sports ink., may 2013
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A magazine focusing on all things sports in northwest KansasTRANSCRIPT
INK.May 2013
A magazine focusing on all things sports in northwest Kansas
The Hays Daily News
Quality guarantee
IsaIah FabrIzIus and the Golden eaGle tennIs team carry on a stronG treGo tradItIon
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What’sup?A look inside
this issue
Volume 3, Issue 3Sports Ink. is published and distributed by The Hays Daily News. Copyright © 2013 Harris Enterprises. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in
part without permission is prohibited. Sports Ink. is a registered trademark of The Hays Daily News, 507 Main, Hays, KS 67601 (785) 628-1081.
SportS Ink. contrIbutorS: nIck McQueen [email protected] conor nIcholl [email protected] everett royer [email protected] klInt SpIller [email protected] chelSy lueth [email protected]
chad pIlSter [email protected]
Bring it on!
13
8
6
Rising upThe defending 3A sTATe
chAmpion golf TeAm from goodlAnd is up
for The chAllenge in 4A This seAson.
Quality guaRanteeThe Trego communiTy boys’ Tennis progrAm is yeAr
in And yeAr ouT A conTender.
Joint effoRt
The russell bAsebAll TeAm opens iTs doors
for plAyers from VicToriA.
Fort Hays’ Adara Erickson celebrates after scoring the winning run earlier this month in the 12th inning of an MIAA game against Missouri Western at Tiger Stadium. Through mid-April, the Tigers had lost just one MIAA contest and were ranked No. 18 in the nation.
CHAD PILSTER, Sports Ink.
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In sports, there are winners and losers.By definition, not everyone can be a winner. There’s
always going to be someone that walks away unhappy. That’s why it’s a blessing of my job when I see comeback stories where athletes battle against the odds, endure losses, then come back and achieve their ultimate prize.
La Crosse senior Clayton Basgall epitomized the most pure comeback story I’ve seen this year.
Basgall’s goal was to play collegiate baseball, but he attended a high school that didn’t have the sport. His only chance to compete was with a summer American Legion baseball team in Hays.
Playing in just the summer didn’t give him many opportunities to showcase himself, and there were even fewer when he tore his anterior cruciate ligament during a summer foot-ball camp for La Crosse.
Basgall missed the state tournament when the Hays Senior Legion team won its first state title in more than three de-cades and was a passenger on the team’s trip to Mid-South Regional in New Orleans, La. That summer, he finished with just 166 plate appearances.
His recovery was long. Basgall didn’t get cleared to partici-pate in athletics until late in the basketball season.
During the school year, the only practice he got was when
he threw a baseball around with La Crosse’s Andrew Jay.His Legion coach, Brad Kelly, helped get the word out
about him, but with limited playing time, his exposure was limited. He didn’t attract as much attention as athletes in established spring programs and players in bigger cities.
“I had hardly talked to anyone at all before this,” Basgall said. “I kind of had to do my own recruiting. it was a huge challenge.”
In late March, he worked out for In-dependence Community College and impressed them enough they offered him a scholarship to play.
For him, it was a huge relief, especially since the school only had a couple schol-arships remaining. His window of op-portunity to earn an athletic scholarship
was closing quick. Basgall was recruited as a pitcher, but he hopes to prove himself and earn a position on the field in the spring.
Basgall did it the hard way. He created his own opportuni-ties and forced his dreams to come true.
Those stories don’t happen a lot. You have to cherish them when they do.
Some dreams are nearly impossible to achieve, but in this case, Basgall took that sliver of hope and built a bridge to college with it.
Spiller
For Starters
Klint
Making a great comeback44
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Who’sThat?
Notable performancesin northwest Kansas
Dalton WernerCompeting at the Ellis Invitational and the La
Crosse in the same week, Werner, a senior at Plainville, started the track season with two wins in the long jump, a pair of second-place finishes (100 and 200), and a pair of third-place finishes (100, 400 relay). Werner, the defending 2A champion, won the long jump at Ellis, jumping 21 feet, 3.5 inches, then won at La Crosse three days later at 21-8.5. He was second in both the 100 and 200 at Ellis, and third in
the 100 at La Crosse.
