TonganoxieMirror.com

The Tonganoxie High softball team turned next to nothing into something on Monday.

The Chieftains managed just two hits in their first-round regional game against De Soto at Eudora, but they capitalized on some walks, Wildcat errors and baserunning opportunities to manufacture a 4-0 victory and advance to the regional semifinals.

"I'm excited with where our team is at right now," said THS coach Diane Titterington. "There's good feeling building at the right time."

Lauren and Lindsey Himpel helped generate most of the Chieftains' runs. Lindsey scored once, drove in a run with a double and gave her younger sister, Lauren, a chance to score one of her two runs on a squeeze bunt. Lauren stole four bases for THS (9-11) and Lindsey stole one.

"De Soto helped us out with some errors that they had," Titterington said, "but there was smart baserunning on our part."

The coach's only gripe about the team's play in the postseason victory was the number of times they struck out - 14.

"That's not us. Especially not the ones we were striking out on," Titterington said.

Amanda Albert, who pitched a complete game for the Chieftains, had Tonganoxie's other hit and was extremely effective throwing. Albert allowed only three hits and struck out eight De Soto batters.

THS will play the No. 1 seed in its region, Baldwin, at Eudora this afternoon at 3 p.m. Visit www.tonganoxiemirror.com online for results.