By KYLE MANTHE
TopSports.news
LAWRENCE -- For a third straight season Washburn Rural softball is coming back with hardware to end its season after a 6-4 win over Olathe South (15-16) in the third-place game of the Class 6A tournament Friday afternoon at Arrocha Ballpark.
Washburn Rural's softball team poses for a team picture after finishing third in the Class 6A state tournament. [Photo by Doug Walker/Special to TSN]
Washburn Rural softball accepts its third-place trophy Friday at the Class 6A state tournament at Arrocha Ballpark. [Photo by Doug Walker/Special to TSN]
The No. 6 seeded Junior Blues came back on three separate occasions after the No. 8 seeded Falcons took the lead to wrap up a 20-8 season, the first under Joy Marie Galliart.
“I’m super proud of this group, they have come so far from when we started together as a group to where we are now.” Galliart said. “These kids worked hard and they bought into a new way of doing things and some new philosophies … we definitely saw tremendous growth from the beginning of the season to where we are today and I couldn’t be more proud.”
The Junior Blues also bounced back from a 10-0 loss to No. 2 seed, and eventual champion, Olathe Northwest earlier in the day.
“Once that game was over the only thing we could do was learn from it and there was no sense of stewing on it. We had another one that we wanted to take care of and we wanted to leave here with a win, so I’m proud of how they responded after this morning,” Galliart said.
The first lead for Olathe South, which lost to No. 5 Campus 2-1 in the semifinals, came in the top of the first after an RBI groundout scored the first run of the game for the Falcons.
Ava Fowler led off the home half of the second with a single and moved to third on a pair of productive outs. Sophomore Josie Carlgren set down a bunt for a single while also driving in Fowler to tie the game.
Olathe South led off with a pair of singles in the third, and scored one on a groundout but the Junior Blues limited the damage with a double play ending the inning at third base.
An RBI groundout by sophomore Henley Rapp tied the game in the fourth, scoring senior Gabby Martinez who led off with a single. Two batters later junior Avery Rupp singled on a fly ball with miscommunication by the Falcon defense to take a 3-2 lead after four.
Olathe South loaded the bases with one out in the fifth, scoring two on a two-out single to go on top for a third time. The next half inning the Junior Blues needed only two hitters to tie the game with Fowler and freshman Justice McBurney delivering back-to-back doubles in the gap to tie the game. A sac bunt moved the runner over and after a pop fly the eventual winning run was able to score on a throwing error.
Through the fifth inning the Junior Blues had hits from six different players including from each of the four bottom spots in the batting order.
“That’s what I’ve seen the last couple of weeks to get here … the same was true today and really for the three games of the state tournament we had somebody different producing at different times,” Galliart said.
In the top of the sixth senior starting pitcher Makayla Ekis sat down the Falcons in just five pitches to turn the game back over to the offense.
The Washburn Rural offense picked up 10 hits in the game while also taking advantage of five errors from Olathe South. Two of those errors came in the sixth, leading to an insurance run for the Junior Blues.
Washburn Rural senior Makayla Ekis picked up her second complete-game victory of the Class 6A state tournament Friday, helping Rural post a third-place state finish. [Photo by Doug Walker/Special to TSN]
One runner reached base in the seventh but Ekis was able to get three straight groundouts to finish her second complete-game victory in as many days and secure a third-place finish. Ekis finished the game with three earned runs allowed while not giving up an extra-base hit.
“They’ve (the seniors) been invaluable and I think it speaks for itself to watch what Makayla has done in the circle the last couple of weeks for us,” Galliart said.
Washburn Rural finished the season winning nine of its last 12 games to reach the 20-win mark on the year.
“When you learn to be uncomfortable is where you're going to see the biggest amount of growth and we definitely saw tremendous growth from the beginning of the season to where we are today and I couldn’t be more proud,” Galliart said.
Third place
WASHBURN RURAL 6, OLATHE SOUTH 4
Olathe South (15-16) 101 020 0 -- 4 8 5
Washburn Rural (20-8) 010 221 x -- 6 10 2
W – Ekis. L - Braden. 2B – Washburn Rural: Fowler, McBurney.
