Olathe East has won 29 softball games in a row. The Hawks have posted a 46-1 record during the last two seasons.

So can anyone knock off the Olathe juggernaut in this weekend’s Class 6A state high school tournament at Clinton Lake Softball Complex?

“I think so,” Free State coach Pam Pine said. “I think anybody can be beaten. It’s just a matter of how things go.”

Pine should know. Free State is the last team to beat Olathe East. It occurred late last season at the Olathe District Activities Center.

“It was their Senior Day, and they had run-ruled us 10-0 in the first game,” Pine said. “I was in tears after that game because we

had looked so bad. But East probably wasn’t as focused in the second game.”

The Firebirds won, 5-1, handing East pitcher Alex Hupp, then a sophomore, her only high school defeat. Hupp’s career record is 48-1.

“We made Hupp throw some pitches she didn’t want to make,” Pine said. “We hit some holes in their outfield, and we said thanks and went home.”

Since then, Olathe East has sent every opponent home a loser – including 10-0 and 11-1 payback decisions over the Firebirds earlier this season – and will go into the state meet as the No. 1 seed.

Free State (13-9), making its first postseason softball appearance in school history, is the No. 6 seed and will face No. 3 seed Wichita Northwest in a first-round game at 7 tonight.

Wichita Northwest (19-3) is one of two teams that has a legitimate chance to dethrone Olathe East. The other is Shawnee Mission Northwest, the No. 2 seed.

SM Northwest has won 20 games and lost only two. You guessed it. The two losses were to Olathe East. The Hawks swept a Sunflower League doubleheader from the Cougars, 5-3 and 6-2.

“They’re dang good,” SM Northwest coach Mark Balderston said of the Hawks. “They’re a very powerful team, but we would dearly love an opportunity to get to play them again.”

If there is a rematch in Saturday’s 1 p.m. championship game, Balderston believes his players would perform at a higher level than they did in the first meeting.

“We had three errors in the first game and four in the second,” the SMNW coach said. “Our kids were just so tight and so nervous.”

Olathe East’s lineup can certainly cause opposing players the jitters. Hupp, for instance, may be a better hitter than she is a pitcher. She leads the Hawks with six home runs and 31 RBIs.

“She’s a better hitter,” East coach Jeff Hulse said, “because she’s more balanced. She pitched every game for us last year, but she hasn’t had to this year.”

That’s because her younger sister, Michaela, a freshman, has given Hulse another quality pitcher. Alex Hupp has been credited with 14 of East’s 22 wins, and Michaela has eight.

Both Hupps are future NCAA Division One players. So, too, are three East seniors who have already signed major-college tenders.

One is third baseman Val Chapple, who has inked with Kansas University. The other two are shortstop Teddi Ewing, a signee of national power Michigan, and catcher Casey Gorrell, who will go to Illinois State.

Still another future Division One player is sophomore first baseman Ashley Guile, who is hitting .563, second only to Chapple’s .587 team-leading average. As a team, the Hawks’ batting average is a gaudy .440.

“They hit the ball hard all the way through the lineup,” Pine said. “It’s unique for a team to have that many good players.”

Olathe East will open at 5 p.m. today against No. 8 seed Shawnee Mission North (9-13).