Kylah EllisEllis, the anchor leg on last year’s Class
3A state-title winning 400-meter relay team for Phillipsburg, helped the relay finish second at the Norton Invitational in 52.46 seconds. Ellis also took second-place finishes in the 100- and 200-meter dashes. The senior ran a 13.65 in the 100 and 27.93 in the 200. Ellis won a week earlier at the Alex Francis Classic at Fort Hays, run-ning a 13.33 in the 100,
and 28.25 in the 200-meter dash.
Maddie HolubThe senior ace pitcher for the Fort Hays State
University softball team, Holub threw the program’s first perfect game earlier this month in a 1-0 win against MIAA foe Northwest Missouri State University. The win was part of a wild weekend for the Tigers where they picked up four wins to move to 33-5. Holub, who was 18-1 with a 0.72 ERA (through April 9), threw 195 pitches the night before the perfect game in a 12-inning thriller won by the then-No. 18 Tigers against No. 24 Missouri Western State University.
Got an idea of someone who you think should be included in Who’s That?
Send it to [email protected] Who’s that? in the subject line,
or call (800) 657-6017.
Payton RuderRuder, a freshman on the Hays High
School golf team, had a big impact in his first varsity appearance for the Indians. Ruder paced the Indians to a seventh-place finish at the McPherson Invitational, HHS’ first tourney of the season. Ruder finished with a 77 to finish in seventh place. Two days later, he fired an 85 (tied for second on the team), and helped Hays High to a team 339 in third place at the Garden City Invitational.
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Page 6 May 2013 SPORTS INK.
One program was low on numbers.
The other is looking to reinvent itself.
Two area high schools have found a bond in baseball, and it’s turned into a win-win situation for Rus-sell and Victoria.
The Class 3A and 1A institutions are separated by 20 miles on Interstate 70, but some of the schools’ student-athletes came together this spring in hopes of returning their programs to their once-proud status.
The two entered a two-year commit-ment where seven players from Victoria joined forces with the Broncos, thus setting the wheels in motion in hopes
of restarting their own program. Victoria hasn’t had a high school baseball team since 1978.
Russell, which has seen dwindling numbers in its program in recent years, is using the cooperation as an opportu-nity for its younger players to learn and to rebuild its own interest.
“Our numbers were just down,” said first-year Bronco head coach Shane Traughber, an assistant for three seasons prior. “Some of the parents and (Russell Athletic Director Mark Paul) knew Victo-ria was wanting to build a program.
“This sounded like a great idea, so we just went with it,” he added.
Last season, Russell didn’t have enough players to field a junior varsity team,
an entity many coaches feel is vital to a program’s success. The Broncos had a varsity-only schedule.
But, with the addition of kids from Victoria, the team is 19 strong with a full varsity team, and a full junior varsity schedule.
“I think this was just a great idea,” said Russell junior Kaden Rohr. “Without those kids, we wouldn’t have enough (for JV), and that’s a big part of the pro-gram — get freshmen going so they’re ready when they get to be juniors and seniors.”
So far, so good. After three double-headers, the varsity club was 3-3 with a big win against NCAA foe Salina-Sacred Heart, a perennial contender in Class
BondCommon
Russell, Victoria join forces on field
Russell/Victoria baseball players Mason Beagley, left, Logan Braun and Brady Dinkel celebrate during a father-son game earlier this month in Russell.
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Sports Ink. May 2013 Page 7
3A. The experience has not only been beneficial to the junior varsity, but the varsity as well. The Broncos start three or four freshmen, and have just one senior in Dylan Braun, who joined the club from Victoria.
“It’s working out really good,” said Braun, who spent the last three summers playing with teams in Hays — the Ren-egades and Jr. Legion. “We have a good combined team here.”
Dylan Braun, and his younger brother, Logan, are among those in Victoria who have been interested in seeing the Knights reinstate their program. Victoria won six state championships through the 1960s and 70s (Class B and Class 2-1A), the last coming in 1974. Four years later, the program ended.
“The plan was to see how many kids were interested in coming over (to Rus-sell),” Dylan Braun said. “That number would probably be a deciding factor.”
Traughber, who played baseball in high school in Illinois and at NCAA Division III Lincoln (Ill.) Christian University, said he sees a great deal of love for the game in the eyes of his young players.
“We are going to get better every game,” Traughber said. “And I feel like with this talent by the end of the year, we could play with anyone.”
