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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
The No. 20-ranked Washburn University softball team bounced back from a doubleheader loss at Missouri Southern on Friday with a doubleheader road sweep over Pittsburg State on Saturday, posting 10-5 and 6-3 MIAA wins over the Gorillas.
Washburn (33-11 overall, 12-8 MIAA) scored in six of the seven innings of the first game, holding off a late charge by the Gorillas in the five-run win while pounding out 14 hits.
Washburn All-American Jaycee Ginter picked up her 22nd pitching win in Saturday's 10-5 first-game win at Pittsburg State. [File photo/TSN]
Washburn Rural freshman pitcher Sadie Walker did not allow a run en route to Saturday's 6-3 second-game victory at Pittsburg State. [File photo/TSN]
Washburn's first run came in the top of the first when Santa Fe Trail product Marrit Mead started the game with a single and then came around to score on a single by former Shawnee Heights standout Jaycee Ginter as the Ichabods went up 1-0.
The Ichabods added two more in the top of the second when Kaylee Wagner walked and, after a triple by Mead, scored from second.
Silver Lake product Ellington Hogle then collected a single to send Mead home as Washburn went up 3-0.
After a scoreless third, Mead doubled to center, scoring Autymn Schreiner, who had a one-out double as the Ichabods boosted the lead to 4-0.
In the fifth, Washburn's Jaden LaBarge singled up the middle to score Paige Robbins as Washburn increased its lead to 5-0.
Pittsburg State came back with a solo run in the fifth, but Washburn added two more runs in the top of the sixth on a two-out single by Erin Boles that drove in Ginter and Hadley Kerschen.
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By ISAAC DEER
TopSports.news
It took Hayden's bats four full innings before they were able to put any runs on the board, but when the Wildcats got rolling, they didn't stop in a 4-3 road victory Friday against Centennial League rival Washburn Rural in the first game of a doubleheader.
Jackson Summers helped Hayden baseball rally for a 4-3 first-game win at Washburn Rural Friday. [File photo/TSN]
The second game was postponed with a 2-2 tie in the third inning due to lightning strikes near the area.
Washburn Rural tested the Wildcats on Friday evening. The Junior Blues had superb starting pitching from sophomore Sam Bettis, solid situational baseball from its offense and were dangerous when momentum was in Washburn Rural's favor.
But Hayden overcame a four-inning scoring drought and fought back when situations were tight.
"I liked how our kids stayed focused the whole game," Hayden coach Bill Arnold said. "We got some timely hits. (Washburn Rural) did make some mistakes, and we made ours. The thing I'm most proud of is that we didn't let one mistake become two or three mistakes."
Defensively, Hayden played a solid contest later in the first game. Starting senior pitcher Jackson Summers was the man on the mound that helped lead the Wildcats to victory.
Summers threw 107 pitches and faced a lot of adversity throughout his Game 1 performance. Summers was in many sticky situations in the seven innings he threw and a few bases-loaded jams. However, Summers trusted the defense behind him, stayed poised, and never let his confidence sink.
"My goal coming into today was to fill it up, let my defense work, and I did exactly that," Summers said. "You know, I started to fall behind a little bit, but they stayed behind me and kept me confident. I wasn't looking for strikeouts sometimes. I was just trying to hit some spots, maybe get some weak contact, and luckily (Washburn Rural) didn't have any big innings."
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
The Washburn pitchers limited Emporia State to just four singles while the Ichabod offense pounded out a season-high 19 hits en route to a 10-0 eight inning series-opening win over Emporia State on Friday.
Game 2 of the series is set for 2 p.m. Saturday.
Jack Brimacombe pitched seven innings of shutout baseball in Washburn's 10-0 run-rule win over Emporia State. [Photo courtesy of Washburn Athletics]
Jack Brimacombe started the game strong, needing only six pitches to retire the Hornets in order in the first inning.
The Ichabod offense got right to work in the home half of the first.
Cale Savage hit a one-out infield single and moved up to second after Cal Watkins drew a walk. Trey Adams singled to shortstop to load the bases and Ike Book also beat out an infield single to bring home the first run.
