Highland Park’s games

From their run rule loss to Rossville the previous week, Manhattan High turned around in their games against Highland Park by run ruling the games 15-0 in game one and 17-4 in game two.

Focusing on their fielding and making contact at the plate, the coaching staff saw the team moving quickly in pre-game and as the opening innings passed with 10 runs being reached by the third inning of both games.

“We were much more ready to play today,” coach Monty Enright said. “And I could tell before that we were. [Senior] Sydney [Bannister] threw an absolutely fabulous game one and girls made plays and we were ready to go.”

The first game started with MHS scoring 14 runs by the end of the third inning and scored the final run in the following inning to end the game by run-rule. Bannister pitched a no-hitter in the game and only a single runner made it on base by error. Second game started out with Lady Indians leading the first innings with eight runs scored in the first inning and nine runs scored in the fifth inning. Sophomore Chelsea Henry had similar success pitching allowing a single run in three innings before a relief pitcher stepped in.

“We did have a few minor errors and I know we did hit better today with the advantage the other team gave us with errors,” Gevock said. “I still feel like we could make some more solid contact because there won’t always be an error [occurring.]”

Seaman’s games

Manhattan High’s return home to face the number one 5A team, Seaman, started with a sixth inning shootout between pitchers that saw runs only in the seventh inning with MHS losing 5-0.

When a run was put on the board by Seaman, bases were soon loaded to be sent home by a grand slam in the top of the inning. Despite their resolve in putting up runs, the inning ended soon after and the first game ended.

“It definitely slowed us down and brought our mood down just because it’s hard to see that and we were doing so good up to that point,” senior Sydney Bannister said.

The second game was harder met as Seaman came out of the gate with runs put up in the opening innings. MHS dealt with Seaman putting up runs for five innings before a switch was made in MHS’s defense to prevent further runs in the game. That left the end of the game up to their hitting.

“We got a couple balls that were hit pretty good that we were having trouble with; so we were able to put together some hits,” coach Monty Enright said. “We were able to get a few hits, but we weren’t quite able to get enough to fall in line to get a run.”

A sixth inning rally with Bannister, senior Savannah Thaemert, and freshman Josie Hilgers each scoring a run. The rally was then cut short as runners were struck out and the second game ended 9-3 over MHS.

The team now looks to Topeka West this coming Tuesday and go to Junction City on Friday.

“Since the game at Rossville, the coaches have noticed that we’ve become a different team,” freshman Kenzie Smith said. “We notice things that we didn’t notice before and we’re starting to go together as a team.”