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By TODD FERTIG
TopSports.news
The Silver Lake softball team, Class 3A state runnersup the past two seasons, are looking to be a contender once again.
The Eagles improved to 7-1 on the season by blasting Big East League foe Nemaha Central in two run-rule-shortened games Thursday.
Sophomore Mariah Kortan had two doubles and a home run in Silver Lake's twinbill sweep over Nemaha Central. [Photo by Todd Fertig/TSN]
The Eagles rapped out 18 hits on the day, winning the doubleheader at Silver Lake 12-2 and 15-4.
“I feel like we went out and competed at the plate a little better today,” said Silver Lake coach Nick Hamilton. “We weren’t quite as timid as we’d been the last couple of days. When we get into tight spots, we’ve just got to be willing to play out of them and trust what we’re doing. Trust each other.
“The last couple of years, we’ve had some good hitting teams. I think (this year’s group) has caught on to what that secret is and they’re doing all right. A little more consistency would help, but we’re getting there.”
Senior Riley Mohler pitched a first-game four-hitter in Silver Lake's twinbill sweep over Nemaha Central. [Photo by Todd Fertig/TSN]
Silver Lake got complete games from senior starting pitchers Riley Mohler and Paige Heiman. In the first game, Mohler permitted just four hits and struck out six batters. In the nightcap, Heiman surrendered six hits and struck out four.
“They’re both good in their own ways,” Silver Lake senior catcher Taylor Swygert, who caught both games, said of Mohler and Heiman. “They both have varieties and diversities when it comes to their strengths and weaknesses. So, they’re both really fun to work with and both really cool girls.”
In the first game, the Eagles took advantage of three Thunder errors in the second inning to grab an early lead and continued to add on. The Silver Lake offense rapped out four doubles in the game, two by sophomore Mariah Kortan. Swygert drove in four runs on two two-run singles.
Leading 7-2 in the bottom of the fifth, the floodgates opened on the Thunder. Five hits and two walks ballooned the score to 12-2, invoking the mercy rule.
In the second game, the Eagles hung a ‘9’ on the board in the second inning and a ‘5’ in the third. Saylor Liggett belted a triple with two runners on base in the second inning. A few batters later, Kortan blasted a three-run homer.
The Eagles have come up short in the past two 3A state championship tournaments, losing to Frontenac both times. Silver Lake graduated five seniors from the team that placed second in last year’s tournament.
Though this team is off to a hot start, Hamilton recognizes every year is different.
“They aren’t going to do it the same way we’ve done it the last two years. They’ve got to find their own way,” the coach said. “We’ve got some young girls, sophomores especially, stepping in to play some. It does help having some girls returning from last year’s state team because they have that experience. But it’s one of those things where we just go on to the next year, reload, and they know the expectations.”
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
After putting up a spirited fight in a 14-11 loss at Division I Wichita State on Tuesday, Washburn returns to MIAA action with an important three-game road series at Missouri Western Thursday through Saturday in St. Joseph, Mo.
Washburn junior third baseman Trenton Barry (4) and the Ichabods will face Missouri Western in an MIAA road series Thursday through Saturday. [File photo/TSN]
The Ichabods will begin the series at 6 p.m. Thursday, followed by a 3 p.m. game on Friday and a 1 p.m. series finale on Saturday.
Washburn, 12-20 overall and 9-10 in the MIAA, gave a good accounting of itself in Tuesday's 14-11 loss at Eck Stadium to Wichita State, 20-10 on the year, including a five-run rally in the top of the ninth in the three-run loss.
"I felt like we came out right away with a lot of fire and nothing really to lose, playing up a division,'' Washburn junior third basemen Trenton Barry said. "We came out with fire and I think we carried it out. We made our mistakes here and there and that obviously cost us the game in the end.
"But that late run that we had, that showed that fight that we have. We've just got mistakes here and there that we've got to clean up. That's kind of been what the story's been all year and it's all going to be about fixing those and carrying on.''
And Barry, who is hitting .300 with two home runs, a team-high three triples and 19 RBI, said that it's time to get that done, beginning with the Missouri Western series.
