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By ISAAC DEER
TopSports.news
Washburn Rural softball is heading to the Class 6A state tournament for the fifth straight season after hardly breaking a sweat in its 17-0 victory over Wichita Southeast and 6-0 win against Campus to become regional champions at Gahnstrom Field on Wednesday evening.
Washburn Rural softball hoists its Class 6A regional championship trophy after Wednesday's 6-0 win over Campus. [Photo by Isaac Deer/TSN]
Washburn Rural senior star Emmerson Cope pitched a complete game in Wednesday's 6-0 Class 6A regional win over Campus. [Photo by Isaac Deer/TSN]
Washburn Rural sophomore Naudia Wech is congratulated by coach Liz Stover as she rounds the bases on a home run. [Photo by Isaac Deer/TSN]
After falling just one run short in the Class 6A state title game against Topeka High a season ago, Washburn Rural (19-3) is back in the tournament with its group of returners desperate to avenge that heartbreak.
They had a regular season to play and two regional games to get back to the spot they wanted to be in, but it was fine for them, even with them taking on their challenges one day at a time.
“This all feels amazing, and I couldn’t ask for a better group of kids to work with,” Washburn Rural coach Elizabeth Stover said. “Everything about them makes this (win) super rewarding. I know it’s a program initiative every year; it’s our goal to make it to state. So we punched our ticket, and we’re overjoyed.”
Stover has been on the Washburn Rural coaching staff since 2018, being a part of the last five state tournament runs. With this being her last year as the head coach for the Junior Blues, it feels sweeter for her to make one last run with the team.
“Personally, it feels really wonderful,” Stover said. “I can’t say enough about this senior class and the people that they are with everything they brought to the table. The whole team has done above and beyond what I’ve asked them to. So I’m really thrilled to be with this group, and I’m glad we’re riding it out with them.”
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By Rick Peterson
TopSports.news
Topeka High's baseball team ended a long, long state tournament drought Wednesday night.
In fact, it's going to take some digging in the history books to see just how long that drought was, although indications are it could be in the 60-year range.
Topeka High's baseball team celebrates at the end of Wednesday's 11-1 win over Campus in the Class 6A regional at Hummer Sports Park. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Topeka High hoists the Class 6A regional championship trophy after Wednesday's 11-1 win over Campus. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
But all that matters to coach Cody Miller and his Topeka High team is that when the Class 6A state tournament gets under way next Thursday at Hoglund Ballpark in Lawrence, the Trojans will be there.
Topeka High, improving to 16-6, reached the 6A regional final with a 14-8 semifinal win over Garden City and then used an eight-run fifth inning to run-rule Campus, 11-1, in the championship game at Hummer Sports Park.
"When I woke up, I was like I just knew we were going to do it, so I sent a message to our team and said, 'Boys, I know we're going to do it today,' '' Miller said. "This is just a really special group and they're really resilient and they battle. They don't let negative plays affect them.''
Campus, the 2019 6A state champion, took advantage of a Trojan error to jump out to a 1-0 lead in the top of the first of the championship game but the rest of the night belonged to the Topeka High, which got a solid pitching performance from junior Nate Plankinton and a 10-hit offensive attack.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Shawnee Heights scored all three of its runs in the first innning and rode a pitching masterpiece from sophomore Grace Proctor the rest of the way as the T-Birds earned a berth in next week's Class 5A state tournament at Wichita with a 3-0 win over United Kansas Conference rival De Soto in Tuesday's 5A regional at Piper.
Shawnee Heights' softball team poses for a team picture after winning Tuesday's Class 5A regional championship at Piper. [Twitter/Shawnee Heights softball]
Shawnee Heights sophomore Grace Proctor pitched a one-hitter with 13 strikeouts in the T-Birds' 3-0 win over De Soto in Tuesday's Class 5A regional championship game. [File photo/TSN]
Shawnee Heights, the No. 6 5A East seed, edged St. James Academy 4-3 in a semifinal contest to advance to the championship game to face No. 14 De Soto, which upset No. 3 seed and tournament host Piper, 9-5, in the other semifinal.
