Hays Post Sports
HAYS — The TMP-Marian Monarchs softball team is headed back to the Class 2-1A state tournament for the second time in three years after claiming the regional championship Wednesday with dominant wins over Sylvan-Lucas, 6-0, and Stanton County, 10-3.
Regional semifinals: TMP 6, Sylvan-Lucas 0
The regional semifinal against Sylvan-Lucas turned into a
pitchers’ duel between TMP’s Brynn Rebel and Sylvan-Lucas’ Harlee Nelson.
Rebel (14-1) struck out a career-high 16 and allowed just two hits in seven shutout innings as the Monarchs broke through late for a 6-0 victory.
She retired 15 straight batters from the second through the sixth inning. Meanwhile, the Monarchs offense broke through with three runs in both the fifth and sixth innings.
Brynn Schoepf got the scoring started with a two-run single before TMP added another run on an error.
The Monarchs opened the sixth inning with another run on an error, then Schoepf and Rebel added back-to-back RBI singles to push the lead to 6-0.
Schoepf finished 4 for 4 with three RBIs.
Regional championship: TMP 10, Stanton County 3
The Monarchs had to rally from an early deficit in the
championship game, but once again pitching and timely hitting helped TMP clinch
a 10-3 victory over Stanton County and secure a return trip to state.
Stanton County took an early 2-0 lead, but the Monarchs answered with three runs in the bottom of the first inning to move ahead.
Paige Koenigsman started the scoring with a two-run double, and Adison Watson added a sacrifice fly to put TMP ahead 3-2.
TMP added two runs on an error in the second inning and held a 5-2 lead until the fifth, when Bria Windholz singled in a run to extend the advantage to 6-2.
After the Trojans scored in the top of the sixth, TMP answered again with four runs in the bottom half of the inning.
Piper Simpson and Molly Helget hit back-to-back RBI doubles, Rebel singled home a run to extend her hitting streak to 32 games, and Koenigsman added an RBI groundout as the Monarchs secured the 10-3 victory.
Rebel allowed three runs, two earned, on five hits while striking out 11 over seven innings.
Koenigsman drove in three runs.
TMP heads into next week’s state tournament with a 27-2 record.