"There's not much time to figure it out,'' he said. "Either you do it or you don't and that's going to be your wins and your losses. We showed (against Wichita State) that we are capable of playing with anybody in this country and I feel like we know that now.
"There should be no doubt in our mind going into every day that we should go win the game. We just need to put it all together now.''
Washburn is scoring 7.94 runs per game on the season while opponents are averaging 8.75 runs per game.
At the plate the Ichabods are hitting .288 and have tallied 23 home runs with 169 total walks.
The pitching staff has a 7.29 earned run average with 250 strikeouts across 279.0 innings. The Ichadobds have allowed 350 hits and issued 187 walks.
Washburn has a .964 fielding percentage as a team with 44 errors and 16 turned double plays.
WU's Ian Luce has the longest current hitting streak at 11 games heading into the weekend, the longest hitting streak of any player this season.
Luce is hitting a team-high .404 with 31 runs batted in and has reached base in all 32 games, the only Ichabod player to do so, and has a team-high 18 games with multiple hits.
Levi Risenhoover is hitting .317 and leads the team with seven home runs and 36 RBI.
Brandt Beeby is hitting .319, second-best on the team, in 16 stars.
Former Seaman standout Maclane Finley has thrown a team-high 42.0 innings across his eight starts this season.
He has struck out 31 batters and has a 6.86 ERA and 3-3 record, a team-high in victories. He has thrown into the fifth inning in every start.
Missouri Western fell to 15-17 overall and 10-11 in the MIAA with an 8-3 loss on the road to Emporia State on Tuesday.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Barring a big upset, Seaman baseball was going to sweep Wednesday's United Kansas Conference home doubleheader against city rival Topeka West.
Seaman junior Axton Brewer had a big day at the plate in Wednesday's UKC sweep over Topeka West, including a home run and a three-run double. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
But there were still things, in addition to a pair of wins, that Viking coach Steve Bushnell wanted his team to accomplish.
And Seaman was able to achieve each and every one of Bushnell's goals in a 12-0, 20-0 sweep over the Chargers as the Vikings improved to 6-2 overall and 5-1 in the UKC while stretching their winning streak to five games.
Wednesday's routs came on the heels of a 15-0, 11-0 UKC sweep over Turner on Tuesday.
"The big thing was just an opportunity to get on the field and being early in our season, just having an opportunity to run some situational offense and get back in tune with verbal commands and baserunning and things that you work on in practice, but it's not always a live situation,'' Bushnell said.
"So having an opportunity to run bases and just let the hitters get some on-field hacks was important over the last two days and last four games that we've played.''
Senior Cale Rosenberger (8) had a pair of doubles in Seaman's 12-0 first-game win over Topeka West. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Seaman sophomore Michael Dobbs and sophomore Carson Anspaugh combined to throw a five-inning no-hitter in the first game while the Vikings lashed out 12 hits and seven extra-base hits, including a home run from junior Axton Brewer.
Senior Cooper Hayes and junior Bryson Fehr combined for a one-hitter in the second game while Seaman batted around twice in the first inning en route to a 14-run first inning and tacked on six runs in the second inning, ending the game after two and a half innings by way of the 15-run spread rule.
Junior Beau Jessop and Fehr tripled in the game while Brewer had a three-run double and Dobbs delivered a two-run double.
"Our pitchers were outstanding for the most part, just throwing strikes and pitching to contact,'' Bushnell said.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Shawnee Heights junior Clara Sobba posted a pair of individual wins to pace city swimmers in Tuesday's Topeka High Invitational at the Capitol Federal Natatorium.
Shawnee Heights' Clara Sobba posted a pair of individual victories in Tuesday's Topeka High Invitational swimming meet at the Capitol Federal Natatorium. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Sobba won the 50-yard freestyle in 28.04 seconds and captured the 100 freestyle in 1 minute, 01.65 while also helping the T-Birds finish second in the 200 free relay (2:04.55) and third in the 200 medley relay (2:22.16).
