LAWRENCE — No. 6 seed Manhattan High softball was one strike away Thursday from moving on to the semifinals of the 6A state tournament.
But then No. 3 Derby’s Kyler Demel hit a line drive down the left-field line to bring home the game-tying run in the bottom of the seventh to force extra innings, and Raegan Jackson hit a walk-off single in the eighth to cement the Panthers’ 3-2 come-from-behind victory.
The tears began to fall in the Indians’ dugout shortly thereafter.
Kierra Goos had shut out Derby (22-1) through the first 6 2/3 innings before allowing Demel’s RBI double with two strikes and two outs in the seventh. Manhattan (17-6) clung to a 1-0 advantage then thanks to a handful of clutch defensive plays throughout the game, and in the eighth, it led 2-1 after Reagan Neitzel hit a one-out double and later scored on a wild pitch.
But by the final frame, the Panthers had taken sufficient pitches from Goos to get a read on her.
They opened the bottom of the eighth with three straight hits, including an RBI single from Trinity Kuntz to knot the game at 2-2. Jackson — who had struck out in her three previous at-bats — stepped up to the plate with the winning run 60 feet away, and this time, she was ready.
“They’d seen her enough that they were just starting to connect,” said Indians head coach Connie Miller. “She throws with such velocity that all you’ve got to do is square it up and it’s going to go. It was bound to happen.”
The game was scoreless through the first three innings, although both teams threatened early on. Manhattan loaded the bases with one out in the top of the second but failed to score, and Derby did the same in the bottom of the third. Second baseman Anna Wollenberg ended the Panthers threat when she caught a line drive and allowed her momentum to carry her to second base to double off the runner.
In the next half-inning, Wollenberg put the Indians on the board when she drove in Goos, who led off with a triple to the right-center field gap.
The Panthers put two runners in scoring position with one away in the bottom of the fourth, but Goos picked up a strikeout and worked a groundout to McKenzie Reid at third to get out of it.
Shortstop Kat Ball made a diving, over-the-shoulder catch in shallow left field in the sixth, which helped Manhattan strand a would-be tying run at third base that inning.
“It was huge,” Miller said of her squad’s defense. “They stepped up. They made those big plays when they needed to make them. There were a lot of games we played this year where we didn’t get a lot of defensive opportunities, and so the fact that they stepped up and made those great plays was big.”
In the final game of her elite Indians career, Goos threw 120 pitches and struck out seven while giving up three runs on 10 hits. At the plate, the South Dakota State commit accounted for two of Manhattan’s five hits, one of its two runs and one of its two walks.
“Goos always does amazing,” said Neitzel, who has caught nearly every pitch Goos has thrown the past two seasons. “She’s been the best pitcher I’ve caught for. I went up and I hugged her (after the game), and I was like, ‘I love playing with you.’ I started bawling. She started bawling.
“She’s just amazing. You can tell out there. She gives it her all. She’s super competitive, and I love that about her.”
The Indians faced another top-notch pitcher in Derby’s Addy Canfield, who struck out nine while holding Manhattan to two runs on five hits in eight innings. Miller said Canfield did a good job hitting the outside part of the plate, which caused hitters to lay off of pitches at which they should have swung.
Despite the defeat, there’s no denying what the Indians did this season was a monumental step forward for the program. Their berth in the state tournament was their first since 2004 — before any of the current players were born — and they beat juggernaut league opponents like Topeka High and Washburn Rural.
Neitzel said it was a successful season in that context, and while the team wasn’t satisfied with the end result, it was “content” with what it accomplished.
“They have absolutely nothing to hang their heads about,” Miller said. “They had a phenomenal season. They checked off all the boxes of our goals that we set at the beginning of the year. Even though it hurts right now — and it’s probably going to hurt for a little bit — it was a great game, and they have absolutely nothing to be ashamed of.”
Neitzel added a thrilling extra-innings game against one of the best teams in the state is something “you’ve just got to be thankful for,” no matter the final score.
In addition to Goos, it was the last game for seniors Takara Kolterman, Avery Hafliger, Callie Carson, Carly Pearsall and Alice Burgess. Miller said their leadership was irreplaceable as Manhattan built up its strength to have the 2023 campaign it did.
“They knew the ins and outs of what we expect,” she said. “They knew their role. They each had roles, and they did it all year long. They supported each other and supported the rest of the team. We’re going to miss them.”
The future is bright, too, with several key players set to come back next year. Miller said she thinks her program has “turned a corner,” and Neitzel said the triumph of this season has the returners upbeat about 2024.
“If we really keep our bond with each other and use that momentum and confidence we have to beat the teams we beat this year, then I think we can do it,” Neitzel said.
