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By TODD FERTIG
TopSports.news
A wild ending to the second game of a doubleheader between the Silver Lake and Rossville softball teams produced a split at Rossville Monday night between the two rivals.
After Silver Lake won the opening contest 8-3, Rossville appeared to be in control throughout the second game but struggled to put the feisty Eagles away in the final inning.
Rossville scored six runs on seven hits in the bottom of the sixth inning to build what appeared to be an insurmountable 12-3 lead. But the Eagles refused to go quietly, scoring seven runs before the Bulldawgs were able to close out the 12-10 victory.
Rossville softball, celebrating a run during Monday's home doubleheader with Silver Lake, earned a split with a 12-10 second-game win. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Silver Lake rapped out eight hits in the top of the seventh and cut the deficit to just two runs. With runners on first and third, they appeared poised to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. But a smash deep into the outfield was snared by the Rossville fielder for the second out of the inning. Once the ball was in the infield, a throw to third base produced the final out on the Eagle runner who left the base on contact.
“I’m just glad we were able to hang on to get the win,” said Rossville coach John Nitsch following the nightcap. “The main thing is just to keep on fighting. I’m glad we scored enough the inning before to give us that cushion.
“The difference between this year and last year was we’d let games like that get away from us. But this year we’re able to fight back and get it.”
Rossville withstood four Silver Lake home runs and a triple in the second game by stringing together long rallies in the second and sixth innings. The Bulldawgs compiled 17 hits in the late game, all but one of which were singles.
The opening game loss to Silver Lake was Rossville’s first defeat of the season. The nightcap made the Bulldawgs 7-1 on the season.
“My biggest thing was I didn’t like how we competed in the first game,” said Nitsch, who recorded his 100th career victory earlier in the season. “We’ve got to show up to compete every pitch, every play, not extend innings by not making plays.”
Senior pitcher Riley Mohler picked up an 8-3 complete game first-game victory as Silver Lake and Rossville split Monday's doubleheader. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Silver Lake got a complete-game victory in the opener from pitcher Riley Mohler. The senior helped herself out with two big plays in the sixth inning, neither coming from her pitching arm.
Knotted at 3-3 in the top of the sixth, the pitcher stepped to the plate with runners on second and third. She cracked a drive to the opposite field that banged against the right field fence, plating both runners to take the lead.
“I personally love hitting. I know pitching is a big thing for me. I’ve been pitching for as long as I can remember,” Mohler said. “But once I sit in that box and I can hit, it really changes the game because I can affect the score and who wins.”
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Monday was a night of firsts for the Shawnee Heights girls soccer team.
After a loss and a tie to open the season, the T-Birds picked up their first win of the year while scoring their first goals of 2026 in a 3-0 shutout over city rival Topeka High at Hummer Sports Park, while Heights assistant Josiah Juarez, filling in for veteran T-Bird coach Nic Simons, picked up win No. 1 as a head coach.
Shawnee Heights junior Morgan Robinson scored two goals Monday as the T-Birds picked up their first win with a 3-0 shutout over city rival Topeka High. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Juarez was running the show Monday while Simons missed the game to be with his wife and newborn child, born over the weekend.
"I was just a little bit nervous -- it comes with the game -- but that's the exciting part, especially with us needing a win,'' Juarez said. "And I'm just excited we got it done tonight.''
The T-Birds didn't miss a beat under Juarez, taking a 2-0 halftime lead on a pair of goals from junior standout Morgan Robinson and adding a third goal on a shot from junior Nina Bolanos in the second half.
Robinson scored the only goal the T-Birds would need 5:50 into the game off a corner kick from Bolanos.
Shawnee Heights junior Nina Bolanos (2) had a goal and an assist in Monday's 3-0 win over city rival Topeka High. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Robinson scored her second goal with 19:39 left in the opening half to give the T-Birds their two-goal halftime advantage before Bolanos wrapped up the scoring with 8:33 remaining.
Senior MacKenzie Mertel picked up the shutout in goal for the T-Birds.
Shawnee Heights girls soccer assistant Josiah Juarez picked up his first win as a head coach in Monday's 3-0 T-Bird win over Topeka High. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
"I thought we were (solid) for the most part,'' Juarez said. "We kept our game plan and just executed it really well and continued to do it throughout the whole game.''
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
The story of the first half in Monday's Hayden-Eudora non-league girls soccer game was missed Wildcat scoring opportunities.
But a Reese Huscher penalty kick allowed host Hayden to take a 1-0 halftime advantage and the Wildcats tacked on a pair of goals after intermission to improve to a perfect 4-0 on the season with a 3-0 victory over the Cardinals.
