Bishop Carroll baseball grad leads Kansas Cannons to first Summerball Showdown title
After playing three games in a 25-hour span, including two rain delays, the Kansas Cannons baseball team emerged as the inaugural champion of the Summerball Showdown late Sunday evening.
The Cannons, from Augusta, capped off a perfect 5-0 run through the $20,000 winner-take-all summer baseball tournament with a 9-5 victory over the Texas Express in the title game held at Genesis Sports Complex in Goddard.
Just three months after graduating from Bishop Carroll, Wichita native and Cannons center fielder Paul Schoenfeld was named the tournament’s MVP after finishing the week with a batting average north of .700.
Schoenfeld was a first team all-state selection and All-Metro pick by The Wichita Eagle after hitting .423 with 22 RBI’s and 11 stolen bases to help lead Carroll to a 21-2 record and a trip to the Class 5A state tournament this spring. He has signed to begin his college career at Butler Community College.
“Paul just has a really high baseball IQ,” Carroll coach Charlie Ebright said. “He’s one of those kids we call a dirtbag because he plays so hard and he plays the game the right way. I wish I had nine other kids who played just like him. He was a big bat in the lineup for us and he played exceptional defense in center field. He had the strongest arm on the team and just a really great work ethic.”
The Cannons had to win three games on Sunday to claim the inaugural title of the 14-team tournament.
After heavy rain forced their game against the Valley Center Mud Daubers to be postponed until Sunday morning, the Cannons finished off their 18-8 victory early in the afternoon.
That set the Cannons up for a semifinal showdown later in the afternoon against the Kansas Curve, which they won 6-2 to punch their ticket to the finals against the Texas Express.
In the championship game, the Cannons scored five runs in the first inning without a single hit. Thanks to some pitching woes from the Express, the Cannons were able to load the bases and then keep bringing home runs thanks to walks and hit batters. Cooper Minnock capped the rally with a sacrifice fly for the fifth run.
After that, it was all Cannons on their way to the trophy.
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