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.''
Senior Kaci Bath also homered in both games as Washburn Rural opened its season in grand style.
Washburn Rural star Emmerson Cope picked up the pitching wins in both games in the Junior Blues' Centennial League twinbill sweep over Topeka High. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Senior Emmerson Cope, a Nebraska signee, picked up the pitching wins in both games, pitching a complete-game three-hitter in the first game while striking out 10 and coming on in relief in the third inning of the second game and allowing just one hit in her three innings of work while striking out seven, including six straight at one point.
In the first game Topeka High (2-2) took advantage of two errors to jump out in front 1-0 in the top of the first before Chapman's homer evened the score in the bottom of the inning.
Rural went up 2-1 in the bottom of the second on Chapman's run-scoring double but Topeka High tied the game in the top of the third when senior catcher Alesia Alvarez singled in senior Adisyn Caryl.
The Junior Blues regained the lead on Bath's solo homer in the bottom of the third but Topeka High knotted the score at 3-3 when sophomore pitcher Jo'Mhara Benning doubled and scored on a bunt from junior McCall Beall.
The game was still tied at 3 entering the bottom of the seventh but Chapman opened the inning with her second double, Cope was intentionally walked and sophomore Layla Collins singled to load the bases before Chapman scrambled home with the game-winning run on a passed ball.
Topeka High also drew first blood in the second game, with Alvarez and Beall both knocking in runs to give the Trojans a 2-0 lead in the top of the first.
The Trojans' lead didn't last long, however, with senior Chloe Carlgren doubling and Bath tying the game with her second homer of the day.
Washburn Rural made it 4-2 in the bottom of the second when senior Alyssa Mastin and senior Piper Titworth both doubled and scored and the Junior Blues went up 8-2 with a four-run third inning, highlighted by Chapman's three-run homer.
Topeka High scored its final run in the fifth when Caryl walked and scored on Alvarez's double but Cope escaped further damage and the game was stopped at the end of the inning with a heavy rain falling.
FIRST GAME
WASHBURN RURAL 4, TOPEKA HIGH 3
Topeka High 101 001 0 -- 3 3 1
Washburn Rural 111 000 1 -- 4 8 3
Benning and Alvarez. Cope and Rapp. W -- Cope. L -- Benning. 2B -- Topeka High: Benning. Washburn Rural: Chapman 2. HR -- Washburn Rural: Chapman, Bath.
SECOND GAME
WASHBURN RURAL 8, TOPEKA HIGH 3
Topeka High (2-2) 200 01 -- 3 6 1
Washburn Rural (2-0) 224 00 -- 8 10 1
Benning, Isaia (2) and Alvarez. Titsworth, Cope (3) and Rapp. W -- Cope. L -- Isaia. 2B -- Topeka High: Alvaraz. Washburn Rural: Titsworth 2, Carlgren, Mastin. 3B -- Washbun Rural: Chapman. HR -- Washburn Rural: Chapman, Bath.
