MAIZE ? Lawrence High baseball coach David Petry just couldn’t seem to keep from smiling Tuesday evening.

It would have been impossible for the Lions’ skipper not to crack a grin when his big senior catcher, Troy Wingert, strapped on some goofy-looking goggles and clowned around with parents and coaches at Maize High School.

Or when Petry’s two other senior leaders  Chris Johnson and Rob Scott  flashed their pearly whites to the flashing cameras of a handful of LHS fans who hoped to capture just one more memento from these standout seniors’ careers.

The true reason for Petry’s excitement, though, was the fact that LHS had just played its way to a third-place finish for the second straight season, defeating Olathe North, 4-1, in the Class 6A consolation game.

There was, however, a hint of sadness.

“The only thing I wanted out of this year was a state championship for this senior group,” Petry said. “It’s real hard for me to send these guys out without that title.”

Still, the Lions’ third top-three finish in the last three years seems like quite an accomplishment considering that just six hours earlier Tuesday their state-championship quest ended when Hutchinson put together a spectacular late-inning rally that erased the Lions’ 4-0 advantage. Hutchinson’s 5-4 win over LHS propelled the Salthawks into the championship game, where they lost to Olathe East, 8-3.

Immediately after Hutch catcher Zane Ehling’s smash hit to left field in the semifinal game landed just out of the reach of a diving Derek Bailey to stop LHS from advancing to the title game, many of the Lions could have cared less about the consolation.

“There’s a lot of us that at first didn’t want to be here,” said Wingert, one of 11 LHS seniors. “We wanted to pack it up and go home. But coach Petry gave us a few words of wisdom and he talked us into wanting to be out here.”

Not even a two-hour rain delay on the final day of a tournament that originally was supposed to be settled three days earlier was going to deter the Lions from having some fun.

“We decided we wanted to have fun in our last game and go out winning,” said senior Casey Rabmeier, who went 2-for-3 with two RBIs in the second game. “And we did. We had tons of fun.”

It showed when the Lions mixed in a three-run third and a four-hit, four-strikeout performance from pitcher Ryan Rowland around some sock-switching high jinks.

“They were having fun on the field and in the dugout,” said Petry, who, along with his players, alternated his pants legs from being up and down between innings.

“The last thing we told them before we started playing that last game was to just have fun. They did that and made the most of it.”

Lawrence quickly scored three in the third against Olathe North, which had minutes earlier lost its semifinal to intracity rival Olathe East, 5-2.

LHS third baseman Tommy Mangino scored the first run when O-North pitcher Eric Kuebler plunked Andy Flory with the bases loaded. Rabmeier then connected with a two-run single that brought in Scott and Joe Bell.

The early cushion was all the aid Rowland needed as he scattered just four hits and allowed Olathe North just one viable scoring opportunity in the fifth.

Johnson said his senior campaign  along with his entire LHS career  would be a fond memory.

“The loss is in the back of my mind. It bothers me quite a bit,” he said, “but it’s better to have a win at the end of the season than a loss. It was a lot of fun. We had a great time. I’ll remember these guys for a long time.”

Hutchinson 5, Lawrence 4

The title game looked like a sure thing early on Tuesday.

LHS jumped to a 4-0 lead after 5 1/2 innings, and junior pitcher Aaron Madill looked to be on the same pace as he was a day earlier in his dominating relief performance against Wichita Northwest.

Then came the sixth and seventh innings, when Hutchinson’s bats began popping and the Lions’ stopped.

The Salthawks hit Madill hard, and when Petry brought in Taylor Martin in the seventh there was little difference.

After plating three runs in the sixth, Hutchinson quickly loaded the bases in the seventh. Jordan Cruz hit a soft pop out, giving the Lions a little hope.

But Ehling quickly took care of that two pitches later, sending Martin’s pitch to the fence past a sprawled Bailey. Nick Keast cruised home with the game-winning run.

Consolation

Lawrence 4, Olathe North 1

Olathe North (16-8) 000 010 0 Â 1 4 0

Lawrence (18-7) 003 010 x  4 7 2

Eric Kuebler, James Nichols (3), Allen Stuhr (5) and Paul Barnes. Ryan Rowland and Cameron Taylor. W Â Rowland (4-3). L Â Nichols.

LHS Highlights: Casey Rabmeier 2-for-3, 2 RBIs; Joe Bell

1-for-2, run; Tommy Mangino 1-for-2, run; Daniel Dulin 3 HBP.

Semifinal

Hutchinson 5, Lawrence 4

Lawrence (17-7) 012 100 0 Â 4 8 2

Hutchinson (21-4) 000 003 2 Â 5 8 3

Aaron Madill, Taylor Martin (7), Spence Chaney (7) and Troy Wingert. John Sellers, Josh Abernathy (3) and Zane Ehling. W Â Abernathy. L Â Martin (7-1).

LHS Highlights: Chris Johnson 3-for-3, run; Mike Morrell 1-for-3, run, RBI; Joe Bell 1-for-3, run, RBI.