Shawnee Heights' Kaitlyn Aldridge (left) won the 100-yard butterfly and finished second in the 100 backstroke in Tuesday's Topeka High Invitational at the Capitol Federal Natatorium. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Topeka High senior Hara Del Castillo won the 100-yard backstroke in Tuesday's Topeka High Invitational at the Capitol Federal Natatorium. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Sobba was one of three city champions in Tuesday's meet, with Shawnee Heights junior Kaitlyn Aldridge winning the 100-yard butterfly in 1:11.46 and Topeka High senior Hara Del Castillo winning the 100 backstroke in 1:09.81.
Del Castillo was the runnerup behind Sobba in the 50 free in 28.69 while Aldridge finished second to Del Castillo in the 100 backstroke in 1:10.77.
Aldridge and Sobba teamed with Gracelyn New and Jayde Kinsch for the runnerup finish in the 200 free relay and teamed with Kinsch and Lainey Herrera for the third-place finish in the 200 medley relay.
Topeka High's Mackenzie Caryl finished second in one-meter diving with a score of 138.70.
Manhattan ran away with the team title by a 677-454 margin over Junction City while Shawnee Heights placed third (213), Topeka High fourth (76) and Topeka West fifth (44).
TOPEKA HIGH INVITATIONAL
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By VINCE LOVERGINE
TopSports.news
A cold windy night at the Bettis Family Sports Complex Tuesday night did not fare too well for the Shawnee Heights baseball team, as the bats went cold in a 6-2 United Kansas Conference loss to Basehor-Linwood.
Basehor-Linwood jumped out to a 2-0 lead after a couple of RBI singles but Heights also hurt itself, committing two errors in the inning and four total in the game.
In the first two innings Shawnee Heights went three up, three down, including three strikeouts.
The Bobcats led 3-0 in the top of the third inning and began the inning reaching base with an error that opened the door to score two more runs, pushing the advantage to 5-0.
SHHS made a pitching change in the middle of the inning, replacing starter Cambren Floberg for Keaven Ortiz.
“I told Cam, 'You come out here and there’s just days you don’t have it. It happens to all of us. Let it go and it’s about the next time you go on the mound. It’s over with and you can’t fix it,' ” Heights coach Jason Brown said. “He threw strikes, a little unlucky behind him, a lack of focus there but I think he’ll be fine come his next outing.”
The T-Birds went one-two-three in the third despite starting inning with an infield hit. After a double play and a strikeout, any momentum vanished.
Basehor-Linwood took a 6-0 lead in the fourth, and yet again, Heights went one-two-three, ending the inning with a double play.
Through five innings the T-Birds had just two hits, but in the sixth they were able to scratch one across the board as Makade Orton ripped an RBI single into right before being thrown out trying to advance to second base.
Thomas Smith for Shawnee Heights came in at the top of the sixth and retired all six batters he faced to give the T-Birds some hope.
After Steven Zimbelman completed six innings, striking out seven, allowing two walks and one earned run, his brother Colin Zimbelman came on in relief.
The T-Birds loaded the bases with no outs, giving Heights some life at a comeback.
Cayden Lindsay grounded into a double play to push across one run, making it 6-2, and Michael Lilly couldn’t keep the rally going, striking out swinging to end the game.
“We walked on here and we were sleep walking and you can’t do that,” Brown said. “You have to show up and be ready to go every time you step on the field. We tell our players there are three facets to the game, you swing it well, you pitch it well and take care of it behind our pitcher and two of those three we did not do.
“The good thing about this game is the two guys that we brought in relief, we hadn’t thrown them yet this year and us as a coaching staff we found out that some of them are ready. So that was a positive to take something out of this game. We have a lot of baseball left and I think this will wake them up and when you step on the field, you can’t take any days off.”
BASEHOR-LINWOOD 6, SHAWNEE HEIGHTS 2
Basehor-Linwood (3-3) 212 100 0 -- 6 5 1
Shawnee Heights (4-2) 000 001 1 -- 2 4 4
W -- S. Zimbelman L -- Floberg. 2B – Basehor-Linwood: Kiernan.
