Bishop Carroll snaps two-time champion’s 66-game win streak and snags redemption
The Carroll seniors knew the feeling as Shawnee Heights gathered down the first-base line.
In the 2016 state quarterfinals, Andover snapped the Golden Eagles’ 77-game win streak. Friday, Carroll broke Shawnee Heights’ 66-game run with a 5-3 win over the two-time defending champion.
“That was one of the most exciting feelings I’ve ever experienced,” senior Hadley Kerschen said. “I told the team before the game, ‘Guys, we have nothing to lose here.’ “
Although Carroll’s roster is loaded with senior talent and experience, the Golden Eagles’ underclassmen stole the show.
In the bottom of the third inning, holding to a one-run lead, Carroll coach Steve Harshberger called for a pinch hitter. He replaced senior Payton Schoenfeld with freshman Cadance Brewster.
Brewster launched a two-RBI double to left-center to make it a 4-1 game. It marked just the second time all year the undefeated Thunderbirds had allowed four runs.
In the top of the fifth, after four nearly flawless innings from junior Reagan Smith, a 2018 All-Metro selection, Harshberger turned to Brewster again - this time in the circle.
Brewster took the ball and got Carroll out of a bases loaded jam with one out. She got Heights’ No. 5 hitter Shy Tyler to ground back to the circle. Brewster fired home for the force out, and freshman catcher Eve Morris turned and pulled an inning-ending double play to first.
Carroll was out of the inning holding onto a 4-3 lead.
Harshberger said Brewster earned the opportunity at the tail end of Carroll’s 9-4 loss to Maize South, stopping the bleeding in relief. Brewster said her teammates’ support helped quell the gravity of the scene.
“They told me to, ‘Just be me out there, spin the ball like I do and hit like I know how to,’ ” she said. “Coach Katie (Barrientos) told me, ‘Tell yourself they’re not going to get you out. You’re the toughest player out there.’ I got up there, battled and hit the ball.”
In the bottom of the frame, sophomore Gabby Eck added an insurance run in a blink. She ripped a ball to left field that rattled around the corner. As the Heights’ outfielders tried to corral the loose ball, Eck rounded third and finished a blazing fast inside-the-park home run without a throw.
Harshberger said Brewster, Eck, Morris and the rest of the underclassmen have the potential to be great. Brewster said it comes down to the underclassmen’s bond, all working to give their seniors a great final year.
“They give you everything they’ve got,” he said. “They battle you and just play hard. You think, ‘Man, these guys are going to help us sometime.’ It’s not size. It’s heart, and they got big ones.”
Friday served as bit of redemption for the Golden Eagles. Last year, the teams met in the Class 5A state championship game. Shawnee Heights won 11-0. Kerschen said the Eagles were embarrassed.
A week before the rematch, she said the group talked about avenging the loss almost every day. That made the win even sweeter.
“Yesterday, coach Katie told us, ‘Any time you feel any nerves coming in, just say, ‘I’m excited!’ ‘ So I think I’ve said that at least 4,000 times,” she said.
The teams entered Friday’s doubleheader with one combined loss. Both were top of the Class 5A East and West regional standings, and both figure to compete for the 2019 title.
Although Carroll got game 1, Shawnee Heights battled back in the nightcap with a 10-1 win. The Thunderbirds had just a two-run lead through five innings but opened it up late.
Harshberger said Friday was part of a bigger mission, one that he hopes will end with Carroll’s first title since 2015, the year before the Eagles’ streak was broken.
“Last year, we asked, ‘What happened?” he said. “Now we don’t have to ask that question.”
This story was originally published May 4, 2019 at 5:33 AM.