifinals, with Gardner-Edgerton and Topeka High matching zeroes through five and a half innings before Canady's solo home run provided the lone run.
Zoe Caryl also contributed a double in the semifinal.
Topeka High opened its state tournament bid with a 5-0 victory over Olathe East in Thursday's quarterfinal contest.
The Trojans scored single runs in the first and fifth against East before breaking the game open with three runs in the sixth as Joyce smacked a run-scoring double and senior Tatum Wilson hit a two-run homer.
Canady struck out 16 in a one-hit shutout while Adisyn Caryl contributed a run-scoring single for Topeka High’s first run in the bottom of the first.
CLASS 6A SOFTBALL
Championship
TOPEKA HIGH 7, OLATHE NORTH 1
Olathe North (18-7) 000 001 0 -- 1 2 4
Topeka High (25-0) 006 001 x -- 7 7 1
Hipsher, Reynolds (3) and Stipsits. Canady and Zoe Caryl. W -- Canady. L -- Hipsher. 2B: Topeka High: Zoe Caryl.
Semifinal
TOPEKA HIGH 1, GARDNER-EDGERTON 0
Gardner-Edgerton 000 000 0 -- 0 4 0
Topeka High 000 001 x -- 1 5 1
Gear and Ringel. Canady and Zoe Caryl. W -- Canady. L -- Gear. 2B -- Gardner-Edgerton: Thompson. Topeka High: Zoe Caryl. HR -- Topeka High: Canady.
Thursday's quarterfinal
TOPEKA HIGH 5, OLATHE EAST 0
Olathe East 000 000 0 -- 0 1 1
Topeka High 100 013 x -- 5 7 0
Prather and Belk. Canady and Zoe Caryl. W -- Canady. L -- Prather. 2B -- Topeka High: Joyce. HR -- Topeka High: Wilson.