The Broncos only have two players, Rohr and junior Riley Pfannenstiel, who had seen any previous time at the high school level in the spring. But, like some have claimed, baseball brings competi-tors together quickly. That was especially the case when the two schools joined up.
“Within the first couple of weeks, I was feeling like I’ve known these guys my whole life,” Rohr said.
The players and their families gathered in early April after the win against Sacred Heart for a barbecue and father-son game.
“We’ve tried to do two or three things like that to bring the kids together and the families together,” Traughber said. “Just bringing the communities togeth-er.”
The club even had shirts printed up that read “Two teams, one goal.”
That goal right now remains to learn the game and be in contention late
in the season. With the two schools’ enrollments added together, Russell will compete in Class 4A.
Russell’s last state appearance was 2008 in 4A, where the Broncos entered the finale as the 22-1 top seed, and finished fourth.
Since, the numbers have dropped. Many of those who come from Victoria
are already of championship caliber as well. Aside from Dylan Braun, who was one year too old, the Victoria players were part of a state championhip team in K-18 last summer. The summer suc-cess the past two seasons helped gener-ate a great deal of interest in Victoria, which helped lead to the joint effort this spring.
“The push is coming from the lower grades,” said Victoria High School Prinicipal and Athletic Director John Linn, in his 11th year at Victoria. “It would be nice if we had our own pro-gram, and we have a lot of kids inter-ested.
“If we can get it going now, we feel like we can sustain it for quite a while.”
- Nick McQueen, Sports Ink.
“Within the first couple of weeks, I was feeling like I’ve known these guys my whole life.”
- Kaden Rohr, Russell High School junior
Chelsy Lueth, Sports Ink. Russell/Victoria baseball players Joe Dortland, back left, Dylan Braun, and Kaden Rohr shake hands with Dylan’s dad, Jeff Braun, after the father-son game in Russell earlier this month.
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Page 8 May 2013 SPORTS INK.
Isaiah Fabrizius remembers when his now 22-year-old sister, Olivia, started playing ten-
nis for WaKeeney-Trego Com-munity High School. Olivia participated in volleyball her freshman year for the Golden Eagles and then switched to tennis, a sport the family wasn’t
familiar with.“She just fell in love with it,”
Isaiah said.Olivia eventually took third at the Class 3-2-1A state tourna-ment and played four years of tennis at Bethany College. Amelia, their sibling, collected all-state honors in doubles
for WaKeeney-Trego and now also plays at Bethany. Isaiah started to get involved in seventh and eighth grade.
“It didn’t take (Olivia) long to figure out how much she loved it,” he said. “I loved watching them play. When I play, I try and do some things similar that they do just because what they do is what I am most familiar with.”
Quality programGolden Eagles have proud tennis tradition
“I lIke It because It’s always a challenge physIcally and Mentally.”
- IsaIah FabrIzIus, trego sophoMore
story byconor nicholl
photos byEverett Royer
Sophomore Isaiah Fabrizius is the Golden Eagles’ No. 1 singles player.
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Now, Fabrizius has helped carry on the WaKeeney tennis tradition. Espe-cially on the boys’ side, no area team has enjoyed more success in tennis than the Golden Eagles. Multiple townspeople and coaches, including Sheryl Hillman, Ricky Snyder, Lori Dietz and Craig Malsam, have helped grow and foster the sport.
Last year, Fabrizius reached the state tournament as a freshman singles player.
“I like it because it’s always a challenge physically and mentally,” Fabrizius, who also plays football and wrestles, said. “It feels good when you can conquer those challenges.”
This spring, one of the area’s top boy tennis player is leading an 11-player roster that features no seniors, six freshmen and a few players that have never played before this fall.
“Coach does a really good job, and I really like my teammates,” Fabrizius said. “They are young, but they have got a lot better already throughout the season. It’s kind of a struggle, not having much for upperclassmen, so kind of makes the un-derclassmen act like upperclassmen. We have to step up and show some leader-ship. There are a lot of people in the com-munity that are really willing to help.”
Malsam, who has coached other sports, including basketball, golf and track, in his four years with the Golden Eagles, took the job shortly before the year started.
“They are good athletes, they are getting better quick and it’s been fun to see,” Malsam said. “I have had a blast with it, and it’s been fun so far.”
