By BRETT MARSHALL
Western Athletic Conference
Panthers’ Daxton Minton earns Player of Year honor
When Michael Stettinger assumed the coaching duties for the Great Bend High School baseball program last summer, he knew there would be challenges and opportunities for a program with which he was quite familiar.
He realized he had lost several high-level players from the 2025 team that posted a season record of 21-5 and finished second in the Western Athletic Conference with an 11-2 mark.
“I’ve always been a small ball type of baseball guy, so that was our plan all along,” said Stettinger, who guided the 2026 Panthers to an 18-11 record, a 9-3 win-loss mark to capture the WAC championship.
The late season surge by the Panthers led them to the state semifinals where they came up short against eventual champion St. Thomas Aquinas, 4-0. In their quarterfinal game, as the No. 8 seed, they defeated the No. 1 seed, Salina Central, 5-1.
The WAC championship was the eighth outright for the Panthers, and they have shared six other crowns, all with Hays.
“I knew coming in we didn’t have guys with a lot of power, so we had to change our mindset on how we were going to play,” Stettinger said. “We had a lot of singles, a lot of moving runners, stolen bases, bunts to score our runs.”
Statistics prove Stettinger’s methodology as the Panthers averaged 5.17 runs while giving up 4.41 runs per game.
“We had 11 games that were decided by three runs or less,” Stettinger said. “We knew we didn’t have Ian (1st baseman Premer) coming back after his basketball injury, so we had a lot of younger, inexperienced players. They were smaller in stature and didn’t have a lot of power, so we had to find ways to manufacture runs.”
Stettinger was fortunate to still have a few veterans on the team, including senior pitcher/shortstop Daxton Minton, who was named WAC Player of the Year.
“He was our leadoff guy and did a great job for us,” Stettinger said of the four-year starter who batted .411 this season. “We did some hit-and-run but did more bunting to move runners around. The guys did a great job laying down bunts. Often, we’d lay down a bunt, and the defense would throw the ball away.”
Stettinger had been at Great Bend long enough to remember the seasons where the Panthers were contenders in the postseason nearly every year. In the late 2010s, however, the program lost some of its aura.
“I think in the last five years we’ve gotten back to that mindset and built that culture back to compete in the postseason,” Stettinger said.
In his 15 seasons with the Panthers, Stettinger served as an assistant for 14 of them.
“Our previous (head) coach left us in a great spot,” Stettinger said. “When we talked to the players about style of play, they bought into the small-ball concept. Basically, you’re doing the same things correctly every single time. We run the bases all the time and play 100 percent on every pitch.”
The 12-game WAC schedule, which is spaced over the months of April and early May, allows teams to travel elsewhere and see other teams from other geographic areas.
“It’s a good balance to get a gauge of our overall season,” Stettinger said. “The WAC is kind of a steppingstone to the postseason, and the added bonus is that we usually see one or two good pitchers from each team.”
Stettinger said he could always rely on his players to give their best effort and lauded the upperclassmen who provided leadership to the freshmen and sophomores.
“We had guys like Trenton Kern and Jaxon Wondra, Rafael Chkavez and Koehn Ribordy who all played pivotal roles for us,” Stettinger said. “But I would also say our young players came along and were keys for our success.”
In the 6A regional, the Panthers trailed Andover Central, 1-0, in the sixth inning, but Kale Kern came up with a big hit to enable them to rally for a 2-1 triumph. IN the regional final, they faced Andover High and Stettinger used Wondra and Chavez to combine for a no-hitter in a 3-0 victory.
“I don’t think I’ve ever been in a game where we used two pitchers who ended up with a no-hitter,” Stettinger said. “It was really special for us to see.”
That set the stage for the quarterfinals against Salina Central, which had a 26-2 record entering the contest.
“I will always remember the season for how our team showed a lot of mental toughness, resilience and never giving up,” Stettinger said. “It was a fun season to coach.”
DAXTON MINTON, GREAT BEND, SR./PITCHER-SHORTSTOP –WAC Player of the Year
It only seemed inevitable that Daxton Minton would one day be a standout baseball player.
After all, his father, Mike, and his mother, Carrie, had been baseball and softball players at Great Bend High School. They also served as coaches with the Panther softball and baseball teams as well as summer travel teams.
