Spring Sports Update: Week 7

Softball:

Yesterday, varsity softball took care of SM North at home 8-0 and 5-0 for their senior night. Today, the girls will take on Olathe Northwest at CBAC, and Olathe South on Thursday at ODAC. According to junior Jamie Maddox, both games are critical for their placement at regionals.

“It’s not going to be an easy win but they are both definitely beatable,” Maddox said.

Baseball:

Last night the Lancer baseball team took on Leavenworth in a doubleheader at home for senior night.

The Lancers lost the first game 1-6. It was tied when the game went into extra innings until Leavenworth hit a homerun. After that they were able to get a few more hits and runs to take the lead and win the first game. Sophomore Max Sanborn pitched during this game and had no earned runs.

However, the Lancers were able to make a comeback and win the second game 4-2. Senior Stephen Brophy pitched this game and allowed only one run in six innings. The second game also went into extra innings.

“It felt great to finally play on the day I’ve been waiting for all of high school,” Brophy said. “And it felt great to win the game I started in.”

Looking ahead, the Lancers play Shawnee Mission South on Tuesday, Shawnee Mission Northwest on Wednesday and Blue Valley on Thursday.

Girls Soccer:

The girls soccer team moved to 11-1-3 and are still undefeated in the Sunflower league. The team defeated SM Northwest on Tues 3-2. Junior Kelly Pidcoe had a strong game with 2 goals to lead the Lancers to victory.

The Lancers were scheduled to SM West on Thursday, May 2, but the game was postponed to Saturday, May 4 because of inclement conditions on Thursday night. On Saturday, the girls beat the Vikings 2-1 in a rough game that was very chippy from the start. Each team received multiple yellow cards throughout the game. The scoring began when senior Addison Steiner snuck in behind the West defense and tucked in a shoot past the Vikings goalkeeper. The score would stay 1-0 in favor of the Lancers at halftime.

In the second half, junior Jessica Young gave the Lancers a 2-0 leadoff of a strong header from a corner. The game continued to be very physical, and the Vikings were able to bring the deficit to one goal after a scrum in the box with the ball barely getting past senior goalkeeper Sarah Spradling with 15 minutes remaining to go.

The Lancers had a few nervous points the rest of the game, but the Vikings never really came close to scoring again. The Lancers next play Olathe South on Tuesday, May 6, 7 p.m. at the SM Soccer Complex. It is senior night for the eight that are on team.

Boys Golf:

The boys golf squad has not been in action for over a week, with their last tournament being a win on Monday the 29th of April at Falcon Ridge Golf Course.

This week the Lancers finish of league play on Wednesday at Alvamar Golf Club in Lawrence. Also they will travel to Leavenworth to play at Trails West Golf Course on Thursday. East is coming into the week on a 5 tournament winning streak, if they can win both tournaments this week to close out the regular season they will be the most winning team in East history.

Boys Tennis:

The boys tennis team took first at regionals on Monday at Harmon Park. Brooks Kendall placed third in singles, Jake Glazer and Kack Santilli took first place in doubles defeating their teammates, Reese Goulding and Jamie Mcdonald who took second.

As a team, they scored 18 points and brought home the regional championship plaque. The tennis team play this weekend at State in Topeka.

Track:

One of the oldest and biggest meets in the Kansas area, Shawnee Mission North relays was cancelled on Friday and was not rescheduled.

The East track team will be going into League this Friday without having a meet for two weeks.

“It will be tough because we haven’t been able to run our relay for awhile,” senior Carter Olander said. “But we will be fresh so hopefully we can have a good showing as a team.

The team is coming down the stretch of League, Regionals and State. The weather has been sporadic and has thrown off the usual schedule for the team.

“We haven’t been having consistent practices and meets,” senior Troy Wilkins said. “But it has been the same way for all teams in Kansas, so there is no excuses.”

Boys Lacrosse:

The boys’ lacrosse team had their senior night on Wednesday, May 1 against Olathe East. The game was cancelled due to lightening after the first quarter. The game was rescheduled for Saturday, May 4 and the Lancers came away with a victory 7-6.

The Lancers trailed in the first quarter 2-1, senior Jackson Stephens having the Lancers only goal before the game was delayed. On Saturday, the team came back, scoring two goals before half to gain the lead. Junior Frank Esberg had two goals. On the down side, Stephens dislocated his kneecap in the third quarter. Stephens is hopeful to return on Wednesday for the state semi-final.

The Lancers then took on Olathe South in the state quarter-final, winning 13-6. The team will play Rockhurst in a rematch from earlier on this season on Wednesday at UMKC for a spot in the LAKC Finals.

Girls Lacrosse:

The girls’ lacrosse team wrapped up their spring season with two games. The girls played over the weekend on Saturday, May 4, at SM West against Lee’s Summit West (LWS). The varsity team had previously lost to them earlier by one goal but was able to pull through and win in overtime 6-5. The JV team beat LWS in the previous matchup and was able to beat them again 8-6.

“What we had been working on in practice finally came together [at Saturday’s game] and it was really fun to be able to beat a team in overtime,” junior Cicely Krebill said.

On Sunday, May 5, the Kansas City Metro Girls’ Lacrosse Association (KCMGLA) held their Love One Fund All-Star Game at St. Teresa’s Academy. Each varsity team submitted five of their players to play. East was represented by seniors India D’Ortona, Addie Hotchkiss and Chelsea Willems (SM North) and sophomores Amanda Beck (Bishop Meige) and Maureen Murphy (Bishop Meige). The All-Star game raised money for the Love One Fund and was a great sucess.

Both JV and varsity teams played their last game of the season on Monday, May 6 against Lee’s Summit High School (LSHS) at LSHS. Lee’s Summit played tough and executed sometimes questionable plays. The teams were frustrated with the bad ref calls and unfortunately lost 3-10. However, the JV team came back to beat LSHS 7-5, ending the season with a good note.

Overall, the varsity team placed last in the league in 7th place with a record of 0-6. The JV team placed 7th out of 9 teams with a record of 1-5. East will not be playing in the KCMGLA Championships, but the team is pleased with their season nevertheless.

“I think that if we had a bigger team we might’ve been physically better off throughout the games, but everyone grew as players throughout the spring,” Krebill said. “Although our record didn’t show it, we had a good season.”

Girls Swimming:

The Girls Swim Team won the Sunflower League Title for the ninth year in a row this past weekend at Olathe Northwest High School. After disqualifying the 200 yard Medley Relay and getting no points from diving the team was uncertain that they would take the title.

With strong performances from senior Sarah Freshnock winning the 200 IM, senior Meg Stanley winning the 500 Freestyle, freshman Bonnie Longan winning the 100 Backstroke and freshman Mary Booton winning the 100 breaststroke the lady lancers won by 52 points.

The 400 yard freestyle relay team of freshman Sarah Allegri, and seniors Sarah Freshnock, Tiernan Shank and Meg Stanley got second place and set the new school record of 3:37.16. Breaking the record Shank, Freshnock, Stanley and junior Emily Minick set last year.