Fabrizius took second at the season-opening Hoisington meet, then finished 0-3 at the team’s second meet, also at Hoisington.
“I really try and kind of talk to myself mentally and not to try to let myself get mentally out of it,” Fabrizius said. “It’s a challenge for me, because if you are not there mentally, then it’s going to be a tough match for you. I think it was a mental thing again at my (second) tour-nament. I thought I was really focused for my first tournament and was really excited.”
Then, he took sixth at the Hays High Invitational, a meet mainly consisting of bigger schools. Last year, Fabrizius went 21-3 at No. 2 singles entering state and played much stronger following the Hays High meet.
Then-senior Jacob Weber also quali-fied last year after spending most of the season at No. 1 singles.
“Last year, we had a lot of seniors who were really experienced, and it was really nice to build off their experience and what they knew about the game,” Fabriz-ius said.
Normally, western Kansas schools have little knowledge about tennis because of lack of indoor courts, few people who play often and their proximity to country club pros and lessons. Even Hays doesn’t have an indoor facility; the closest one is in Great Bend. The Trego Community Rec Center has one indoor court.
However, it’s been more about the people and players that have formed the program, especially Hillman, who built the teams for many years. Before the 2009 season, Hillman helped organize a trip to
the U.S. Open in Flushing Meadows, N.Y.“I think obviously like everything else,
it boils down to the kids that you have,” Malsam said. “If you have good kids, they are going to do well with whatever they choose to do. Obviously, we have had some coaches here in the past that have put a lot of time and effort into build-ing things up and helping those kids do what they have been able to do. We have got good kids and that makes a lot of things better.”
Sports Ink. May 2013 Page 9
“I lIke It because It’s always a challenge physIcally and Mentally.”
- IsaIah FabrIzIus, trego sophoMore
Trego tennis coach Craig Malsam looks on as Aaron Satran competes in Hoisington.
PAGE 10
The Golden Eagles’ Cedric Flax competes in singles action at Hoisington.
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Isaiah Fabrizius digs for a return during the Hoisington Invita-tional.
2917 Vine, Hays(785) 625-4830
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CamaroEnough said.
Hillman always taught tennis as a fun sport one could play their entire lives. She turned the boys’ program over to Ricky Snyder last season and the girls’ team to Lori Dietz this fall.
“There are a lot of people in the community that are really willing to help,” Fabrizius said. “They will come up and they will hit with us and they will talk to us, and we have a lot of support.”
In 2008, Olivia Fabrizius capped her career with a 33-5 record and third-place finish at state. The Gold-en Eagles took fifth as a team.
The following year, Rachael New-comer won the Mid-Continent League crown and qualified for state, while Amelia Fabrizius and Leah Flax -- doubles partners all four years – earned heir first all-state honor. In 2010, Fabrizius/Flax again collected all-state and Emily Wyse, currently on the Fort Hays State University tennis team, also qualified.
Last fall, WaKeeney-Trego tied for third in the 10-team Dodge City regional. Tabitha Wolf took fourth at regionals in singles and Kim Day and Shaylee Flax qualified in doubles.
“They played competitively and saw the level of consistency and ac-curacy it takes to finish in the top 12 at state,” Dietz said. “The experience was great. I am extremely proud of the girls getting to state. They ended with the drive to work off-season and improve for next year.”
On the boys’ side, Hillman re-
started the program in 2004 after the school hadn’t had a boys team in two years.
At that time, two middle school students, Brandon Katt and Mitch Kroeger, enjoyed tennis and wanted to play in high school.
“By the time they got to high school, there would be a team,” Hill-man said.
Katt qualified all four years, while Kroeger, Curtos Satran, Eli Sherwood and Chad Uhrich also qualified in 2010. Katt, Satran and Sherwood often drove to Wichita to work with a pro.
Last year, Snyder, formerly the Haven tennis coach, took over the boys’ program from Hillman before he returned to Hutchinson.
“He has been a great kid, fun kid to coach,” Snyder said last season of Fabrizius.
“Anything you tell him, he is listen-ing, he is all ears, and he is always working to constantly get better. Even for a freshman, I wondered how he would come in. Would he be tentative or anything like that, but he is a competitor, a very fierce com-petitor.”
