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Created: 23 April 2022

By RICK PETERSON                                                                                                              

TopSports.news

The Topeka Farmers will be a new summer collegiate baseball team that will represent the city of Topeka this summer in the Mid-Plains League.

The Farmers will be is under the direction of The Bravos organization, founded in 2019 in Sabetha to give exposure to players and find baseball scholarships for them.

The Bravos has been part of the Mid-Plains League for four years, posting a combined record of 35-23 with a runner-up trophy in 2020.

More than 45 scholarships have been granted to players from the Bravos in the last three seasons, and the Bravos also won the award “organization of the year” in 2021 and had their first player drafted by MLB.

The Bravos are now looking to expand to the Topeka area. Like the Bravos, the Farmers team will be composed of players from South America, Europe, Asia and North America.

The Farmers team is committed to helping players improve their skills and achieve steps towards their next level of play. The Farmers team hires coaches with college experience and a proven record of developing young talent.

The Farmers staff recruits college baseball all-stars from across the nation and worldwide to play for the team.

A typical season is between 28 and 34 games depending on league availability for teams in Topeka, Kansas City, Baldwin City, Sabetha, Hiawatha,
and Junction City. 

The Farmers are looking for families to host players during the summer with the league starting on May 30 and ending around July 30. It would be two months of culture
exchange, fun times and a lot of summer baseball. It can be a very exciting and rewarding experience for all of those willing to open up their homes. 

Players start arriving around May 20th and stay until approximately mid-July, depending on the playoffs. Half of their season is on the road, so players are away for stretches at a time.

Home game tickets are provided to families who open their homes to a player. 

REQUIREMENTS:

1. Place to sleep.

2. Kitchen available.

3. Host families are not responsible for players’ food, but if you consider helping them with some of the meals, we would appreciate it.

4. Host families can go on vacations without worrying about the players; the guys are very mature and responsible.

5. Providing transportation is not mandatory, but they might need a ride to the ballpark or grocery store once in a while.

6. Players sign a behavior contract, and the host family get a copy of it Our mission is to help these young players develop their talent at a high level, represent the community, and give Topeka a new reason to be excited about summertime.

For further information, please email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or text 785285873

Details

Created: 22 April 2022

By ISAAC DEER

TopSports.news

Friday night was a night that Highland Park's softball team wants to learn from after dropping a Centennial League doubleheader to Manhattan at Hummer Sports Park.

The Lady Indians rolled over Highland Park with a 19-0 victory in the first game and a 17-0 decision in in the second game.

“This has been a rebuilding season for us,” Highland Park coach Bill Nicholson said. “With a team that’s comprised of two seniors and the remainder is freshmen, I think we have been doing a good job of settling down. We’ve been getting better. We just need to continue growing and playing better ball.

“We need to find our small victories and grow.”

Coming into this year, nobody on the Scots’ roster had played more than three years of softball in their lives.

While the scoreboard hasn’t been in the favor of Highland Park much this year, the Scots were full of positive energy Friday. That energy is what is keeping this team going.

“The postive energy in our dugout and on the field is what is going to make our team this year,” Nicholson said. “We need to support ourselves before we get some support for our play on the field. We are trying to teach the kids that you need to support yourselves and push yourselves to be your best.

“Everything will come together for us, we just need too look forward.”

Highland Park wasn’t able to come up with any hits in either game and it was hard for the Scots to bring down Manhattan.

Manhattan’s Avery Hafliger pitched a perfect game in the first game and Kailey Wetherington threw a no-hitter in Game 2 in their first varsity starts.

While the two pitchers only pitched three innings each due to the 15-run spread, they were able to collect a combined 14 strikeouts.

“I was very pleased with them,” Manhattan coach Connie Miller said. “It was their first varsity starts today. Avery Hafliger is on the varsity team, so I thought today would be a good chance for her to get mixed in with the rotation. We also wanted to give that same opportunity to Kailey (Wetherington) today.

“Having them pitch lets Jaden (McGee) and Kierra (Goos) get an opportunity to rest up. It was a good day of pitching.”

Wetherington made her varsity debut on Friday as a sophomore.

