By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Seaman softball earned a doubleheader split with Washburn Rural in dramatic fashion Friday at Seaman, with senior third baseman Rosalie Schneider crushing a leadoff, walk-off home run in the bottom of the seventh to give the Vikings a 6-5 non-league win over the Junior Blues.
Seaman senior Rosalie Schneider is greeted by her teammates at home plate after her walk-off home run in the Vikings' 6-5 second-game win over Washburn Rural. [Photo by Doug Walker/TSN]
Washburn Rural won the first game 5-2, with freshman Olivia Koch and sophomore Reagan Chapman hitting fourth-inning home runs to power the Junior Blues.
After taking the first-game victory, Washburn Rural (11-5) jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the top of the first of the nightcap on a two-run home run by junior Avery Rupp, but Seaman answered with five straight runs to take a 5-2 lead in the bottom of the fifth.
Sophomore Aubrey Warren doubled and scored on a single from junior Raegan McConnell in the first and Seaman took a 3-2 lead in the second, with freshman Acey Thompson plating one run with a sacrifice bunt and junior Anna McLaughlin doubling and scoring on a single from Warren.
Seaman (11-5) made it a 4-2 game with a solo homer from senior Jersey Jellison in the third inning and went up 5-2 when McConnell and Jellison delivered back-to-back doubles.
Rural cut its deficit to 5-3 in the top of the sixth when sophomore Emma Duran singled and scored and the Junior Blues tied the game with a pair of runs in the top of the seventh as senior Ava Fowler delivered a two-run single.
But the deadlock lasted just one batter into the bottom of the seventh, with Schneider hitting a no-doubt round-tripper to straight-away center field.
Warren had three hits for Seaman in the second game while McConnell and Jellison had a pair of hits for the Vikings.
Koch and Rupp both had two second-game hits for Washburn Rural.
Seaman, which played without standout junior pitcher Kaelyn O'Rourke on Friday, split time in the pitching circle between sophomore Addison Sibley and Thompson in both games, with Thompson picking up the win in the nightcap.
Washburn Rural never trailed in the opener after senior Gabby Martinez and sophomore Josie Carlgren both singled and scored in the top of the second.
Washburn Rural sophomore Reagan Chapman is congratulated by Rural coach Joy Marie Galliart after her first-game home run. [Photo by Doug Walker/Special to TSN]
The Junior Blues scored their final three runs in the fourth, with Koch hitting a two-run homer and Chapman adding a solo shot.
Seaman sophomore Aubrey Warren (center) is congratulated by her teammates after hitting a first-game home run. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Seaman got a solo homer from Warren in the fifth and Warren singled and scored on Schneider's double in the seventh.
Rupp had three hits for Rural in the first game while Warren and Schneider both had three hits for Seaman.
Washburn Rural senior Makayla Ekis (center) picked up the complete-game pitching win in Rural's 5-2 first-game win over Seaman. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Senior Makayla Ekis went the distance for Rural to pick up the pitching win in the opener.
FIRST GAME
WASHBURN RURAL 5, SEAMAN 2
Washburn Rural 020 300 0 -- 5 12 0
Seaman 000 010 1 -- 2 10 0
Ekis and Rupp. Sibley, Thompson (5) and McConnell. W -- Ekis. L -- Sibley. 2B -- Washburn Rural: Martinez. Seaman: Schneider 2, Smith. HR -- Washburn Rural: Koch, Chapman. Seaman: Warren.
SECOND GAME
SEAMAN 6, WASHBURN RURAL 5
Washburn Rural (11-5) 200 001 2 -- 5 10 1
Seaman (11-5) 121 010 1 -- 6 9 1
Koch, Ekis (5) and Rapp. Sibley, Thompson (3), Sibley (6), Thompson (7) and McConnell. W -- Thompson. L -- Ekis. 2B -- Washburn Rural: Chapman, Collins. Seaman: Warren, McConnell, Jellison, McLaughlin. HR -- Washburn Rural: Rupp. Seaman: Jellison, Schneider.
