By ISAAC DEER
TopSports.news
Shawnee Heights tore the cover off of the ball in Tuesday night’s doubleheader sweep over United Kansas Conference foe Lansing at Lake Shawnee.
Heights couldn’t have dreamt of a much better offensive night. scoring 30 runs with a pair of home runs and nine extra-base hits.
“We had an answer for every time (Lansing) scored,” Shawnee Heights coach Tara Griffith said. “I still think we have some room to improve. It took us a little while to adjust to the different speed from (Lansing) pitchers.
“Overall I thought we had a pretty good day.”
A 16-6 T-Bird victory in the first game was followed by a 14-3 decision in the second game, with both contests ending by way of the 10-run spread rule.
Shawnee Heights sophomore Ally Adams-Millard had a big day at the plate in the T-Birds' doubleheader UKC sweep over Lansing, including a home run. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Shawnee Heights senior Olivia Morgan makes a catch in Tuesday's UKC softball sweep over Lansing. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
In the first game, the final T-Bird run came home off of a Lansing wild pitch. In Game 2 sophomore Karlyn Bowman smoked a two-run home run, walking it off for Heights.
Senior Deja Gardenhire, sophomore Ally Adams-Millard, senior Olivia Morgan and sophomore MacKenzie Birch all had stellar nights at the plate.
Adams-Millard had a home run, double and multiple basehits, giving the sophomore a day to look back on. Gardenhire, O. Morgan and Birch had a combined 10 hits in the two victories.
From top to bottom, the Shawnee Heights lineup was an unstoppable force at the plate.
While the T-Birds committed some defensive errors in the doubleheader sweep, the defense played sound softball.
Gardenhire was in the circle for game one. Gardenhire executed the first two innings smoothly beore a tough third inning. Gardenhire allowed four runs in the inning. allowing Lansing to tie the game.
Gardenhire was able to settle down after the third inning and took control for the rest of the game. The T-Birds' trust was evident when Griffith let Gardenhire finish out the game.
“It was huge that she was able to come back from that,” Griffith said. “She didn’t have her best pitching day. I think she would tell you that. She really came back from that inning and it was great. She answered back very well.
“The past few weeks we have been talking about how we are going to answer back when things don’t go our way.”
Freshman Grace Proctor twirled a solid game following up Gardenhire’s performance. Proctor allowed three runs, four hits and punched out seven batters.
The pitching performances from Gardenhire and Proctor were the perfect balance to the barrage of runs created by the offense.
Gardenhire and Proctor got their support in large chunks. The T-Birds had four innings where they scored four or more runs.
Shawnee Heights (9-5) will look to build on Tuesday night’s wins on Friday when they host Blue Valley Southwest.
First game
SHAWNEE HEIGHTS 16, LANSING 6
Lansing 004 011 – 6 11 2
Shawnee Heights 403 108 – 16 12 1
W – Gardenhire. L – Hoppes. 2B: Shawnee Heights – O. Morgan 2, Birch, Durkes, Callaway, Adams-Millard. Lansing – Gray 2, Callaway, Hoppes. 3B: Shawnee Heights – Birch.
Second game
SHAWNEE HEIGHTS 14, LANSING 3
Lansing 001 20 – 3 4 4
Shawnee Heights 420 26 – 14 9 4
W – Proctor. L– Valverde. 2B: Shawnee Heights – Gardenhire, Birch. HR: Shawnee Heights – Adams-Millard, Bowman. Lansing – Jaccard.