“I felt like most of my pitches were really good today,” Wetherington said. “Having eight strikeouts out of a possible nine is a good start for me, especially with the varsity team. This is a confidence booster for me going forward.”

“We’ve been preparing to have a day like this,” Miller said. “We were hopeful that we would be able to come in today and put some runs on the board. I thought today went well.”

One of Friday’s biggest stars on offense was Tribe sophomore shortstop McKenzie Reid.

Reid had a home run, a pair of singles, three walks and six RBI in going 3 for 4.

“We put in a lot of work and practice for this,” Reid said. “I think we are a really well put together team. I think any issues we’ve had this year is us beating ourselves. I think we are good now, but we still have a long way too go.”

Kaitlyn Gregorie, Takara Kolterman and Paige Dupler played a huge part in the offensive outburst.

Gregorie, Kolterman and Dupler drove in a combined 11 runs.

Highland Park will take on Centennial League foe Topeka High on Tuesday.

First game

MANHATTAN 19, HIGHLAND PARK 0

Manhattan        6 10 3 – 19 11 0

Highland Park 0 0 0 –    0 0 3

 W – Hafliger. L – Dunsworth-Gonzales. 2B: Manhattan – Hafliger, Begnoche. 3B: Manhattan – Kolterman. HR: Manhattan – Reid.

 Second game

MANHATTAN 19, HIGHLAND PARK 0

Manhattan          7 10 0 – 17 10 1

Highland Park   0 0 0 – 0 0 3

 W –  Wetherington. L – Alcantera. 2B: Manhattan – Wollenberg, Dupler. 3B: Manhattan – Dupler.

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Created: 22 April 2022

By RICK PETERSON                                                                                                              

TopSports.news

Neither Washburn Rural or Seaman were able to open up any breathing room in the Centennial League baseball race in Friday's league showdown at Rural.

But neither the Junior Blues or Vikings did anything to hurt their title chances either, with the doubleheader split leaving Rural, Seaman and Manhattan all deadlocked atop the league standings at 8-2.

Washburn Rural, 8-5 overall, blasted the Vikings 12-1 in a five-inning first game, but 11-2 Seaman answered with a dominating performance of its own in the nightcap, taking an 8-1 victory.

Washburn Rural senior Carson Rosen delivers a pitch in the Junior Blues' 12-1 first-game win over Seaman Friday at Rural. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]

Seaman senior Maclane Finley threw a two-hitter in Friday's 8-1 second-game win over Washburn Rural as the Vikings earned a doubleheader split. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]

After a scoreless first inning in the opener, Rural took control, scoring two runs in the second and four runs in the third to open up a 6-0 advantage.

Seamn scored its only run of the game in the top of the fourth, but the Junior Blues answered with six runs in the bottom of the inning and ended the game after four and a half innings due to the 10-run spread rule.

Senior Carson Rosen went the distance for the pitching win, twirling a three-hitter and recording three strikeouts.

"After the first inning I thought Carson settled in and really pitched well and we got some big hits with people on base,'' Washburn Rural coach Jay Mastin said.

Rosen also delivered a two-run double while senior Robby Bolin had a home run and a triple and junior Ty Weber had a two-run double and three runs batted in overall and junior Adam Johnson had a run-scoring double.

Seaman senior Maclane Finley opened the game with a double and junior Bryson Vawter, who took the pitching loss, also doubled for the Vikings.

Nine-time state champion Seaman has rarely been run-ruled in its proud history and Viking coach Trent Oliva was obviously not pleased with his team's first-game performance.

"What I kind of told the guys is that, 'If you're not embarrassed you're in the wrong place,' '' Oliva said. "Obviously that doesn't happen very much and that is not our expectations and we just talked about what we needed to do to get better.

"Things didn't go right for us and credit Washburn Rural. They hit the ball hard and we didn't play well on the defensive side and it kind of snowballed on us.''

But M. Finley and the Vikings bounced back with a vengeance in the second game, with Finley throwing a two-hitter (no hits after the second) while recording five strikeouts and striking out the side in the bottom of the seventh.

The Vikings fell behind 1-0 in the first, but took control with four runs in the top of the second and added four runs in the fourth.

