One of those two things happened, but it wasn’t BLHS losing. Both MVHS and BLHS swept their respective opponents, which meant they tied for the KVL title. However, with Basehor-Linwood sweeping the Lady Jaguars on April 9, the Lady Bobcats captured the title.

MVHS coach Sarah Haub said on April 9 after being swept that winning league is all well and good, but that the focus is on winning regionals, going to state and performing well there.

The Lady Jaguars used the long ball in a 17-2 game one win, which was halted after four innings because of the mercy rule.

Kristen Kelly and Brenna Ramirez both hit two-run shots. Kelly’s, which was the first home run she’s ever hit over the wall at any level, came in the second inning, while Ramirez’s came in the third.

Kelly was 3-for-4 in game one, while reaching base all four appearances and came around to score each time. She also stole two bases.

She was 2-for-2 and scored twice in game two’s 9-1 win before being substituted for Claire Anderson.

“She gets the (home run) ball, and she’s been doing a really great job as a freshman,” Haub said.

Kelly sparked an eight-run second inning with her home run with two outs. The next six batters would all come around to score.

“I’m really happy with our hitting going into regionals,” Haub said.

And when the Lady Jaguars made outs, the balls were hit hard, but right at the defense. Tonganoxie’s Sierra Graham was active at second base recording five putouts without any errors.

“She had a magnet in her glove we figured out,” THS coach Stephanie Wittman said. “It’s good to see that because we’ve been pushing Sierra in practice and in games to go pursue a softball and make a play she doesn’t think she can make. Tonight, I think she finally got her confidence up to go field a ball and know she’s a good infielder for us.”

At the plate, Graham went 2-for-4 with a walk.

The Lady Chieftains struck first in the top of the first in game one with a Caly Ingle-Maxwell two-run home run.

Wittman said THS hasn’t had that type of hitting in a while. She added that the score didn’t indicate how much the girls have improved. Like MVHS, THS hit the ball hard right at the defense, including two comebackers to the pitcher.

Wittman thinks the class 4A-I Lady Chieftains are peeking at the right time before regional play and said this was a good time to see class 5A MVHS, who were state runners up a season ago.

“Mill Valley has great tradition in softball,” Wittman. “Probably the best hitting team we’ve seen all year. They just put a ball in play. That was good for us to see, and their pitchers are about the speed we’re going to see come regional time.”