By VINCE LOVERGINE
TopSports.news
Shawnee Heights softball opened its season Wednesday with a home United Kansas Conference doubleheader sweep over De Soto.
Senior Cianna Graves had a two-run double in Shawnee Heights' 8-7 come-from-behind second-game win over De Soto. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
After taking the first game 6-0 over the Wildcats, the T-Birds mounted a comeback in Game 2 to take an 8-7 extra-inning victory.
“The girls did a really good job of making an adjustment to their swings,'' Shawnee Heights coach Tara Griffith said. "They were getting us out early with those pop-ups.
"We made some adjustments and started swinging down a little bit and that helped us out a lot and we started getting more line drives and then just getting singles and kind of pushing people around.
De Soto took a 4-0 lead in the first inning of the nightcap and Shawnee Heights couldn’t find much of anything in the first couple of innings.
The T-Birds didn’t have a runner go past second until the fifth inning.
SHHS was able to get runners on with leadoff walks, errors committed by the Wildcats or two- out singles, but nothing came of it.
In the top of the fourth, De Soto led off with a single. After struggling with her command, T-Bird junior Kaelyn Fisher was pulled after giving up another single to push the De Soto lead to five and junior Haven Ellenburg replaced Fisher.
Shawnee Heights’ bats woke up in the bottom of the fifth and the T-Birds put some runs on the board.
It started with a leadoff walk from senior Aubrey Hamilton. Senior Addison Cooper had a base knock, giving Heights runners at first and second with one out.
After a fielder’s choice to advance the runners, the two-out rally began.
Senior catcher Cianna Graves nearly hit a three-run home run to left center, slugging a two-RBI double, making the score 5-2.
Jaiden Euwer helped Shawnee Heights softball sweep UKC foe De Soto Wednesday [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Senior Jaidyn Euwer blooped one down the right-field line, resulting in a triple and another run for Heights.
De Soto made a pitching change, but that didn’t stop Shawnee Heights.
Ellenburg knocked in a run of her own on a single, making it a 5-4 ball game.
After trading runs in the sixth inning, De Soto pushed its lead back to two at 7-5 with a run in the top half of the seventh.
In the bottom half of the frame, the T-birds tied the ballgame, beginning with a Graves leadoff single.
The Wildcats made another pitching change but Heights junior Brooklyn Hummer ripped a two-run triple, making it a 7-7 game.
The Wildcats went on-two-three in the top of the eighth and SHHS had a chance to walk it off.
Junior Noelle Barajas led off the frame with a single. After two fielder’s choices, one resulting in a safe call at second as the second baseman for De Soto took her foot off the bag, Graves then was hit by a pitch to load the bases with one out.
A couple of pitches later, Cooper would score on a passed ball, as the T-Birds clawed back from the 5-0 deficit.
“I've told them, and our seniors are really good examples of this, we're going to have to win by team effort,” Griffith said. “Our seniors are really good at doing the team thing and so if you noticed, that's how we got back in it. It wasn't one person, it was kind of all up and down the lineup.”
Game 1
Shawnee Heights 6, De Soto 0
De Soto 000 000 0 -- 0 3 2
Shawnee Heights 020 013 x -- 6 9 5
W -- Fisher. L -- Hillaire.
Game 2
Shawnee Heights 8, Shawnee Heights 7 (8 innings)
De Soto (0-2) 400 101 10 — 7 11 1
Shawnee Heights (2-0) 000 041 21 — 8 11 1
W -- Ellenburg. L -- Hellerrich. 2B -- De Soto: Hillaire (2), Hellerich, Church, Billenger. Shawnee Heights: Graves, Cooper, Hummer 3B -- Shawnee Heights: Euwer.
