There’s just something different about Lawrence High’s softball team this year. All of the players have bonded away from the diamond, and it’s making a world of difference on the field.

The Lions showed their improvement by dominating in every phase of the game Friday against Leavenworth, winning 16-0 and 15-0 in a doubleheader at LHS.

“Not only have our skills improved but we’ve come together as a team better,” senior Kristen Gile said. “I think that helps a lot. We bonded a lot more and we’re like a family.”

It’s the family aspect that’s helped the Lions (10-6) reach their highest win total since their state tournament run in 2011.

“Oh gosh, we’ve gotten so much closer,” senior Marly Carmona said. “We have a motto now, it’s ‘Family takes us far.’ We’re really living off it. We really want to go to state this year, and we all believe we can go to state.”

The Lions crushed 29 hits in the doubleheader, bouncing back after being shut out and swept on Thursday by Olathe East, the two-time defending Class 6A state champions.

“We were hitting the ball (Thursday); they’re a really good defensive team so that did hurt us,” LHS coach Joe Dee Tarbutton said. “I did know we weren’t in an actual slump. I knew they were going to fall for us. Even pitching like this is hard to hit. Slower pitching is hard to hit sometimes, too. So I was proud of the girls.”

The Lions scored 11 runs in the first inning of Game 1, benefitting from a few errors, walks and hit batters. Kenzie Garvin, Morgan Byrn, Gile and Jolona Shield all had RBI hits in the frame.

The trend continued into the first inning of Game 2 as the first five batters reached base and all of them came around to score. The Lions scored eight runs in the fourth inning, highlighted by Carmona’s two-run homer over the left-center wall.

“Honestly, I wasn’t really expecting it,” said Carmona, an Emporia State signee. “I knew how she was throwing, she was kind of keeping them down the middle so I was kind of waiting for it.”

Shield, a lefty who gave up just one hit while pitching four innings in Game 2, helped the Lions reach the 15-run mercy rule with a RBI single in the fourth.

“After (Thursday’s) game, I told them we need to win out for the rest of the season,” Tarbutton said. “I don’t usually put that pressure on a team but these girls I know I can. Obviously, yes, we lost to a good Olathe East team but we’re a really good team.”

The Lions are off for a week before facing Free State at 5 p.m. on May 12 at LHS.

Lawrence 16-15, Leavenworth 0-0

First game

Leavenworth 000 — 0 4 2

Lawrence (11)23 — 16 14 1

W — Megan Sumonja (4-4). L — Layne Broeker.

2B — Kenzie Garvin, LHS. 3B — Marly Carmona, LHS.

LHS highlights — Garvin, 4-for-4, 3 runs, 2 RBI; Morgan Byrn, 2-for-3, 3 RBI; Carmona, 2-for-2, 2 runs; Annie Grammar, 2-for-2, 3 runs.

Second game

Leavenworth 000 0 — 0 1 2

Lawrence 530 7 — 15 15 0

W — Jolona Shield (6-2). L — Layne Broeker,

3B — Sophie Taylor, Morgan Byrn, Kristen Gile, LHS. HR — Marly Carmona, LHS.

LHS highlights — Carmona, 2-for-2, 4 RBI; Shield, 4 IP, 1 H, 2 Ks, 3-for-4, 2 runs, RBI; Byrn, 3-for-4, 3 RBI; Taylor, 2-for-4, 2 RBI.