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By Rick Peterson
TopSports.news
Both of No. 21-ranked Washburn University's MIAA softball games against Central Missouri on Saturday went down to the wire, but that wasn't anything that Ichabod coach Brenda Holaday didn't expect.
Washburn senior Hadley Kerschen drives home the winning run with a walkoff single in Saturday's first game against Central Missouri. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Holton product Gracie Gallagher jumps for joy after scoring the game-winning run in Washburn's 2-1 first-game win over Central Missouri. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Washburn took a pair of 2-1 wins over the Jennies to improve to 27-5 overall and 6-2 in the conference, but the Ichabods had to come through with a walkoff win in the first game and had to survive a seventh-inning threat by Central Missouri to complete the sweep at Gahnstrom Field.
"They're a great program and I feel like some of the kids in their lineup have been there eight years,'' Holaday said of the Jennies. "They're so good and so experienced and seasoned. They have some Topeka kids on their team that are great kids and have had great careers so you expect a dogfight against them for sure.
"A couple of years ago we had them here and split and then we went to their place for the tournament and they won two out of three and last year we're down there and go 12 innings and end up sweeping.''
In the opener Hadley Kerschen singled to left-center to score the winning run in the bottom of the seventh after Central Missouri (18-11, 4-4) scored its lone run of the game in the top of the inning.
Washburn trailed for the only time all day in the second game after the Jennies scored a run in the top of the third, but freshman Erin Boles singled home both of the Ichabods' runs in the bottom of the fourth to put WU in front and Washburn shut out Central Missouri the rest of the way for the win.
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By Rick Peterson
TopSports.news
No. 21-ranked Washburn softball picked up a pair of shutout MIAA wins on Friday, blanking the Lincoln Blue Tigers, 5-0 and 7-0 at Gahnstrom Field.
With Friday's sweep the Ichabods ran their winning streak over Lincoln to 16 games.
Pitcher Sheyenne Cheek improved to 5-0 in the circle Friday, picking up the second-game win in Washburn's MIAA sweep over Lincoln. [Photo courtesy of Washburn Athletics]
Hadley Kerschen went 5 of 7 on the day Friday as Washburn softball earned an MIAA sweep over Lincoln. [Photo courtesy of Washburn Athletics]
The Ichabods will be back in action at 1 p.m. Saturday, hosting Central Missouri in an MIAA doubleheader.
In Friday's first game, Washburn broke open a scoreless tie with a solo run in the bottom of the third when Jaycee Ginter drove in Hadley Herschen, who singled.
The Ichabods (25-5 overall, 4-2 MIAA) stretched their lead to 5-0 in the fourth inning with a two-out rally, taking advantage of two Lincoln errors.
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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."
