By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
It became apparent early on that a big play or two was probably going to decide the pitcher's duel between Silver Lake junior Kendra Cook and Santa Fe Trail senior Kaelee Washington in Wednesday's Class 3A regional softball final at Hayden.
Winning pitcher Kendra Cook (25) exchanges a hug with senior teammate Kaibryn Kruger (9) as Silver Lake celebrates its 1-0 win over Santa Fe Trail in Wednesday's Class 3A regional final. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Silver Lake softball celebrates its Class 3A regional championship after Kira Lowrey scored the winning run in Wednesday's 1-0 win over Santa Fe Trail. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
And after Cook and Washington matched goose eggs through six and a half innings, a triple by Silver Lake junior Kira Lowrey and a perfectly-executed bunt from senior McKinley Kruger in the bottom of the seventh were enough to give Eagles a berth in next week's 3A state tournament with a 1-0 victory over the Chargers.
"At some point you just put it in their hands, right, and they've got to take care of business,'' said Silver Lake head coach Nick Hamilton, who picked up his 100th career win as the Eagles improved to 22-2 on the season entering next Thursday's state tourney at the Envista Softball Complex at Lake Shawnee.
"It gave us a test for sure. To be honest with you, I think we've just seen the best pitcher in 3A and if we can figure out how to hit her and get better I think we'll be tough. Competition always helps you.''
Silver Lake junior Kira Lowrey rounds second base on her seventh-inning triple and scored the game-winning run in Wednesday's 1-0 win over Santa Fe Trail. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Washington, a Kansas signee, kept Silver Lake in check for most of the day while recording 12 strikeouts, but Lowrey broke through with a leadoff triple down the right-field line in the seventh.
Senior Lake senior Makenzie McDaniel threatened to end things with a blast well over the left-field fence, but the ball went foul and McDaniel eventually went down on strikes, leaving it up to Kruger to be the hero.
Silver Lake senior McKinley Kruger (12) celebrates with her teammates after delivering the game-winning bunt in Wednesday's 1-0 Class 3A regional win over Santa Fe Trail. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
"I just told her to do her job,'' Hamilton said. "She knew what she had to do and no better person to have do it.''
Kruger took one ball and one strike on her at bat before Hamilton put on the bunt sign.
"He trusted me to swing it and then he saw an opportunity to win the game and I'm willing to do whatever it takes,'' said Kruger, who is headed to Washburn for her college career.
Kruger said she felt confident that she could get the bunt down.
"I haven't bunted very much this year but I have confidence in my bunting ability,'' Kruger said. "It's just harder against a tougher pitcher obviously, so I really just had to hone in on where the ball was being pitched and put it down.''
Kruger put the ball in a perfect position and Lowrey scored easily from third to end the game.
Lowrey scored the winning run to cap a big performance in the regional, going 8 for 10, including a monster home run in the semifinals.
And has good as Washington was for Santa Fe Trail in the circle, Cook was just as good, scattering five hits while striking out six Chargers.
"She was a rock out there today and the best thing we could have is I've got two (really) good pitchers,'' Hamilton said. "They compete every day in practice. Kendra knows that she can't give an inch because Avery (Wende) is going to take it, and vice versa, so that's important.''
Hamilton appreciated reaching his 100-win mileston, but deflected the credit to others who have been involved with the Silver Lake program.
"That's fun,'' Hamilton said. "To be honest with you, I didn't know 100 percent, but that goes up to good community, good kids and good assistant coaches. Some of them are out head coaching now in other programs and they've just been amazing and helped me become what I am as a coach and heck, these seniors have like 80 of those wins.''
Silver Lake reached the championship game with a 15-2 win over Perry-Lecompton in the semifinals in four and a half innings while Santa Fe Trail advanced with a 5-1 win over Rossville, ending the Bulldawgs' 3A championship reign.
Rossville ended its season with a 20-4 record.
The 3A state tournament will be held May 23-24 at the Envista Complex. State pairings will be released after all the regional tournaments are completed.
CLASS 3A REGIONAL SOFTBALL
At Hayden
Championship
SILVER LAKE 1, SANTA FE TRAIL 0
Santa Fe Trail (22-5) 000 000 0 -- 0 5 2
Silver Lake (22-2) 000 000 1 -- 1 4 0
Kaelee Washington and Peyton Ganger. Kendra Cook and Taylor Swygert. W -- Kendra Cook. L -- Kaelee Washington. 2B -- Santa Fe Trail: Addalyn Sleichter. Silver Lake: Kendra Cook. 3B -- Silver Lake: Kira Lowrey.