"That was kind of our between-game speech, that we had an opportunity to get back out there on the field and see what we're made of,'' Oliva said. "I thought it started with our guy on the mound, Mac. He was aggressive, in the zone, and had a few pitches working and then we were able to get some timely hits.''

Mastin said he wasn't surprised that Seaman bounced back with a strong performance after the first-game loss.

"We talked about that between games that Game 2 wasn't going to turn out like Game 1 did,'' Mastin said. "They came out strong and we just didn't have an answer at the plate.

"(Finley) was pretty efficient and we just couldn't string anything together and couldn't get any baserunners on.'' 

Seaman senior Aidan Polter, (22) who had a two-run double in Seaman's 8-1 second-game win, is congratulated by senior Casen Stallbaumer after scoring a run. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]

Washburn Rural sophomore Kyle Walker is congratulated by the Junior Blues' batboy after scoring a run in Friday's doubleheader against Seaman. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]

Senior Aidan Polter had a two-run double and three hits in the second game while Vawter stroked his second double of the day and sophomore Holden Finley also doubled for the Vikings.

Washburn Rural will be right back in action Saturday, completing a postponed game against Hays from earlier in the year. 

First game

WASHBURN RURAL 12, SEAMAN 1

Seaman                000 10 -- 1 3 3

Washburn Rural  024  6x -- 12 11 0

W -- Rosen. L -- Vawter. 2B -- Seaman: M. Finley, Vawter. Washburn Rural: Weber, Rosen, Johnson. 3B -- Washburn Rural Bolin. HR -- Washburn Rural: Bolin.

Second game

SEAMAN 8, WASHBURN RURAL 1

Seaman                040 400 0 -- 8 9 0  

Washburn Rural 100 000 0 -- 1 2 2

W -- M. Finley. L -- Sharshel. 2B -- Seaman: Polter, Vawter, H. Finley. 

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Created: 22 April 2022

By RICK PETERSON                                                                                                              

TopSports.news

Freshman pitcher Kendra Cook threw a seven-inning no-hitter in the nightcap, finishing off Silver Lake softball's 6-1, 7-0 Mid-East League sweep at St. Marys on Thursday.

Cook allowed one walk and struck out five against the Bears although the Eagles were charged with two errors.

Kendra Cook [Twitter/Silver Lake softball]

Silver Lake opened the day with three runs in the first inning of the opener and added two runs in the fifth and a run in the sixth, while sophomore Avery Wende pitched a four-hitter while striking out seven and issuing three walks and allowing a St. Marys run in the fourth.

The Eagles had 12 hits in the first game, including three apiece from senior Taylor Burkhardt and sophomore Hailey Horton.

Kaibryn Kruger had a triple in the game for the Eagles while Lauren Rollenhagen went 2 for 4 with two runs batted in.

In the second game Silver Lake gave Cook the only run she would need in the top of the third inning and erupted for its final six runs in the fifth to put the game away.

Silver Lake had 11 hits, with Taylor Zordel, Burkhardt and Horton all delivering two hits apiece at the top of the lineup.

Horton and Kira Lowrey both had two RBI.

First game

SILVER LAKE 6, ST. MARYS 1

Silver Lake    300 021 0 -- 6 12 2

St. Marys       000 100 0 -- 1 4 2

W -- Wende. L -- Singdhillon. 3B -- Silver Lake: K. Kruger.

Second game

SILVER LAKE 7, ST. MARYS 0

Silver Lake    001 060 0 -- 7 11 2

St. Marys       000 000 0 -- 0 0 3

W -- Cook. L -- Mayhew. 

HEIGHTS BASEBALL POSTS THIRD STRAIGHT WIN

Shawnee Heights' baseball team pushed its winning streak to three games with Thursday's 8-2 United Kansas Conference victory over Leavenworth at the Bettis Family Sports Complex.

With the win the T-Birds improved to 8-6 on the season.

T-BIRD SOFTBALL IMPROVES TO 7-1-0

Shawnee Heights rolled to a 6-0 United Kansas Conference soccer win at Leavenworth on Thursday.

The T-Birds posted their third straight win while improving to 7-1-0 on the season.