Kansas high school state baseball: Sedgwick wins 2-1A championship for first title
Sedgwick won its first Kansas high school baseball state championship in school history in dominant fashion.
The Cardinals scored 11 runs on 15 hits in the Class 2-1A championship game in an 11-1 rout of Valley Falls at the Great Bend Sports Complex on Friday. It capped off a 25-1 season for Sedgwick.
Lead-off hitter Henry Burns led the way for Sedgwick with a 4-for-5 performance at the plate in the championship game, scoring three runs with two RBIs. Lance Hoffsommer finished with a team-high three RBIs, while Remington Nold collected three hits and two RBIs and Nolan Crumrine had two hits that scored two runs.
Hoffsommer earned the win, allowing one earned run in five innings and striking out six hitters. Burns pitched the final inning of scoreless relief to complete the run-rule victory.
Sedgwick broke open a 1-1 game in the bottom of the second inning with a four-run, two-out rally that began with a Burns RBI single. Crumrine followed with a two-out RBI single, then Hoffsommer brought home two runners with a two-out double.
Sedgwick led 5-1 until the bottom of the sixth inning when Nold, Burns and Crumrine all delivered RBI hits to break open the game and give the Cardinals a 10-run lead.
The more entertaining game on the day actually came in the semifinals, when Sedgwick had to rally from a four-run deficit to hold on to a 7-6 victory over Spearville.
Spearville scored four runs in the top of the first inning to put Sedgwick in a deficit right away. The Cardinals clawed back two runs in the bottom half on RBI singles from Charles Harjo and Austin Wilkes. Another RBI hit from Harjo and a Burns RBI single helped trim the deficit to 5-4 after four innings.
Sedgwick escaped a bases-loaded jam with one out in the fifth inning, then tied the game in the bottom-half of the inning on a RBI double from Justin Esposito and took the lead the following inning on a two-RBI single from Wilkes.
Spearville had runners on second and third base with one out in the top of the seventh inning, but Burns stranded them on the mound with a strikeout and a groundout to seal the victory.
Andover Central loses in Class 5A state championship game
In the end, no one could hit the Blue Valley Southwest pitching.
BV Southwest only allowed one total run during three games in the Class 5A state tournament at Wichita State’s Eck Stadium, culminating in a 2-0 victory over Andover Central in the title game on Friday night.
Ben Kudrna, a projected first-round MLB draft pick, delivered a three-hit shutout for BV Southwest while striking out 11 Andover Central hitters.
Andover Central rallied in the bottom of the seventh inning, as Jack Bell and Alex Ronk led off with back-to-back singles. They moved over to second and third base with one out, but the game-tying run was stranded on second base when Kudrna struck out the next two hitters to end the game.
The Jaguars didn’t have a base runner until the fifth inning and didn’t have a hit until Cooper Tabor singled in the sixth inning. Ronk took the loss, although he only gave up two earned runs in 4 1/3 innings with Lou Blackman recording the final eight outs in scoreless relief.
It concluded a stellar 23-2 season for Andover Central, which defeated Hays, 6-4, in the semifinals earlier Friday behind RBI hits from Easton Elliot, Bell, Ronk, Blackman and Tabor.
After upsetting second-seeded Bishop Carroll on Thursday, Maize South lost its final two games of the tournament to finish in fourth place — a 11-0 loss to BV Southwest in the semifinals and a 11-2 loss to Hays in the third-place game. Kaden McBratney finished with two hits against Hays, while Harper Kennedy had a triple and Josh Darrenkamp had a RBI hit.
Clearwater drops a pair of one-run games at 4A state
Clearwater had a pair of heartbreakers on the final day of the Class 4A state tournament at Dean Evans Stadium in Salina, losing 3-2 to Clay Center in the semifinals and then again 3-2 on a walk-off to top-seeded Paola in the third-place game.
After falling behind 3-0 to Clay Center following the second inning, Clearwater rallied for both of its runs in the third inning when Jake Wellington delivered an RBI single and Austin Carlson brought in another run on a sacrifice fly. Dylan Rich pitched 4 2/3 of scoreless relief to keep Clearwater in it, but the Indians could not plate the game-tying run after putting a runner on base in the sixth and seventh innings.
Against top-seeded Paola in the third-place game, Clearwater led 2-0 after the top of the third inning following a pair of groundout RBI’s from Wellington. Paola leveled the score with a pair of runs in the bottom of the third, then the score remained tied until the bottom of the seventh when Paola rallied for a walk-off single RBI. Clearwater starter Austin Carlson threw a complete game, allowing just one earned run and striking out five.
Derby to play for third in 6A
Derby rallied from a two-run deficit for a 3-2 victory over Blue Valley West in the opening round of the Class 6A state tournament in Fort Scott at the LaRoche Baseball Complex.
The Panthers (19-5) lost 6-4 to Gardner Edgerton (22-2) in the semifinals and played for third place later Saturday.
In the quarterfinal, Derby trailed 2-0 after the top of the fourth inning but plated a run in the fourth, fifth and sixth inning for the come-from-behind win. Mercer Thatcher delivered an RBI single in the fourth, Luke Westerman executed a sacrifice bunt in the fifth to tie the game, then Karson Klima produced the go-ahed RBI hit in the sixth.
On the mound, Saben Seager threw a complete game for Derby, allowing two earned runs on four hits and striking out six.
Friday’s state baseball tournament game scores
Class 6A (quarterfinals)
No. 1 Blue Valley 9, No. 8 Lawrence Free State 1
No. 5 Manhattan 5, No. 4 Olathe West 3
No. 2 Gardner Edgerton 4, No. 7 Washburn Rural 1
No. 3 Derby 3, No. 6 Blue Valley West 2
Class 5A
Semis: No. 1 Andover Central 6, No. 5 Hays 4
Semis: No. 3 Blue Valley Southwest 11, No. 7 Maize South 0
1st: No. 3 Blue Valley Southwest 2, No. 1 Andover Central 0
3rd: No. 5 Hays 11, No. 7 Maize South 2
Class 4A
Semis: No. 4 Bishop Miege 10, No. 1 Paola 4
Semis: No. 2 Clay Center 3, No. 6 Clearwater 2
1st: No. 4 Bishop Miege 8, No. 2 Clay Center 0
3rd: No. 1 Paola 3, No. 6 Clearwater 2
Class 3A
Semis: No. 1 Anderson County 5, No. 4 Frontenac 4 (8 innings)
Semis: No. 3 Rock Creek 8, No. 7 Minneapolis 3
1st: No. 3 Rock Creek 19, No. 1 Anderson County 0
3rd: No. 4 Frontenac 7, No. 7 Minneapolis 5
Class 2-1A
Semis: No. 4 Valley Falls 3, No. 1 Ellis 0
Semis: No. 2 Sedgwick 7, No. 6 Spearville 6
1st: No. 2 Sedgwick 11, No. 4 Valley Falls 1
3rd: No. 1 Ellis 14, No. 6 Spearville 4
Saturday’s state baseball tournament game scores
Class 6A (at Fort Scott’s LaRoche Baseball Complex)
No. 2 Gardner Edgerton 6, No. 3 Derby 4
No. 1 Blue Valley (21-2) vs. No. 5 Manhattan (19-4), 1:15 p.m.
Third place: No. 3 Derby (19-5) vs. TBA, 3:30 p.m.
Championship: No. 2 Gardner Edgerton (22-2) vs. TBA, 5:45 p.m.
This story was originally published May 29, 2021 at 6:05 AM.
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