State Champs! Free State softball wins 6A title with 8-3 victory over Olathe Northwest

photo by: Carter Gaskins

Free State softball players hold up their softball state championship trophy on Friday, May 25, 2018 at Arrocha Ballpark.

The ball crashed into the Lawrence Memorial Hospital sign attached to the bottom of the Arrocha Ballpark scoreboard.

The smile could be seen from all corners of the park.

And the game was essentially Free State’s to lose from there.

Sure, the Firebirds softball team still had to execute for a full seven innings, adding hits, runs and defensive gems throughout. But freshman Sara Roszak set the table for Free State to capture its first softball state championship in school history with a towering home run in the top of the first inning, and her teammates gladly followed her lead to make sure they got it.

Free State 8, Olathe Northwest 3: A final score that will live forever in the FSHS history books, and one that capped a dominant, 12-4 run over three games for the 8th-seeded and newly crowned state champs.

“It honestly hasn’t even sunk in yet that we won the state title,” a still-smiling Roszak said after the dog pile and the trophy presentation had confirmed it. “It’s unbelievable.”

That word would have been the simplest way to describe the Firebirds (18-7) during the past two days.

With freshman ace Tatum Clopton carving up opposing batters for three straight games — she tossed a one-hitter in the state title game and struck out 25 batters in 21 innings in three games at this week’s state tournament — and Roszak proving to anyone who doubted her that she belonged on the short list of the best players in the state, the Firebirds were simply too much for all three opponents they faced this week.

Top-seeded Blue Valley came the closest to cutting down Lee Ice’s crew, but back-to-back home runs by Georgia Rea, another freshman, and Roszak on Thursday moved the Firebirds to Friday, where they knocked off Washburn Rural, 2-0, in the semifinal and finished the job against the same Olathe Northwest team that they defeated to open the season.

“As an eight seed,” Ice said, emphasizing that the Firebirds faced the toughest road of anyone when the bracket came out. “That’s even better.”

When Clopton went down with shoulder soreness midway through the season, the Firebirds kept their cool. Despite being so young, the good blend of veteran leadership, team camaraderie and various players stepping up at the right time to keep their heads above water, Free State’s coaches and players always kept in the backs of their minds that a special run to close the season would be possible if they could just position themselves to do it.

Both Ice and assistant coach Charley Bowen made sure to give credit to junior pitcher Morgan Leslie, who handled all of the tough starts in the middle of the season while Clopton healed and made a return possible.

“Without her, none of this would have been possible,” Bowen said of Leslie.

When Clopton did return, she quickly flashed the form that led many to believe Free State could win big, first in a couple of shorter outings to end the regular season and then at regionals, where she struck out 16 in the regional title victory that sent the Firebirds to state.

From there, she simply grabbed the ball, dug deep whenever she had to and refused to let anyone in an opposing uniform get comfortable.

With junior catcher Emma Stanwix plagued by an injury that had bugged her for the past couple of weeks, opponents had a field day running the bases on Friday. That’s when they got on base. Just about every time they did, the hard-throwing righty found a way to lock in and started blowing pitches by overpowered would-be hitters in a manner that had half of the stadium smiling and the other half shaking its head.

“It goes through my head that I have to bear down and keep them there,” admitted Clopton about having runners on base. “But I absolutely love having Emma back there. We’ve been working together all season and I just have so much trust in her.”

In addition to her dominant performance on the mound, Clopton let her bat do the talking on Friday. She ripped an RBI double in the semifinal victory over Washburn Rural and followed up Roszak’s first-inning home run with one of her own to give Free State back-to-back dingers for the second time at state.

In the third inning, after Rea reached base with a leadoff single, Roszak smashed another home run, this one a little deeper and to center field, that blew the game open and proved to be the game-winner.

She finished the day 3 for 4 with three RBIs, three runs scored and a team-high in smiles. She finished the state tournament 6 for 11 with five RBIs, five runs scored, three home runs and a double. Her seven home runs this season tied the Free State single season record. And she still has three seasons left to try to break it.

“What a tournament she had,” Ice said of his standout shortstop.

Added Clopton of her classmate: “She’s an incredible person but she’s a killer athlete. I mean, three home runs at the state tournament. Seven for the year. Wow.”

While it was pitching and defense that carried them into the state title game, the Firebirds’ offense showed up big time in the one that counted most. Free State pounded out 12 hits and jacked three home runs — nearly four but a blast to center by Rea in the fifth was robbed over the wall — and the final five batters in the order who struggled against top-tier pitching throughout the week ripped five hits and reached base seven times to make sure Olathe Northwest had no shot at a comeback.

Stanwix singled in her final two at-bats. Taylor Burks, who they call “Minnie Mouse,” walked, singled and recorded two RBIs. Karsen Jacobson singled to leadoff the sixth and Haley Lockwood-Peterson singled and scored in the fifth and walked in the sixth to keep the pressure on the Ravens from start to finish.

“We had 12 hits and Clopton throws a one-hitter; we did everything right in that last game,” Ice said.

Perhaps the Firebirds simply should have known it was there day when they woke up. First off, while celebrating Jacobson’s 17th birthday, it was the Free State left fielder who gave her teammates a present in the semifinal victory.

With Washburn Rural trying to mount a seventh-inning comeback, Jacobson caught a shallow fly for the second out of the inning and then fired a strike to the plate to throw out a runner trying to score from third.

The play ended the game, sent the Firebirds into a frenzy and was the perfect example of how coaching, preparation and execution all came together to deliver a state title.

“I knew that she was the fastest girl on their team and I didn’t think it was going to work,” Jacobson said. “But it did. Just like in practice. It was awesome.”

As for any added birthday gifts, beyond the highlight play and loud rendition of “Happy Birthday” after the title game victory, Jacobson got sentimental for a minute.

“They gave me a full season of being awesome teammates,” she said.

With that, the first state title in Free State softball history was officially in the books and the 15 girls who made it possible were free to move on to their summers, which, for many of them, will include more trips to the diamond.

But even though only a few minutes had passed since the celebration and hugs and high-fives were still being handed out all around them, a couple of the fiercest competitors on the Free State roster already were thinking about an encore.

“We’re really going to be a team to watch next season,” said Clopton. “And we plan to be right back here in this game again next year. That’s the plan. That’s the goal.”

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