Easton Bruce kept the line moving with a single to left center that drove in two runs and Otto Jones' RBI groundout put Washburn's lead at 4-0.
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By Rick Peterson
TopSports.news
Friday was one of those rare occasions in sports where the coach of the team that came up on the short end of the score was about as happy as the coach of the team that ended up with the victory.
Washburn Rural senior Mackinly Rohn scored the lone goal in Friday's 1-0 Centennial League win at Hayden. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Washburn Rural sophomore Kate Hinck and Hayden sophomore Camryn McDonald chase the ball in Friday's 1-0 Rural win at Hayden. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Hayden's girls soccer team went toe to toe with city, Centennial League and Class 6A power Washburn Rural from start to finish Friday at Hayden, with the Junior Blues escaping with a 1-0 victory on senior Mackinly Rohn's second-half goal.
Washburn Rural, which improved to 7-1-0 overall and 3-0 in the Centennial League, had a stiff wind at its back in the opening half but couldn't take advantage. In fact, Hayden had the best two scoring opportunities of the half less than 10 minutes into the game, but Rural senior goalkeeper Hailey Beck kept the Wildcats out of the net.
Hayden (3-2-1, 0-1) couldn't get much going offensively in the second hald despite the wind adantage and Rohn finally broke the ice with 16:30 left to play.
"I thought their effort and performance was very good,'' Hayden coach Klaus Kreutzer said of his Wildcats. "We had a short hiccup (on Rohn's goal) and we had opportunities. The key is to keep that intensity and keep that level of work.''
Washburn Rural coach Brian Hensyel also had good things to say about Hayden but was happy his team was able to come away with the victory.
"I thought Hayden played really hard and they were super organized and made it hard to score goals,'' Hensyel said. "We had the big wind in the first half and we couldn't get any good chances. We couldn''t get in the box and I thought they played great defense.
"We told the girls that sometimes you don't have your best game. It wasn't our best night but we found a way to get a goal and tough a win out For us the biggest thing probably was that's seven shutouts in eight games. Hayden probably should have scored a couple in the first half and then in the second half we really didn't give them any good chances when they had the wind.''
Hayden will be at home next Tuesday to host Junction City in a Centennial League contest while Washburn Rural will travel to Wichita to face Bishop Carroll.
WASHBURN RURAL 1, HAYDEN 0
Washburn Rural (7-1-0, 3-0) 0 1 -- 1
Hayden (3-2-1, 0-1) 0 0 -- 0
Washburn Rural -- Goal: Rohn Shutout: Beck.
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By Todd Fertig
TopSports.news
The Shawnee Heights baseball team clawed back from a 7-0 deficit to shock Basehor-Linwood with a 13-9 United Kansas Conference win at Bettis Family Sports Complex Thursday.
Junior Jayden Holly turned in a clutch pitching performance on Thursday as Shawnee Heights baseball rallied from a 7-0 deficit to take a 13-9 UKC win over Basehor-Linwood. [File photo/TSN]
With his team struggling to find itself both at the plate and in the field, junior Jayden Holly entered the game in the fourth inning and gradually got things under control. He worked a perfect fifth inning, which ignited the T-Birds’ fire.
“Holly threw a bunch of strikes for us even when we couldn’t field it for him,” Shawnee Heights coach Ryan Schmidt said. “He just continued working through adversity and throwing strikes and finding ways to get us outs until we could come back and try to do some damage.”
Trailing 7-0 in the bottom of the fifth, the T-Birds started chipping away with three walks and two singles, stealing bases and advancing on wild pitches. Five runs later, there was hope.
“Luckily in the fifth we were able to plate five,” Schmidt said. “We started getting some better at bats, were selective on pitches, and that kind of snowballed in the sixth.”
Holly surrendered two unearned runs in the top of the sixth inning but battled through it to keep the T-Birds within striking distance.
“It was just fastball pretty much, just staying inside, nothing easy, Holly said. “I was just pounding the zone and trusting the defense.”
