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By TODD FERTIG

TopSports.news

Baseball, more than any other American sport, connects the modern to the past. The 2026 Rossville baseball team began adding another chapter to the 100-plus year story of baseball in the town’s iconic Joe Campbell Field Thursday.

Rossville baseball opened its 2026 season in the newly renovated Joe Campbell Field. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]

Neither game of the doubleheader with Jefferson West went particularly well. The Bulldawgs, several of whom were competing at the state basketball tournament just two weeks earlier, scuffled on the mound and failed to produce much offense. Rossville dropped the twinbill by scores of 10-2 and 10-1.

Thursday’s games were the first in the newly renovated facility. At over 100 years old, the grandstand was in dire need of repair. Thanks to the generosity of fans of the stadium and the high school Bulldawgs – one donor in particular – significant recent improvements preserved the historic features of the ballpark.

“I noticed that the old grandstand was getting in disrepair, and I told the city council that we needed to start getting ready because we were going to either have to put a bunch of money in it or tear it down and put up a modern one, because at some point it was going to become a safety hazard,” said Rossville mayor Jim Meyer. “I put band-aids on it over the years, but it was going to need something more significant.”

The city owns the ballpark and leases it to the school as well as other users. The restoration effort was sparked by a Facebook post by the Rossville Community Foundation which asked if the community would prefer to renovate the facility or build something new.

“The overwhelming support was to restore the existing structure and try to do it in a historically pertinent way,” said Myron Leinwetter, vice president of the foundation. “The city, like most small communities, does not have extra funds lying around for big projects like this. So, the community foundation decided that since donations can come to us, we volunteered to start a designated fund for the baseball stadium, and all of the donations came into that.”

The original all-wood structure was a result of an $8,000 bond issue passed in 1922 to purchase land and develop a ballpark on eight acres purchased by the City of Rossville. At the time, baseball was an integral part of nearly every American town and a quality ballpark was naturally a part of the original plan, which included 400 trees, a bandstand and shelter, a tourist campground, children’s playground and picnic area. The field was first utilized on June 8, 1924.

Perhaps the most famous game played at the stadium was a meeting between local players and the touring Kansas City Monarchs on August 3, 1925. The legendary Negro League club was on its way to a Negro World Series crown and included Topekan Dink Mothell. While the Monarchs won, the score was a respectable 4-1.

The field boasts the only historic all-wood grandstand in Kansas one of just a few historic wooden grandstands remaining in the U.S. It served as the setting for scenes in the 2016 film Town Teams: Bigger than Baseball.

Fixing up the old ballpark was not going to be cheap.

“The whole thing is made out of wood. So, the main support beam structures were literally rotting away,” Leinwetter said. “Another thing that was big was the actual seating. It was built in 1924, so it was definitely not ADA accessible. It wasn’t even particularly spectator friendly. We wanted to change some of that so it would be a lot safer for people to get in and out of the grandstands.”

The final cost of the project exceeded the initial projection of about $100,000. While the Rossville Community Foundation worked hard to raise funds for the project, it wouldn’t have been possible without a sizeable donation and technical support from Bruce and Theresa McPherson, operators of McPherson Contractors, Inc.

“Bruce’s dad was actually the mayor of Rossville when the city bought all the ground for the baseball diamond and the surrounding park,” Meyer said. “When he heard about the project, he wanted to see to it that it was remodeled rather than torn down, and that it was done well. They did a really good job. It’s been there for over 100 years, and it’s going to last another 100.”

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By RICK PETERSON

TopSports.news

Senior co-players of the year KaeVon Bonner of Seaman and Dayne Johnson of Silver Lake headline the 2026 TopSports.news All-Shawnee County boys basketball team.

KaeVon Bonner, Seaman

Dayne Johnson, Silver Lake

Bonner is a three-time All-Shawnee County Top 10 pick after leading the Vikings to a 23-5 record and a third-place finish in the Class 5A state tournament while Johnson was an all-county repeat pick after leading the Eagles to a second straight third-place state finish in 3A and ending his high school career as Silver Lake's all-time leading scorer, eclipsing the record previously held by the legendary Lon Kruger.

Rossville senior Jack Donovan is a three-time All-Shawnee County Top 10 honoree and is joined on the first time by Rossville senior point guard Jakoby McDonnell after the Bulldawgs advanced to the Class 2A state tournament for the second straight season.

Topeka West, which won the United Kansas Conference championship in a tiebreaker over Seaman and placed fourth in Class 5A is represented on the all-county top 10 by seniors Malakyah Duncan and Keimani Paul and junior Prince Lassiter.

Also earning Top 10 honors were Hayden senior Connor Hanika, Shawnee Heights junior Cam Ross and Topeka High senior Bryson McComas.

Quincy Dixon, Shawnee Heights

Shawnee Heights freshman Quincy Dixon was named the county newcomer of the year after averaging 12.4 points and helping the T-Birds advance to the Class 5A state tournament.

Chip Kueffer, Cair Paravel Latin

Robbie Sanders, Topeka High

Cair Paravel's Chip Kueffer and Topeka High's Robbie Sanders were named the Shawnee County co-coaches of the year after leading their teams to 12-win improvements in 2025-2026.

Kueffer led CPLS to a 22-3 record, including 19 straight wins and the Flint Hills League championship while first-year coach Sanders led Topeka High to a 13-11 record in '25-'26 after the Trojans posted just one win in the previous season. 

All-Shawnee County capsules:

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By RICK PETERSON

TopSports.news

Washburn Ichabod softball will return to Gahnstrom Field this weekend for its third and fourth doubleheaders against ranked teams.

The Ichabods will host No. 11-ranked Missouri Southern on Friday starting at 4 p.m. and No. 7-ranked Pittsburg State on Saturday starting at 1 p.m.

The Ichabods enter the weekend with a 24-11 record and a 1-5 MIAA mark after being swept by No. 17-ranked Central Oklahoma on March 20, 8-0 and 6-0.

Former Seaman standout Aspen Burgardt, the Ichabods' third baseman, said she feels like Washburn is ready to get back on track.

Washburn sophomore Makenzie Sais leads the nation in stolen bases entering Friday's twinbill with Missouri Southern. [File photo/TSN]

"We've had a couple of tough practices lately and I just think we need to use what we do in practice and implement those things into the games,'' said Burgardt, who is hitting .347 with seven home runs and 22 runs batted in. "We just really need to get our hitting on board.

"That's been the issue lately. We're backed up by our pitchers, so we just need to perform on both sides of the ball. It's way early, so we've got plenty of time to turn it around for sure.'' 

Washburn sophomore Makenzie Sais is the Ichabod single-season leader in stolen bases and enters the weekend with a nation-best 57 steals, 20 ahead of the No. 2-ranked player on the chart.

The MIAA single-season stolen base record is 65 by Becca Alt from Missouri-Rolla (now Missouri S&T) set in 1997. Sais' 57 stolen bases are second on the MIAA single-season chart.

Sais' 74 career stolen bases at Washburn trail Torrie Beauchamp's 87 from 1996-1999 and Marrit Mead's 96 from 2021-24.

Dalaney Anderson is 13th in the nation with 40 RBI and she is 37th in home runs with eight.

Sadie Walker is third in the nation in shutouts with five and she is 17th in strikeouts with 98.

Missouri Southern is 27-5 this season and 2-2 in the MIAA and ranked No. 11 in the latest NFCA Top 25 poll after being ranked No. 3 last week.

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