Senior Savannah Thaemert was well into the dugout on senior night on Thursday before she removed her gloves.

At the bottom of the sixth inning of the second game against Washburn Rural, Thaemert hit a line drive and kept running past the base as she was thrown out. Falling on an ankle previously sprained, she went down and over the first base.

The tempo of the game changed for the Manhattan High softball team.

“Obviously all of us at that point had lost the same intensity towards the game; because we were so concerned about her,” coach Monty Enright said.

When Thaemert was hoisted to the dugout teammates rallied to finish the game. Defense held one last inning allowing a single run past. MHS couldn’t come up with the needed runs and lost their second game to Washburn Rural, 6-3.

Before the last out, Thaemert removed her gloves.

“I thought, ‘Woah. She’s one of our leaders of the team and one of the seniors that we all look up to,’” freshman Kenzie Smith said. “I’ve became such good friends with her and I can’t even describe how much she impacts our team. I thought hey we have to go stop them. I was saying go up and hit the ball. I didn’t get a chance. But I know our team did the best we could.”

From the start of the first game, Washburn sent hits to MHS’ gaps and was up two runs for the duration of the game until a sixth inning run carried to the end, with Washburn winning, 3-0.

The second game started differently as MHS put up three runs in the first four innings before Washburn pulled ahead and came out on top, bringing an end to the regular season. MHS now enters playoffs at .500 and start its Regionals game at home this coming Wednesday.

“We always want a better record,” junior Maddie Fief said. “Everybody does. But I think we have a pretty good chance. If we keep practicing hard and hopefully Savannah gets better by then.”