Lawrence, Kansas

Holton came into the 3A Softball Tournament with high expectations of making history, and they did, just not to highest level. Yet.

Holton shared 3rd place with St. Mary's following their loss Monday evening to defending 3A State Champs Silver Lake 5-3. Why is it shared? Weather. This game between Holton and Silver Lake started on Friday, May 24th but was delayed, postponed and moved to a new location on Monday, May 27th due to heavy rain, flooding tornadoes you name it. As a result of the weather KSHSAA decided it was best not to play a consolation game and focus only on the state championship game, and the two teams that lost the semifinals would each receive a 3rd place trophy in 2019.

Holton jumped out to an early lead on Friday when Jewel Lutz smashed a 2-Run HR in Emporia in the bottom of the first. That would be the score, 2-0, when play was suspended. Once the game resumed on Monday, Silver Lake was up to bat with a runner on 1st and nobody out, but Kyla Hay was stranded at third as Gracie Gallagher pitched her way through three complete innings unscathed. Holton would add a run in the bottom of the third inning as Gallagher scored on an RBI double by Bailey Flewelling to give Holton a 3-0 lead. That was the last run to cross the plate for the Wildcats.

Silver Lake would go on to score 5 runs over the fourth, fifth and sixth innings on 7 hits and two Holton errors. The defending 3A state champions used aggressive appearances at the plate to win this game, with four straight batters reaching safely at one point with three smacking doubles over Holton outfielders. Holton, unable to get the bats going in the late innings went three up and three down in the final two innings of play to never threaten a comeback. Abby Pressgrove for Silver Lake was dominant in the circle pitching 7 innings allowing just 3 runs on 5 hits while striking out seven.

A tournament where history was made, but ultimately not the exact history Holton was looking to make. A third place state finish is still the best in Holton softball history and should be viewed as just that, the best. However for many returning players, coaches and fans. The best is yet to come from Holton High School softball. Holton will return 8 of 9 in the field next year and bring back both Lutz and Gallagher who paced the 'Cats in the circle. The motto this year was “All Gas No Brakes”, there was plenty of fuel, but look for the LadyCat softball team to cut the brake lines completely next year.

TOURNAMENT STATS :

unofficial

PITCHING – G. Gallagher (1-1) 12IP, 10K, 11H, 4ER, 1BB

BATTING – G. Gallagher 4-8, 4R, 1BB – B. Flewelling 2-6, 2R, 1RBI – K. Rhodd 1-6, 2R, 1BB – J. Lutz 5-8, HR, 7RBI, 3R – G. Utz, 2-6, 2RBI, 1R – A. Beard 1-4, 1BB – P. Crouch 0-2 – A. Degenhardt 0-5 – S. Booth 1-5, 1R, 1BB – A. Boeckmann 1-3