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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Washburn Rural's softball team ran its win streak to four games with Friday's 8-3, 15-4 non-league road doubleheader sweep over Olathe South, with the Junior Blues improving to 6-2 on the season.
Washburn Rural senior Makayla Ekis recorded her second straight complete-game pitching win in Friday's doubleheader sweep over Olathe South. [File photo by Doug Walker/Special to TSN]
Junior Naudia Wech sparked the Washburn Rural offense in the opener with a bases loaded triple while freshman Olivia Koch picked up the pitching win with a complete-game performance.
Junior Avery Rupp hit a grand slam in the second game, her first home run at the varsity level, while senior Makayla Ekis went the distance in the pitcher's circle for the victory.
Rural's sweep over Olathe South came on the heels of a 5-2, 10-1 Centennial League road sweep over Emporia.
Washburn Rural will be at home Tuesday to host Hayden (2-2) in a Centennial twinbill.
Seaman senior Paige Glasgow (left) congratulates sophomore teammate Aubrey Warren after Warren scored a run in Friday's softball triangular at Seaman. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Seaman softball bounces back from first loss with win over city rival Topeka High
After suffering a heartbreaking 10-inning 5-4 loss to Eudora in its first game, Seaman's softball team bounced right back to take a 19-9 win over city rival Topeka High in Friday's triangular at Seaman.
Junior Kaelyn O'Rourke and the Seaman Vikings are 5-1 on the season after a split in Friday's triangular at Seaman. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
With its second-game win the Vikings improved to 5-1 on the season.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
The No. 24-ranked Washburn University softball team pushed its win streak to 11 games on Friday with a doubleheader sweep at Fort Hays State, 13-6 and 2-0.
Washburn, 34-10 overall, 15-5 in the MIAA, recorded a season-high 16 hits in the opener, scoring in six of seven innings, while senior Jaycee Ginter twirled a two-hit shutout in the second game.
Washburn senior Jaycee Ginter threw a two-hitter and recorded a fourth straight shutout in the Ichabods' 2-0 win second-game win over Fort Hays State on Friday. [File photo/TSN]
Sophomore Erin Boles went 5 of 6 with four runs scored in Washburn's doubleheader sweep over Fort Hays State on Friday. [File photo/TSN]
The Ichabods got on the board in their first at bat of the day when Erin Boles led off the game with a single and came around to score on Kaylee Wagner's single to left as Washburn took the early 1-0 lead.
In the second frame, Mariah Wheeler started things off with a single and then Gracie Gallagher entered as a pinch runner, moving to second on a sac bunt by Autymn Schreiner. A single from Ellington Hogle, followed by a stolen base from Hogle put runners and second and third. Boles hit a sac fly to score Gallgher as the Ichabods took a 2-0 advantage.
The third inning saw the Ichabods get a two-runner homer by Wagner, her second of the season, scoring Alexis Tanguma, who had reached on a single.
The Tigers scored three runs in the third inning on three hits to get within 4-3, but Washburn came back with two runs of its own in the fourth inning when Hogle was hit by a pictch and then moved to second when Boles singled to center.
A sac bunt from Marrit Mead moved the runners up 60 feet and then Jaycee Ginter's second walk of the game loaded the bases before Tanguma stroked a two-run single.
Washburn added two more in the fifth on Mead's program-best 57th career double which scored Boles and Wheeler as the Ichabods increased their lead to 8-3.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
The Washburn University football team will hold its annual Spring Game on Saturday inside Yager Stadium, starting with warmups around 9:40 a.m.
Washburn's football team will hold its annual Spring Game Saturday mornng in Yager Stadium. [Photo courtesy of Washburn Athletics]
Following team stretches and special teams drills, a controlled scrimmage will last until approximately 11:45 a.m. going through 20 periods of plays.
Washburn coach Craig Schurig, whose Ichabods are coming off an injury-riddled 2-9 season last fall after three straight winning seasons, said he has been pleased with how the spring has gone. Most all of the players that suffered season-ending injuries last season are back on the field and healthy while a ton of young players who were pressed into duty last season are also making strides according to WU's veteran coach.
"You feel like the team is really coming together,'' Schurig said. "The youth that we had in the fall, the fact that they got all that playing time, you can see their sense of urgency to get better because they've seen what it takes in this conference.
"So they're focused. It's a fun group, a lot of enthusiasm. They go hard and you can see them starting to play together. We've got a ways to go but if we get this group to play with their instinct and their speed, we're good. They're getting more and more like that, where they're just playing.''
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
WAMEGO -- Washburn Rural senior golfer Cam Zimlich didn't get off to the best of starts in Thursday's Washburn Rural Great Plains Classic, carding a triple bogey on his very first hole of the tournament at Wamego Country Club.
But that was one of just a few missteps on the day as Zimlich tied for second individually with a 76 (third on a tiebreaker), leading the host Junior Blues to a second-place team finish with a four-man score of 312, just two strokes behind Manhattan.
Washburn Rural senior Cam Zimlich receives his third-place medal from Rural athletic director Charlie Nimz at Thursday's Great Plains Classic at Wamego Country Club. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
"I started on 18 and I hit it (out of bounds) and I ended up tripling right out of the gate,'' Zimlich said. "I kind of fought back and kept it even until hole 15 was my next bad hole and I made a double, but then 16's a Par 5 and I ended up eagling that one and that got me right back after that. It was kind of an up and down round out there.''
But fortunately for Zimlich, there were a lot more ups than downs.
"That's probably my best tournament round so I was really proud about that one,'' Zimlich said.
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By Todd Fertig
TopSports.news
The Shawnee Heights girls soccer team made a first-half goal stand up, preserving the lead to win at Seaman 1-0 Thursday.
Shawnee Heights freshman Morgan Robinson (9) scored the game's only goal in the T-Birds' 1-0 UKC soccer win over Seaman. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Taking a pass from Shawnee Heights junior Isabelle Van Fleet, freshman Morgan Robinson dribbled into the heart of the Seaman defense and punched a shot to the left post with 6:26 remaining in the first half.
Taking a first half lead didn’t immediately affect the T-Birds strategy in the United Kansas Conference.
“It changes things a little bit, but (the goal) came so early that it was still, ‘Ok, we need to still do what we need to do, play our game,’” said Shawnee Heights coach Kellen Griffin. “Then when it gets toward the end it’s like, ‘Now we need to shore up some things defensively to make sure we’re not giving up a late goal.’ ”
T-Bird goalkeeper MacKenzie Mertel headed the effort to hold the lead.
“It felt like a lot of pressure, but I know that we have a good team this year and I felt confident we could (preserve the shutout),” Mertel said.
Numerous yellow cards and spirited play marked the contest. Griffin said that intensity comes with the rivalry.
“The game with Seaman is always close,” Griffin said. “It doesn’t matter if one team is really up or the other one is really down. The game is always going to be close. So many of these girls play together in the offseason. They are all friends, and they want to get one over on their friends.”
