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By ISAAC DEER
TopSports.news
Everything has been pretty close to perfect in the opening week for the Topeka High girls soccer team, well, except for the weather.
On a rainy Friday night, the Trojans knocked off Sunflower League member Lawrence, 4-2, at Hummer Sports Park.
opeka High coach Derek Snook talks to his team after Friday's 4-2 non-league win over Lawrence at Hummer Sports Park. [Photo by Isaac Deer/TSN]
Topeka High doesn't seem to be missing ingredients from its secret recipe that guided the Trojans to a successful season a year ago. The backline is imposing, the scorers are attacking, and the team is flying all over the field.
Last Monday night, Topeka High defeated 501 foe Topeka West, 9-0, and that dominance segued into Friday night's win.
With the graduation of last year's attackers (Tae Thomas and Luxanna Sands), the team is still trying to figure out the balance and learn each other's tendencies.
Luckily for Topeka High, it has taken a step in the right direction in both contests in the opening week of the 2023 campaign.
"We went back to trying to find one another and play for one another," Topeka High coach Derek Snook said. "We have nine seniors and a couple of new additions. We are still trying to figure out how to mesh together with two out of our top three scorers gone from last year's team.
"We are still finding out where we will find the scoring and the movement of that nature. It's all about playing for one another and communicating, and I thought we did a much better job of that tonight."
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By Rick Peterson
TopSports.news
Due to a scheduling quirk, the team that Washburn Rural faced to end the 2022 softball season was the same one that Junior Blues squared off against to open '23.
But unlike last season's finale, when Topeka High took a 2-1 decision to win its second straight Class 6A state title, Washburn Rural turned the tables on the Trojans Friday at Rural, with the Junior Blues sweeping High 4-3 and 8-3 to get an early leg up in the Centennial League race. The second game was called at the end of the fifth inning due to heavy rain.
Washburn Rural freshman Reagan Chapman reacts to a home run in her first at bat as a high school softball player. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Washburn Rural coach Liz Stover congratulates freshman Reagan Chapman after her first of two home runs on the day in Friday's Centennial League sweep over two-time defending Class 6A state champion Topeka High. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Junior Blues coach Liz Stover said no matter when Rural and Topeka High do battle her players and the Rural fan base get excited to face the Trojans.
"Everyone was really pumped,'' Stover said. "T-High's been a rival for us the last few years so everyone gets pretty excited whether it's softball, basketball and everyone comes out.
"It was our first games of the season so we had a little bit of rust and jitters to knock out but I think they handled it really well.''
While both teams return key players from the teams that played in the 2022 championship game, it was a freshman playing the first games of her high school career that stole the show on Friday.
Reagan Chapman, Rural's leadoff hitter, started the day in storybook fashion, opening the bottom of the first with a solo home run over the left field fence.
Chapman went on to add a pair of doubles in the opener while knocking in a pair of runs and scored the game-winning run in the bottom of the seventh.
Chapman continued to rule the day in the nightcap, tripling and then breaking open the game with a three-run home run.
Stover said she wasn't surprised that Chapman came out swinging a hot bat.
"I did have a pretty good idea,'' Stover said. "She's been killing the ball at practice and she's just been lights out.''
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By ISAAC DEER
TopSports.news
Before Friday the last time the Hayden and Cair Paravel Latin girls soccer teams had met was for a trip to the Class 4A-1A semifinals last spring.
Cair Paravel ended the Wildcats season a year ago after a strenuous and physical 2-1 winning effort in the 4A-1A state quarterfinal.
Cair Paravel sophomore Zahra Friess (3) tries to get past Hayden's Lauren Sandstrom in Friday's 2-2 tie game. [Photo by Trevor Falcon/Special to TSN]
Hayden senior Briahna Barnett (7) advances the ball as Cair Paravel sophomore Amania Vincent gives chase. [Photo by Trevor Falcon/Special to TSN]
Hayden and Cair Paravel hooked up again Friday afternoon and slugged it out through two overtime before ending up in a 2-2 deadlock.
"It's early in the season, and we've improved since our last game," Cair Paravel coach Doug Woolery said. "We are still collecting our lineup and putting all of our moving parts together. We have new players that are settling into the system, maybe used to playing differently with their club teams. I'm not unhappy with the way that we are playing. It's Hayden, so I anticipated this would be a tough game."
Friday's non-league contest was a physical match between the two programs. No team had a clear, runaway advantage but both schools that could return to the 4A-1A hunt again this year knew precisely what Friday would bring.
"I couldn't wait to play (Cair Paravel) because we lost to them in the (quarterfinal)," Hayden coach Klause Kreutzer said. "They're a good team, and I'd rather play a good team. I have to give them credit; they worked hard.
"They've got a lot of young players, and so do we. I'm satisfied with our effort. The execution wasn't what I like it to be, but they're a good team, and a tie isn't bad at all."
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By Rick Peterson
TopSports.news
After taking over as Topeka West's interim football coach for the final three games of the 2022 season, Trey Parker knew West is where he wanted to be.
Trey Parker
Now, after waiting out a long hiring and approval process, the former Washburn University standout is ready to go full bore after being approved Thursday night as the Chargers' head coach by the USD 501 school board.
"We're excited,'' said the 28-year-old Parker. "I've had kids asking every single day, "Are you the head coach?' I said, 'I don't know,' but now that it's official when kids ask me I can say, 'Yes I am, so now what are you going to do with that? I'm ready to hit the ground running. Are you going to follow me, are we going to run together?' ''
Parker becomes Topeka West's third head coach in less than a year after former Charger coach Ryan Kelly stepped down last spring and Russell Norton stepped aside just six games into his first season.
Parker, who was Norton's defensive coordinator, stepped in as West's interim coach last season and said that he believes that experience will benefit him moving forward.
"I think one of the biggest things about being a coach is building relationships and I think with that foundation that I was able to build with the kids last year that was a big milestone already that I had above other competitors that wanted the job, just simply because it's hard to build a relationship out of scratch,'' Parker said. "For me to have experience with the kids, that was monumental.''
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By ISAAC DEER
TopSports.news
SILVER LAKE – Hayden baseball coach Bill Arnold saw his team start the season the best way it could have in a non-league twinbill sweep over Silver Lake on Thursday night.
Hayden run-ruled the Eagles, 14-0, in Game 1 of the season-opener and followed that stellar performance with a 10-2 victory in Game 2.
Hayden baseball coach Bill Arnold talks to his Wildcats after a season-opening twinbill sweep at Silver Lake. [Photo by Isaac Deer/TSN]
It would be hard to have a better start to the year than Hayden's sophomore right-handed pitcher Cooper Grace in the season opener.
Grace tossed five innings of perfect baseball in the first game, with Grace striking out 10 batters while only allowing five balls to be put into play (3 groundouts, 2 flyouts).
"Coop pitched well and was ahead in the count from the beginning," Arnold said. "He was really locked in. We made some nice plays, routine plays when (Silver Lake) put the ball in play. It was nice."
Grace handled the middle and bottom parts of the order. Batters four through nine went a combined 0-9 with nine strikeouts. The top three batters for Silver Lake went 0-6 with a strikeout.
Hayden's bats looked in midseason form in the opening game. However, with Hayden's limited time to practice and get live at-bats before the season's first pitch, it was important for the Wildcats to put the ball in play.
Hayden did that with 14 runs on the board and 11 hits while getting on base with five walks.
"I was really pleased because we were actually able to hit, I mean, we've got some work in the cage outside, but we've had minimal live at-bats," Arnold said. "I was happy with how the first game went. Obviously, we made some mistakes that I think we will get better at, but in the long haul, pretty pleased."
