Blue Valley Southwest falls short against Shawnee Heights in 5A semifinals

From the third inning of Blue Valley Southwest’s softball season, sophomore Kori Stonestreet threw every pitch.

It wasn’t supposed to be that way. The Timberwolves had college signees Hannah Waddell and McKenzie Weber slated to throw, but Waddell injured her knee before the season and Weber did the same in Southwest’s opener.

Stonestreet, called in from second base, got her team all the way to the Class 5A championship game on Friday before unbeaten Shawnee Heights spoiled the Timberwolves’ title bid with a 10-0 victory in six innings at Two Rivers Youth Complex.

“She’s gutted it out all season,” BV Southwest coach Shari Schaake said. “She’s all we had.”

BV Southwest (16-9) advanced past the quarterfinals for the first time in three state appearances with a 9-7 upset of No. 3 seed Maize on Thursday. Then, in Friday morning’s semifinals, the Timberwolves defeated Mill Valley 11-7, avenging a doubleheader sweep to the Jaguars three weeks ago.

The challenge was too steep against Shawnee Heights, which got home runs from Kaisha Wells and Sydney Wellshear to complete a 24-0 season.

“It was scary at first,” Stonestreet said of the role she inherited. “None of us really expected anything good to happen. But it’s been a battle and it’s been really fun. We’ve grown every game.”

The Timberwolves scored the first 10 runs in their victory over Mill Valley. But Shawnee Heights turned the tables in the championship with three runs in the first and four in the second.

Wellshear, who homered in each of the state tournament games, hit a solo shot in the third off Stonestreet to make it 8-0.

“The first couple innings, I was like, ‘Woof,’” Schaake said. “But I felt like we kept them off balance a little bit considering what they are and who they are and how powerful they are.

“They’re just in a different league than we are. We just aren’t of the same caliber yet.”