Freshman Emma Slyter (16) scored Hayden's final goal in Monday's 3-0 non-league home win over Eudora. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
"We didn't finish very well the first half and actually I thought we were pretty lackadaisical,'' Hayden coach Klaus Kreutzer said. "But our effort was better the second half, and that's good.''
Senior Reese Huscher (14) scored Hayden's first goal on a penalty kick in Monday's 3-0 win over Eudora. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Hayden had several near-misses early in the match but the Wildcats were awarded a penalty kick at the 17:33 mark and Huscher converted to give her team the only goal it would need.
Senior Carsyn Broxterman (4) continued her red-hot start to the 2026 season with a goal in Monday's 3-0 Hayden win over Eudora. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
The score was still 1-0 at the half but Hayden added a pair of second-half insurance goals to seal the victory, with senior Carsyn Broxterman scoring at the 22:33 mark and freshman Emma Slyter ending the scoring with 21:31 remaining.
Seniors Lauren Borjon and Kadence Watts combined for the shutout in goal for the Wildcats.
Next up for Hayden is a Thursday road game at Bishop Miege in a marquee regular-season matchup between the two teams that played for the Class 4A-1A state title last spring, with the Stags taking a 2-1 double-overtime victory over the Wildcats.
Kreutzer said he welcomes the regular-season series with Miege, which resumed last year after an absence of several seasons.
"I purposely wanted to put them on the schedule, simply so (our players) could see the competition, rather than just facing them at the end of the year, they'll know what they've got to do,'' Kreutzer said. "We should be motivated.''
HAYDEN 3, EUDORA 0
Eudora (1-2-0) 0 0 -- 0
Hayden (4-0-0) 1 2 -- 3
Hayden -- Goals: Reese Huscher, Carsyn Broxterman, Emma Slyter. Shutout: Lauren Borjon, Kadence Watts.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Rossville was the first school to give Brandon McDonnell the opportunity to be a head basketball coach and he's cherished his four years there, leading the Bulldawgs to back-to-back Class 2A state tournament berths the past two seasons.
Brandon McDonnell has been selected as Shawnee Heights' new boys basketball coach after leading Rossville to back-to-back Class 2A state berths. [File photo/TSN]
But the chance to move up to the 5A level in his hometown of Topeka was too good to pass up, with McDonnell tapped to replace retiring local legend Ken Darting as Shawnee Heights' new boys coach.
"For your first head coaching job and then to have such a great group of kids, it's obviously hard to leave that,'' McDonnell said about leaving Rossville. "For the four years I've been embraced by our players and it's been a Godsend, so obviously this is not an easy choice by any means, but at the end of the day I always explore opportunity and at this particular moment my name was just kind of out there for this (Shawnee Heights) job.
"When your name's out there, you know there's people that kind of want your leadership and your expertise and your mentorship and you always want to pursue something that you think you'll be a good fit for, so that's what happened here.''
A former Topeka High standout and assistant at Topeka West, McDonnell said it has always been in the back of his mind to someday land a head coaching job in his hometown.
"One hundred percent,'' said McDonnell, who played collegiately at Baker. "Nothing against Rossville, I loved it out there, but it was always a thing for me to come back and coach in the city where I played in, where I grew up.''
- Details
By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Kaitlyn Aldridge
KAITLYN ALDRIDGE, Shawnee Heights
A junior swimming standout, Aldridge won the 100-yard butterfly in a time of 1 minute, 11.39 seconds and finished second in the 100 backstroke in 1:11.31 in Thursday's Topeka High Invitational at the Capitol Federal Natatorium while also swimming on the T-Birds' third-place 200 free relay (2:03.17) and fourth-place 200 medley relay (2:21.17). Aldridge also posted an individual win and runnerup finish in last Tuesday's meet.
Brody Anderson
BRODY ANDERSON, Seaman
Anderson, a senior cross country and track star, shattered the Seaman school record in the boys 1,600 meters by nearly six seconds in Thursday's Jerry Beardslee Invitational at Washburn Rural. Anderson clocked a winning time of 4 minutes, 11.94 seconds and came back later in the day to win the 800 in 1:56.49 giving him four victories in four races on the season.
Taylor Brees
TAYLOR BREES, Washburn University
A freshman outfielder, Brees had a big weekend as Washburn University softball posted a pair of MIAA doubleheader road sweeps at Nebraska-Kearney (9-1, 4-0) and Fort Hays State (12-1, 6-0). Brees went 7 of 13 at the plate in the four games with six runs batted in and five runs scored. Brees went 5 of 6 in Friday's wins over Fort Hays State with five RBI and four runs scored.