The T-Birds, who improved to 15-7, had just four hits in the final but three of them came in the decisive first inning as Heights took control of the game.
Third baseman Karlyn Bowman plated right-fielder Audrey Schulte, who reached on a fielder's choice, with an RBI single and later in the inning catcher Spencer Habig delivered a two-run triple, scoring Alarayce Adams, who was hit by a pitch, and Bowman.
Proctor took over from there, allowing only a double in the sixth inning while striking out 13 De Soto hitters as Shawnee Heights took its third win of the season over the Wildcats.
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By ISAAC DEER
TopSports.news
OTTAWA -- After Hayden’s baseball team held a 4-3 lead for innings three through six, Chanute slugged three extra-base hits with runners on base, earning a 6-4 lead, and would hold on to that lead to defeat the Wildcats in the opening round of Class 4A regional play Tuesday at Ottawa University.
Hayden coach Bill Arnold congratulates Brady Heinen during Tuesday's Class 4A regional game against Chanute. [Photo by Isaac Deer/TSN]
Hayden sophomore Cooper Grace delivers a pitch in Tuesday's Class 4A regional game against Chanute. [Photo by Isaac Deer/TSN]
For those three innings of play, Hayden looked like it had the victory in hand after tremendous pitching from sophomore Cooper Grace and stellar defensive play behind Grace.
But in the end, Chanute rallied from its one-run deficit with an RBI triple and two RBI doubles, giving Hayden just three outs to score at least two runs.
“I don’t know what to say except that it wasn’t our day,” Hayden coach Bill Arnold said. “I think our club is a very good ball club, and we had a great chance to make a run at a state title. But today, it felt like we beat ourselves out there a bit. I think we got complacent once we took the lead and dug ourselves a hole in the seventh.”
Mother Nature wasn’t kind to the Wildcats down the end of the regular season stretch, forcing Hayden (11-6) to cancel multiple games before regional play. While Arnold believes Hayden wasn’t in a funk from the lack of live action, it didn’t benefit the Wildcats.
“I don’t think we were slumping, but we were in a good routine of playing four games a week and ended up missing the last couple of weeks of the regular season,” Arnold said. “We couldn’t even get on the field to practice yesterday. But make no mistake; we must tip our hat to (Chanute).
“It stings right now.”
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By ISAAC DEER
TopSports.news
It only took Washburn Rural’s girls soccer team one half to advance to the Class 6A regional championship after its 10-0 mercy-rule victory over Wichita South in the opening round of postseason play at McElroy Field.
Washburn Rural sophomore Kate Hinck scored a pair of goals in Tuesday's 10-0 Class 6A regional romp past Wichita South. [Photo by Isaac Deer/TSN]
Senior captain Mackinly Rohn was credited with three assists in Tuesday's 10-0 Class 6A regional win over Wichita South. [Photo by Isaac Deer/TSN]
It was an easy day at the office for the Junior Blues. It was expected that Washburn Rural (12-4-1) would handle a slumping Wichita South (2-13-0) squad on Tuesday night, but how it handled its business so quickly was noteworthy.
Washburn Rural deserved its high No. 3 seed in its regional and the tune-up in the opening round. With the win, the Junior Blues were able to rest some starters and get some quality minutes for players that might need to step up later in the postseason.
“We always want to get that high seed and play games at home,” Washburn Rural coach Brian Hensyel said. “We earned ourselves a game today that we could manage pretty easily, but that’s because we had the great season that we did.
“With other teams playing extremely difficult games, we should be thankful that we got a good matchup in the first round.”
With the regular season behind them, the Junior Blues have a bigger picture in mind. Right now, the main focus for Washburn Rural is to win its next game against Derby so that they’re right back where they were a year ago -- in the 6A state quarterfinals.
“We just need to have a good mindset,” Hensyel said. “We need to stay focused. We have seniors that are graduating and a lot of distractions around right now. So we need to stay focused on our task.
“We wanted to be one of sixteen teams left after today. On Thursday, we want to be one of eight teams left. That’s the goal, and it doesn’t matter how it gets done. We need to have a good practice tomorrow so we can have a good night on Thursday.”