Corbin Schoenthaler competes in doubles action for the Golden Eagles in Hoisington.
PAGE 13
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This spring, Trego principal Myron Flax talked with Malsam before the season and Malsam took the job a few days before the yera started. Malsam has learned the game from people in town and Snyder, including setting up practices and lineups.
“Basically, we have got a very good group of kids just good kids in general,” Malsam said. “They are fun to be around and that has made it easy for me to do and learn along with them and it’s made it easy to do it.”
Outside of Fabrizius, the varsity won just one match at the first two tournaments. Still, it’s been a fun season — and Fabrizius looks to cap it with another trip to state for the Golden Eagles.
“He moves well, he is very quick, he is smart, he understands where he needs to be on the court, and for the most part, he does pretty well with getting there and I don’t think he has really got a weaknesses,” Malsam said. “He has got things he can work on and will continue to work on and get better at. All-around good player.”
Trego’s Aaron Satran competes in Hoisington.
“basIcally, we have got a very good group oF kIds, just good kIds In general. ”
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1212
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Sports Ink. May 2013 Page 13
GOODLAND — Silence engulfed Gage Ihrig.
He crouched perfectly still on the green, as he analyzed the gentle slopes in front of him. He didn’t just look at the angle from his ball. He checked the green from multiple aspects, looking for any minor imperfection along the surface that would cause his putt to careen off course by a microscopic margin.
It’s all about the details with Ihrig. Ihrig said he likes to take his time to
ensure he gets it right, and that is a sig-nificant reason why he and the rest of his Goodland squad are the defending state champions in Class 3A.
This spring, it could get more difficult for Good-land after the Cowboys returned to Class 4A.
Up for the
Goodland rises to 4A
after 3A title season
Goodland junior Gage Ihrig, shown during practice this month, is the defending Class 3A state champion.
KLINT SPILLER, Sports Ink.
PAGE 14
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Goodland went from being one of the largest schools in 3A to being the fifth smallest in 4A, which has the greatest proportional disparity in enrollment outside of 1A.
The largest schools in 4A — Topeka-Highland Park, Pittsburg, Bonner Springs, Winfield and McPherson — nearly have three times the enrollment of Goodland.
Nevertheless, Ihrig isn’t disappointed about moving up or worried about it hurting his chances at success. He said he is excited.
“Why not play with bigger schools?” Ihrig said. “I think it’s better. ... You see Wichita State playing in the big (NCAA) tournament. Anybody can play with the big schools.”
The competition will be different, but one thing won’t: Goodland’s squad.
The Cowboys returned five of their golf-ers from last year’s state championship team.
Ihrig, now a junior, took home the indi-vidual crown, winning with a 75.
His fraternal twin, Gannon Ihrig, took fourth with a 79, and Tanner Jones, now a senior, tied for 19th with an 85. Cooper Slough and Thatcher Jones, a senior and sophomore now, placed 81st and 84th with scores of 103 and 104, respectively.
The one they didn’t return was a big one, though: Joel Linin, who finished third at state with a 78.
However, Gannon Ihrig was positive about his team’s chances of remaining relevant at the state level, even in 4A.
“It will be tough,” Gannon Ihrig said. “With more teams and more players, there will be better guys, but that’s just a part of it. We are up for (the challenge). It’s going to be exciting.”
After all what else can’t they accom-plish? They’ve already won state once — something no other boys’ golf team has done in Goodland.
The Ihrigs still have two years left in Goodland, so they’ve got the talent at the top of the lineup. The test will be for Tanner Jones to narrow the gap and have the squad’s No. 4 through No. 6 golfers improve to the mid to low 80s.
Both Slough and Thatcher Jones ex-pressed confidence in their abilities to fill that No. 4 slot.
“One of us has to step up to fill Joel’s spot from last year, and that’s something I’d like to do,” Thatcher Jones said.
“With a little bit of work and dedica-tion, I think we will be able to get (my
score) down there,” Slough said.It’ll definitely be a competition to be
No. 4, which the Cowboys are used to — another reason why Goodland has gotten so good.
Everything on the team is a competi-tion. The Cowboys compete in every prac-tice whether it be in drills or qualifying rounds.
“I like to have competitions and games that makes it worth something,” said Goodland coach Terry Daise. “The kids enjoy it more. It takes some of the bore-dom out of hitting balls and putting. We usually have some goals we have in our chipping and goals in putting.”
