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By Rick Peterson
TopSports.news
With Washburn University's football team graduating 21 seniors from last year's 7-4 team, including All-Americans JJ Letcher and Grant Bruner, there's going to be plenty of opportunities for many of the Ichabods' younger players to step into major roles this fall.
Washburn football coach Craig Schurig talks to his Ichabods after Saturday's Spring Game at Yager Stadium. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
And veteran WU coach Craig Schurig felt that like spring practice, which concluded with Saturday's Spring Game at Yager Stadium, showed that a lot of those young players are ready for that.
"I really felt good about the work our young guys got in,'' Schurig said. "We had a lot of guys over the last two years, because of the extra senior class that you had, that haven't really been able to play and we got them involved in what we call our 1s-2s scrimmages and they stepped up.
"So I like our depth, I like the way those guys performed. They've been patient and it seems like it's going to pay off for them. I really liked the way some of the young guys really showed out and the older guys were good leaders and they got the reps they needed.''
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By ISAAC DEER
TopSports.news
Despite suffering a 15-3, run-rule loss to Manhattan in the first game of the twinbill, Topeka High’s softball team had a memorable rally fall just short in a 14-12 extra-inning loss in Game 2 on Friday night at Hummer Sports Park.
Shane Miles is confident his Topeka High sotball team can bounce back fom its recent four-game losing steak, including a pair of losses to Manhattan on Friday. [File photo/TSN]
As usual, the Kansas weather played a factor in Friday night’s Centennial League matchup. With 55 mph winds in effect and an unbeaten rival rolling into the Capital City, it wasn’t going to be an easy matchup for a young, mostly inexperienced Topeka High team.
The two-time defending Class 6A state champions have a lot of new faces in the lineup this season, and the coach that led them to those state championships knows that it’s going to take some repetitions to get fully acclimated to this season.
"We got a target on our back, being the defending 6A state champion the last two years,” Topeka High coach Shane Miles said. “Everybody is going to give us their best shot. We have a lot of new faces, too. We are just trying to find that mix that works for us. We just have to go back to work on Monday and forget about this. We will be a tough team to put out come later this season.”
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By Todd Fertig
TopSports.news
Shawnee Heights rolled through a doubleheader with Topeka West Friday at Hummer Sports Park, getting two good starts from its pitchers and extended rallies at the plate to sweep the United Kansas Conference twinbill, 16-1 and 18-2.
Shawnee Heights senior Nic Perez picked up the first-game pitching win in Friday's UKC doubleheader sweep over Topeka West. [File photo/TSN]
Shawnee Heights senior Evan Smith had a big day at the plate as the T-Birds posted a 16-1, 18-2 UKC sweep over Topeka West. [File photo/TSN]
T-Bird senior pitcher Nic Perez set the tone, recording all nine outs of a shortened game by strikeout. Perez permitted a walk and a double that produced a run in the first frame, but then struck out the next seven batters he faced.
Shawnee Heights coach Ryan Schmidt said it was good to see Perez, an Emporia State baseball commit, bounce back from a rough first outing against Bishop Miege last week.
“Nic is a senior we’re going to look to as a leader on the mound,” Schmidt said. “He needed to get a good start and we got that out of him today. He needed that for himself to get on a roll.”
“I was struggling to finish guys off,” Perez said of his first start last Tuesday. “It seemed like just about every single one of my counts were 0-2 or 1-2 but then I struggled finishing guys off. Today I think I was just able to command my fastball better.”
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By Rick Peterson
TopSports.news
After rolling to a 17-7 six-inning win over Washburn Rural in the first-game of Friday's non-league twinbill, Seaman's baseball team failed to capitalize on several opportunities to put the nightcap away.
Washburn Rural senior Ty Weber (right) attempts to put a tag on Seaman sophomore Max Huston in Friday's doubleheader. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Seaman senior Kiernan Meredith bunts the ball during Friday's non-league doubleheader against Washburn Rural. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
But after seeing Rural rally from 7-4, 8-5 and 9-6 deficits to tie the game in the top of the seventh, Trent Oliva's Vikings came up with the clincher in the bottom of the seventh, with junior Kaiden Griffin delivering a two-out walkoff single to give Seaman a 10-9 win and a sweep of the home doubleheader.
"We felt like some things weren't going our way,'' Oliva said. "We were ahead after the first inning but it always felt like it was a tie game or we were one down. But we were able to keep the lead the whole time until the seventh and just battled through some adversity the whole game.
"Give credit to Washburn Rural because they put the pressure on us, but we were able to answer the call at the end of the game.''
Washburn Rural was within one strike of forcing extra innings before Griffin put a ball in the hole between first and second to score junior Holden Finley, who walked.
"In that situation (Griffin) has two strikes, with the bases loaded and two outs and the goal there for us is to put the ball in play and see what happens and that's exactly what he did and it went our way that time,'' Oliva said.
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By KYLE MANTHE
Special to TopSports.news
No. 29 Washburn women's tennis (10-5, 4-1) secured a Senior Day sweep Thursday afternoon, taking down conference rival Emporia State (3-9, 1-3) 7-0. The Ichabods get a week off before heading to Edmond to take on No. 28 Central Oklahoma next Friday.
![Sonia Smagina won a pair of Senior Day matches against Emporia State on Thursday as Washburn swept the Hornets, 7-0. [Photo courtesy of Washburn Athletics]](/images/2024/08/Sonia_Smagina.JPG)
Sonia Smagina won a pair of Senior Day matches against Emporia State on Thursday as Washburn swept the Hornets, 7-0. [Photo courtesy of Washburn Athletics]
Casie Curry was honored on Senior Day and then helped Washburn's women to a 7-0 sweep over Emporia State on Thursday. [Photo courtesy of Washburn Athletics]
Senior Day for Washburn began with recognizing Sonia Smagina and Casie Curry who each joined the team as graduate transfers for the 2022-23 season.
Once the action on the court began it started in the Ichabods favor and did not sway, first with a 6-1 win at No. 1 singles for the No. 18 ranked partnership of Smagina and Maja Jung. Curry and Marta Torres secured the doubles point for Washburn, winning 6-2 at No. 3. Isabella Martensson and Issabella Pensavalle secured the double sweep with a 6-3 No. 2 victory.
Only two matches in singles play went into a third set. At No. 3 Torres' was not one of them as she began singles action with a 6-1, 6-2 win. No. 24-ranked Jung followed with a 6-2, 6-3 victory on court two. Smagina, ranked No. 2 nationally, won a 6-4, 6-1 match at No. 1 to clinch the match for Washburn.