His mom served as the head softball coach for 15 years (2011-2025) and was an assistant from 2000 to 2004. His dad also had been the softball coach for the Panthers while adding in volleyball to his resume’ along with stints as an assistant in basketball and baseball.
“They preached to me a lot about hard work and being a good leader,” Minton said of his parents. “I think one thing they taught me was if I wanted to be great, then I needed to train like I’m great. That has stuck with me.”
Minton capped off his senior year for the Panthers by being one of the driving forces in leading them to the Western Athletic Conference championship (9-3) and then on to a third-place finish in the Class 5A state championship playoffs.
The day the Panthers’ season ended, a 4-0 loss to eventual 5A state champion St. Thomas Aquinas, Minton was informed by his coach, Michael Stettinger, of the WAC Player of the Year honor.
“It’s an awesome feeling to know that a lot of hard work paid off,” Minton said. “After we lost to Aquinas, Coach told me, and honestly, I was shocked. I’m not going to lie, it was unexpected.”
Minton delivered for the Panthers both as pitcher, a shortstop and at the plate. He pitched 52 innings, compiling a record of 5-2 including one save and had a team-best 2.69 earned-run-average. He recorded 64 strikeouts while walking just 25. In 62 fielding chances, he had just 4 errors, a .935 percentage.
He also was the leadoff hitter for the Panthers, and his .411 batting average led the team. He was the one that Stettinger could count on to get runners on base and then into scoring position.
Of his 39 hits, 34 of them were singles with only two doubles and three triples. He had just 8 RBIs but scored 29 runs thanks to his teammates following in the 2-3-4-5 spots. He utilized his speed to steal 17 bases.
“We knew Dax was going to be our No. 1 pitcher because he had pitched in every big game for us the last couple of seasons,” Stettinger said. “He’s one of the best competitors I’ve coached. Mentally, he is a great leader, and the kid just loves to compete. In the big game, he wants the ball in his hands. He’s not scared of big moments.”
Perhaps that also is why he quarterbacked the successful football team for four years and was a starting guard for the Panthers’ basketball squad.
“I think my speed helped me a lot when I got on base,” Minton said. “I had something like 14 bunts for hits and with Coach wanting us to play small ball, that’s what I needed to do – do the little things.”
Minton credited his teammates, both the upper- and lower-class players, for his success.
“It was the first year of varsity for a lot of the guys, and they all played great,” Minton said. “I think the seniors provided leadership by leading by example.”
Minton is committed to staying at home and playing baseball at Barton Community College next season. He said he will both pitch and play in the field in the fall when community colleges play what amounts to spring training. It is in the spring when the conference schedule heats up, and there, he sees himself more as a pitcher.
“Definitely pitching is my stronger area,” Minton said. “I’ll continue to work hard to improve all areas.”
2026 Western Athletic Conference
Team Standings
TEAM WAC OVERALL
1 Great Bend 9-3 18-11
2 Hays 8-4 11-13
3 Dodge City 6-6 10-15
4 Garden City 5-7 11-16
5 Liberal 2-10 9-18
All-Conference Selections
FIRST TEAM YR POS SCHOOL
1* Daxton Minton 12 U/P Great Bend
2 Jakobe Rathbun 11 SS/P Garden City
3 Drew Strecker 11 OF/P Garden City
4 Brett Rhoades 12 INF/P Hays
5 Kyson Bogner 10 U/P Dodge City
6 Jaxon Wondra 11 U/P Great Bend
7 Liam Torrez 11 U Dodge City
8 Blayden Betts 12 C Liberal
9 Trenton Kern 12 U Great Bend
Player of the Year: Daxton Minton. Great Bend
Coach of the Year: Michael Stettinger
SECOND TEAM YR POS SCHOOL
1 Jace Dreher 10 C Hays
2 Jace Gifford 12 P Dodge City
3 Eli Steinmetz 12 P Garden City
4 Kal Lonsdale 12 INF Hays
5 Rafael Chavez 11 INF/P Great Bend
6 Koehn Ribordy 12 OF/P Great Bend
7 Max Gonzales 11 1B Dodge City
8 Ethan Olmstead 10 U Liberal
9 Reis Ochs 10 C Dodge City