In a sport that revolves around individ-ual performances, Slough said he’s seen Goodland become more team oriented, which he thought was a big reason why they’ve done so well. He said the squad has tremendous leadership, and it starts with Gage.
“Gage is always so positive,” Slough said. “No matter who you are, you could be the sixth man on varsity, and he’s still
rooting for you. He likes to be a positive teammate and coaches you along with Coach and helps you with swings and stuff.”
Daise credited the boys work ethic for their success.
“They work their tails off,” he said. “Some of them, after we are done practic-ing for two to two and a half hours, they
Page 14 May 2013 SPORTS INK.
ABOVE: Goodland senior Cooper Slough chips at the Sugar Hills Golf Club. Slough is one of two seniors on this year’s squad.BELOW: Goodland sophomore Thatch-er Jones chips toward a green at the Sugar Hills Golf Club.
1414
are back out here back on the range work-ing more. That’s what makes them success-ful is how much time they put out here.”
“Sugar is my girl”Some of the drive to be better comes
from the fiercely competitive Ihrig broth-ers.
“Everything we do is a competition whether it’s video games at the house, ping pong or on the golf course,” Gage Ihrig said. “It’s always who can have brag-ging rights.”
Gage Ihrig said he and Gannon have golfed since they were old enough for their dad to take them out on the golf course.
In a way, the twins grew up at Sugar Hills Golf Club. Gage described it as his home.
“Sugar is my girl,” Gage said affection-ately while walking up a fairway on the course.
That’s what made his individual state title and the team title even sweeter. The 3A championship was won on their home course since Goodland hosted the meet.
Gage Ihrig said it made state even more special. After all, Gage said he’s played the course “hundreds of times,” so he and Gannon knew if they ever were going to win state, 2012 would be their best op-portunity.
“I was in the zone because I’ve played here so many times,” Gannon said. “Every-thing was going well. You don’t have state at your home course. That was going to be our only time, so we had to take advantage of it.”
Gage Ihrig said he was a part of the final group, which has the state’s best golfers in it, and he had quite a following of com-munity members there to watch him.
“It was a lot of fun, trying to show off a little bit,” Gage said with a sly smile.
Goodland had all the advantages. It wasn’t just the Cowboys’ home course. It also was windy, something kids in western Kansas are accustomed to.
Gage Ihrig said Daise does a good job of instructing them how to handle the wind and use it to their advantage.
“We know how to play in that,” Gage said.
Repeating 2012’s successIt definitely will be a challenge to
match they’ve accomplished, con-sidering 2012 was the best finish in school history, but the future is definitely bright.
Gage and Gannon still have
two more seasons to go, and Tanner and Thatcher Jones have a brother who is a freshman this season, Taitem. On top of that, the Ihrigs have a 12-year-old brother
who also golfs plenty.“Hopefully, he’s better than both of us,”
Gage Ihrig said.Klint Spiller, Sports Ink.
Sports Ink. May 2013 Page 15
“Some of them, after we are done practic-ing for two to two and a half hours, they are back out here, back on the range working more. ”Terry Daise, Goodland coach
1515
with Nick McQueen
Just a Minute
ON
Gene FlaxWarren Buffett
Derek Jeter
Braiden Werth
Teammate
Dustin SchumacherAsst. coach
Cameron Brin
Teammate
If he could be someone else for one day, who would he choose?
Peyton Manning
Derek Jeter
Derek Jeter
What professional athlete does he most remind you of?
MadonnaJessica Alba
Carrie Underwood
If you could pick a celebrity for him to marry, who would it be?
Teddy Bear, so he could talk to him
His baseball glove
Baseball glove
Stranded on an island, what one thing would he most want with him?
1930s car with three
wheels
Toyota Prius
1972 ford truck
What kind of car best describes him?
Silent Contest. WHo can be quiet the longest?
GQ Man of the year
2013
Hide and seek
Other than sports, what one thing could he win an award for?
ZiMMerManTMP-Marian senior baseball player
shane
Page 16 May 2013 SPORTS INK.
Q: Coming into this season with everything you guys lost last year, did you feel like there was a little more weight on your shoulders?
