No. 6 seed Rural softball advances to 6A softball semifinal with 2-1 win over No. 3 Blue Valley West
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Washburn Rural's softball team is headed to the Class 6A state semifinals for the fifth time in six years and its first semifinal under first-year Junior Blues coach Joy Marie Galliart after No. 6-seeded Rural took a 2-1 first-round win over No. 3 Blue Valley West Thursday at Arrocha Ball Park in Lawrence.
Washburn Rural junior Avery Rupp is congratulated by Junior Blues coach Joy Marie Galliart after her third-inning home run put Rural in front 1-0 in Thursday's 2-1 Class 6A state tournament win over Blue Valley West. [Photo by Doug Walker/Special to TSN]
Sophomore Reagan Chapman knocked in what proved to be the game-winning run in Thursday's 2-1 Washburn Rural win over Blue Valley West in the Class 6A state tournament. [Photo by Doug Walker/Special to TSN]
With Thursday's win the 19-7 Junior Blues advanced to an 11 a.m. Friday semifinal against No. 2 seed Olathe Northwest and will be looking for their fourth trip to the 6A championship game over the past six seasons.
Washburn Rural never trailed in Thursday's first-round game after junior Avery Rupp hit a solo home run to left field in the top of the third inning.
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By Todd Fertig
TopSports.news
Silver Lake slugged its way into the second day of the 3A state softball tournament, ripping three home runs in a 10-0 opening-round win over Cheney at Lake Shawnee Thursday.
Silver Lake junior Taylor Zordel (6) is congratulated by her teammates at home plate after hitting a grand slam in the Eagles' 10-0 first-round state tournament win over Cheney. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Junior pitcher Kendra Cook allowed just two hits in four innings, picking up the win in Silver Lake's 10-0 state tournament win over Cheney. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
The Eagles, seeded fourth in the eight-team bracket, defeated the fifth-seeded Cardinals in a five-inning blowout, giving themselves a little extra rest before the second round. The Eagles will face undefeated top-seed Holcomb at 11 a.m. Friday.
Silver Lake jumped on the Cardinals in the first inning on a two-run homer from junior Kira Lowrey.
Two more runs in the second frame gave Eagles junior pitcher Kendra Cook a comfortable cushion. Cook rolled through the Cardinal lineup, surrendering just two singles and a hit batter.
“She’s got a great defense behind her,” Silver Lake coach Nick Hamilton said of Cook. “I think that helps. When you’ve got confidence in your teammates, it’s easy to go up there and throw what you want to throw.”
The Eagles blew the game open in the bottom of the fourth inning with junior Taylor Zordel launching a based-loaded home run, putting the game away.
“We were all hitting the ball well and I think our defense was really solid. It was my turn to hit the ball hard somewhere,” Zordel said. “I think (this win) gave us a lot of confidence. We know we’re better than that team and we just proved that we’re here ready to make a good run.”
Following Zordel in the batting order, senior Makenzie McDaniel put a punctuation mark on the win with a blast that cleared the left-field fence by a significant distance.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
After getting through the toughest softball regional in Class 3A to earn a state berth, Silver Lake wants to capitalize on that opportunity in Thursday and Friday's state tournament at the Envista Softball Complex at Lake Shawnee.
Silver Lake softball celebrates its Class 3A regional championship after scoring the winning run in its 1-0 win over Santa Fe Trail. [File photo/TSN]
The Eagles punched their ticket to state with a dramatic 1-0 win over Santa Fe Trail in the final of the Hayden regional, with Silver Lake pushing across the winning run in the bottom of the seventh on a squeeze bunt from senior McKinley Kruger after a triple from junior Kira Lowrey.
Of course, Silver Lake coach Nick Hamilton and his Eagles know there's still tough tests ahead in a 3A field that includes all eight teams with at least 16 victories and six with between 20 and 25 wins.
But Hamilton thinks his Eagles, the No. 4 seed at 22-2, will be ready for the challenge, beginning with Thursday's 1 p.m. first-round game against No. 5 Cheney (19-2).
"All I want is girls that want to compete,'' Hamilton said. "I'm not worried about hanging a banner and I don't think they're worried about it right now. They just want to go prove how good they can be.''
Kruger agreed.
"Being in this regional is going to prepare us for the state tournament, but we're not going to let our guard down because we've had our fair share of long runs in postseason and we don't like to see it end early and we want to win a state championship,'' said Kruger, who helped lead the Eagles to the 3A state basketball championship in March.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Longtime Shawnee Heights baseball coach Ryan Schmidt will end his prep coaching career this week in a very familiar place -- the Class 5A state tournament at Wichita State's Eck Stadium.
"We know the directions down there, we've got those memorized, but what a gift to finish up in Wichita,'' said Schmidt, who is retiring after 25 years as the T-Birds' head coach. "That's really special to me.''
Ryan Schmidt will end his 25-year run as Shawnee Heights' baseball coach in Thursday and Friday's Class 5A state tournament at Wichita. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Schmidt has coached the T-Birds to a pair of Class 5A state championships as Heights' head coach while also having a hand in two other state titles as an assistant under Craig Cox.
Shawnee Heights will enter Schmidt's final state tournaent as the No. 5 seed at 13-11 and the T-Birds will open their state bid at 1:15 p.m. Thursday against No. 4 seed Spring Hill (17-8).
The T-Birds have gone through an up and down 2024 campaign, but seem to be peaking at the right time, with No. 9 regional seed Heights punching its ticket to state with a 3-0 regional win over No. 1 seed De Soto on the Wildcats' home field.
"We started off and we'd win one and lose one, win two, lose two and just kind of bounced back and forth,'' Schmidt said in assessing the season. "We were trying to find our personality as a team and figure out how to come together.
"As the season went on and we kept going back and forth, instead of being frustrated we kind of went with the mentality of, 'Hey, we've got to win two games and then we've got to win three.' You want to do a five-game winning streak, let's make it at the end and we've got the first two out of the way.''
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
NOTE: Top.Sports.news will compile a weekly track and field honor roll for Shawnee County high schools throughout the 2024 season. Coaches are asked to email updated times and marks or any corrections to Rick Peterson at
GIRLS
Keimara Marshall, Topeka High
100 METERS
Keimara Marshall, Topeka High 12.42
Kielyn McDonnell, Rossville 12.72
Ally Steiner, Seaman 12.86
Alana Mitchell, Hayden 12.87
Jurnee Cole, Highland Park 12.96
200 METERS
Keimara Marshall, Topeka High 26.25
Natalie Hillebert, Hayden 26.67
Analese Estudillo, Washburn Rural 26.74
Shayla Rezac, Rossville 26.74
Ahsieyrhuajh Rayton, Topeka High 26.78
Natalie Hillebert, Hayden
400 METERS
Natalie Hillebert, Hayden 59.59
Shayla Rezac, Rossville 60.88
Ally Steiner, Seaman 60.92
Ella Bolan, Silver Lake 61.69
Ali Gerber, Silver Lake 62.18
Ryan Miller, Seaman
800 METERS
Ryin Miller, Seaman 2:10.25
Rylee Ismert, Washburn Rural 2:22.67
Payton Fink, Washburn Rural 2:25.13
Emily Graf, Washburn Rural 2:26.39
Taylie Heston, Seaman 2:28.82
1,600 METERS
Ryin Miller, Seaman 4:46.90
Rylee Ismert, Washburn Rural 5:12.51
Payton Fink, Washburn Rural 5:14.08
Emily Graf, Washburn Rural 5:15.14
Sofia Harper, Hayden 5:29.48
