5A softball: Carroll, Eisenhower advance

By Brandon Droge/Eagle correspondent

Published May 25 at 11:56 p.m. | Last updated May 29 at 10:30 a.m.

• 6A softball: Maize falls in semifinals
• 5A softball: Carroll wins another crown
• 4A softball: Andale-Garden Plain sends Hein out as three-time champ
• Saturday’s state championship scoreboard
• 4A softball: Eck powers Andale-Garden Plain victory
• 3A softball: Hillsboro, Chaparral to clash
• Gallery: State Softball Championship Day 1

Bishop Carroll used solid pitching and a nine-run third inning to soar past Shawnee Heights 11-0 in the opening round of the Class 5A softball tournament Friday at Two Rivers Youth Club.

“We always seem to get things going in the third inning,” Carroll coach Angie DalPozzo said. “We just got hit after hit tonight, and it was fun to watch.”

Already up 2-0 going into the third inning, designated hitter Taylor Schawe ripped a two-run single to open up the lead to 4-0. Three batters later, junior Mary Jo Peters crushed a three-run homer over the center-field wall to blow the game wide open.

After back-to-back RBI singles by Hunter Hogan and Clara Savage gave the Golden Eagles a 9-0 lead, Schawe came up for the second time and drove in her third run of the third inning on a single through the hole.

That was more than enough run support for starting pitcher Jessica Haffner, who surrendered just two hits while striking out five in the run-rule five-inning game.

“They are a solid team,” DalPozzo said. “It is a good confidence-builder to come out strong in game one and get on them early. It really sets the tone for the whole weekend.”

Carroll will face Topeka Seaman in the semifinals at 10 a.m. today.

Goddard-Eisenhower 7, Mill Valley 3 — Eisenhower used five late-inning runs to defeat the Mill Valley.

MiKayla Medbery drove in Lyndsey Wiechman with a sacrifice fly in the sixth inning to give Eisenhower a 4-3 lead. The Tigers added one more in the inning on a Jaguar error.

“I just tried to hit the best pitch I saw and get a big hit for my team,” Medbery said.

Eisenhower tacked on two more runs in the seventh inning.

Kayla Valentine pitched out of a bases-loaded jam in the first inning by striking out two Jaguars, and getting another to ground out to shortstop.

“We have battled all year,” Eisenhower coach Charlie Nally said. “The girls knew what they had to do, and they did it.”

Eisenhower will play top-seeded St. Thomas Aquinas in the semifinals at 10 a.m. today.

Nally said that his team’s game plan will not change, and that he’s excited to play the top seed.

“I am looking forward to it,” he said. “We aren’t going to change anything. We are going to go out there and play our game. It is going to be a fun morning.”

St. Thomas Aquinas 5, Kapaun 2 — Lily Channel’s two-run homer in the first inning was not enough for Kapaun.

Aquinas starter Brooklin Hinz did not allow another run to help the Saints earn a spot in the semifinals.

Aquinas coach Christine Orel said that Channel did a good job of hitting a mistake pitch.

“Brooklin did not throw a pitcher’s pitch, and the batter did not miss,” Orel said.

The Crusaders held a 2-0 lead heading into the bottom of the second inning, but some shaky defense helped lead to a four-run outburst by the Saints.

After Aquinas freshman Hannah Perkins drove in the game tying run on a single, Jordan Halsey scored the go-ahead run on a Kapaun error, giving the Saints a 3-2 lead. Hinz added to the lead later that inning by driving in Perkins on a sacrifice fly to make the score 4-2.

The Crusaders had runners at second and third in both the fifth and seventh innings, but could not get the big hit that they needed.

Carroll 11, Shawnee Heights 0

W – Haffner. L-Monhollon. HR – Carroll, Peter

Eisenhower 11, Mill Valley 3

W – Valentine. L – Jobe.

Aquinas 5, Kapaun 2

W – Hinz. L – Jennings. HR – Kapaun, Channel

Seaman 5, Hays 0

W -- Heininger. L -- Hearld.