Olathe East, Olathe South and Olathe Northwest move to semifinals of Kansas Class 6A state softball tournament

The three Olathe schools in the Class 6A state softball tournament all won their games on Thursday at Blue Valley West.

Olathe East barely beat the rains that shortened the game to six innings with a 6-3 victory for the seventh-seeded Hawks against No. 2 Derby.

Defending state champion Olathe South beat Garden City 3-1, while top-seeded Olathe Northwest easily defeated Gardner Edgerton 7-2.

▪ Olathe South scored single runs in the first, third and fifth innings and was led by the pitching of senior Lexi Storrer. She struck out 14 and walked five, giving up four hits.

“She isn’t someone who is worried about the count (on the batter),” Falcons coach Michael Allen said. “She won’t give in to batters.”

Senior Kala Holder drove in two runs with singles in the third and fifth innings for Olathe South, seeded fifth.

The Falcons improved to 21-2 with the win over the fourth-seeded Garden City Buffaloes.

Olathe South beat Olathe Northwest 7-3 in the 2015 state championship game. The two teams split their doubleheader during the regular season. Olathe Northwest won the league game 5-2 to win the league championship, while the Falcons came back to win the second game 11-0, according to Allen.

The two will meet in the semifinals at 1 p.m. Friday.

The game will be preceded by the finish of the quarterfinals with Wichita Northwest meeting Topeka Washburn Rural at 11 a.m.

Olathe East will meet the winner of that game at 3 p.m. in the other semifinal.

The championship game will be played Saturday at 11 a.m.

▪ Olathe Northwest scored four runs in the bottom of the fifth on Thursday to turn a 3-1 game into a 7-1 advantage against Gardner Edgerton.

Junior first baseman Claire Anderson had a two-run single in the fifth inning for Olathe Northwest, while junior Madison Young had a two-run double in the third inning. She was 2 for 4.

Gardner Edgerton’s Sydney Anderson had the only home run on the day lofting a fly ball over the left-field fence in the top of the first inning.

Junior Aubree Herrin went the distance for Olathe Northwest, allowing just four hits.

▪ In the Olathe East upset of Derby, it was junior shortstop Elise Byers who led the way at the plate. She was 3 for 4 with three doubles and three RBIs.

The Hawks built a 6-0 lead before Derby scored three runs in the bottom of the sixth, but Olathe East held on from there.

This story was originally published May 26, 2016 at 10:54 PM with the headline "Olathe East, Olathe South and Olathe Northwest move to semifinals of Kansas Class 6A state softball tournament."