A: No, not really. I don’t think about it that way. I know we lost a lot, but I just came in trying to do what I can. You can’t come out and try to do too much.
Q: At this point, are you thinking about trying to play college ball?
A: Yeah, I’ve been looking. I’m hoping to play, anyway. Trying to get some schools to come watch me and see what they think.
Q: What are some aspects you feel you need to improve on to be able to get some offers?
A: Hitting can always get better. Just have to work on pitching all the way around.
Q: How have the younger guys come along for the Monarchs this season?
A: They’ve been doing good. There’s not a lot of experience, but they’ve really made strides, starting to get the feel of it.
Q: What do you do as a senior pitcher on this team to help them along?
A: I’ll give them some advice every now and then, but coach (Aaron Breit) does such a great job coaching them. He takes care of pretty much everything, but if I see something I’ll mention it.
Q: What are your strenghts opposed to other pitchers?
A: I have two breaking balls I throw to go along with my fastball. That’s really about it.
Q: High school players are busy with sports dur-ing the summer. Is that what it takes to succeed at that level?
A: The more you play, the better you get. They try to get us games in the summer, so we can keep getting better. When the season finally comes around, hope-fully we’ve made those strides through the summer.
Q: How do you feel about TMP’s move to the MCL?
A: Not really sure what they are as a baseball league, but some pretty good teams there in football. I guess we’ll just wait and see.
Q: The rest of this season, what’s a realistic goal for TMP?
A: My goal is to make it back to state. We’ll have to get better throughout the season, but that’s a realistic goal.
Q: What’s the most memorable game you’ve been a part of?
A: Probably the state championship game (2011). Especially playing with my brother (Nathan) sophomore year.
Q: The way last season ended was a little disappointing. Does that still weigh on your mind a little bit?
A: You think about it, but not too much. It’s always there in the back of your mind. (The coaching staff) hasn’t really mentioned it. They’re just all about this year and what we can do.
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I’m so thankful KSHSAA moved state baseball and softball to
Thursday-Friday rather than Saturday-Sunday like it has been for years and years. It allows fans to try and make both state baseball/softball and state track and field.
- K.S.
Last year was a great one for northwest Kansas track and field.
The area ran away with three state titles: Hays High School in 5A boys, Plainville in 2A boys and La Crosse in 1A boys. This year, I predict the area will be even better and post four cham-pions. I think Hays High boys will win 5A, Phillipsburg boys will upset Sacred Heart in 3A boys, Thomas More Prep-Marian girls will take 3A and La Crosse will once again own 1A boys.
- K.S.
If you don’t think pitching is im-portant in high school softball, just
ask the team that doesn’t really have any. A good pitcher can take a team a long way. Granted, teams still have to manufacture runs. The Goodland softball program is a good example. The Cowgirls were mediocre at best before the current group got to high school, namely its two top pitchers. Goodland has gone 17-4 and 20-4 the last two seasons, and made the school’s second trip to the state tournament last season. The Hays High School softball team, while still one of the better hitting teams thus far, has struggled in the cir-cle. Not that HHS’ two hurlers are bad, they just don’t have the same zip and control of sophomore Hannah Hearld, who injured her knee during basketball season and cannot compete.
- N.M.
So my NCAA March Madness brack-et didn’t come out so hot this season.
But, did anyone really score much? Each year, I fill out five or six, accepting various invitations to join bracket pools, and the more I fill them out, the more I believe luck has more to do with it. Only one person (me), had Wichita State making
the Sweet 16, let alone the Final Four in any pool I was a part of. And, come on, Florida Gulf Coast? Bracket pool winners this year rode the smart Louisville train, but there was a lot of luck thrown in.
- N.M.
It’s amazing to see two towns like Russell and Victoria coming together for
baseball. What will be more amazing is if a school the size of Victoria is able to field a baseball team in two years.
- N.M.
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Office: 785.798.2300Cell: 785-798-5341
[email protected]. Box 466,
Ness City, KS 67560
ACIDIZING CEMENT TOOL RENTAL
La Crosse seniorLEVI MORSS
Morss got off to a good start for the defending Class 1A state champion La Crosse boys’ track & field team. Morss won two events and was second in two events at the La Crosse Invitational in early April. Morss won the 100-meter dash in 11.78 seconds and the 200 in 23.53. Morss was second in the 400 in 53.55, and was second in the long jump with a jump of 21 feet, 3 inches. La Crosse won its own invitational with 173.5 points, well ahead of Kiowa County’s 96. Morss is the defending 1A long jump state champion. He was second last season in the three sprinting ev-nets to Moscow’s Osvaldo Granillo, who graduated.
745 Main St.Hoxie, KS 67740
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Take a look at the picture above. Sure, it seems rather dull and not very eye-catching.
Well, unless you’re a diehard sports fan, more importantly, a softball or baseball fan.
What can you say about Fort Hays State University senior and former Thomas More Prep-Marian standout player Maddie Holub that hasn’t been said before?
Take a look at that picture one more time. Provided by the FHSU Sports Information
Department, it’s the scoresheet from Holub’s perfect game April 6 against Northwest Mis-souri State University at Tiger Stadium, the first perfect game in FHSU softball history.
It might not be as much of a rarity in soft-ball as it would be in baseball, but the fact no one in Tiger history has been able to accomplish it says enough.
Mixed with what she has done in the Tiger offense, it can easily be argued Holub is the best softball player the program has ever had.
And, while the boxscore tends to speak for itself, it probably can’t be said enough what Holub has meant to a special season, thus far, for the Tiger program.
Under second-year head coach Erin Kinberger, the Tigers have set numerous program records so far.
Most of them, though, have come from Holub. She owns the single-game record for strikeouts (17), the single-season record
for home runs (14), the career strikeout record with 800-plus and climbing. That’s just to name a few.
“I never get tired of talking about her. She’s a great kid all the way around — such a hard-worker,” Kinberger said.
“She comes through when we need her.”Her perfect game was the seventh no-hitter in Tiger softball his-
tory, and she has had a hand in four of them. What’s even more amazing is the night before, she pitched all 12 innings of a barn-burning 2-1 win against Missori Western State University, a top-25 matchup.
Holub, though, isn’t concerned with the record books. Mimicking the attitude of the Tigers’ fiery coach, Holub displayed her confi-dence by saying, “I’m just going to keep going,
see what I can grab on the way up.”The way up, implying she was nowhere near done. Three days
later, she threw the no-hitter. That’s the kind of attitude the entire team has displayed this season. The Tigers simply refused to lose. Entering the April 12 doubleheader against Missouri Southern State University, the Tigers (33-5) were two wins shy of the pro-gram record for wins set in 2003.
The Tigers also tied a program record entering that contest with 11 straight wins. FHSU will close the regular season with a home doubleheader against Lincoln (Mo.) University on Friday, then enter the MIAA Tournament.
NW Missouri State at #18 Fort Hays State (Game 1)
Apr 06, 2013 at Hays, Kan. (Tiger Stadium)
NW Missouri State ab r h bi1. 9-Ereth,J. cf
2. 16-Miller,C. rf
3. 8-Hendricks,H. 2b
4. 24-Uthe,K. 3b
5. 3-Price,S. ss
6. 5-Labertew,K. lf
7. 1-Jones,M. dh
8. 19-Cantrell,K. c
9. 2-Schmitz,R. 1b
3 0 0 0
3 0 0 0
3 0 0 0
2 0 0 0
2 0 0 0
2 0 0 0
2 0 0 0
2 0 0 0
2 0 0 0
1
kl
1
ks
2
ks
3
2
ks
1
ks
2
ks
3
3
ff5
1
ks
2
kl
3
4
ks
1
ff2
2
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3
5
ks
1
ks
2
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3
6
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1
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2
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7
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1
ks
2
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Score by Innings R H E
-----------------------------------------
NW Missouri State... 000 000 0 - 0 0 0
Fort Hays State..... 000 100 X - 1 2 0
Fort Hays State IP H R ER BB SO WP HB BK IBB SH SF CI 2B 3B HR AB BF FO GO NP
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Holub,M. W,17-1 7.0 0 0 0 0 17 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 21 21 3 1 95
Umpires - HP: Bruce Rupp 1B: Mark Brack 3B: Dennis Roemer
Start: 12:00 pm Time: 1:06 Attendance: 130
Game: 13SBFH37
McQUEEN
The Closer
nick
Something special at FHSU
Graphic provided by FHSU Sports Informa-tion
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