Take two: Lions softball makes up for lost time in season-opening routs

Lawrence High junior Kenzie Garvin, center, celebrates her home run with teammates Marly Carmona (1) and Sophie Taylor on Tuesday, April, 8, 2014, at LHS.

Lawrence High 17-14, Shawnee Mission West 1-1

Game 1

SM West 100 — 1 0 3

Lawrence 98x — 17 15 0

W — Megan Sumonja (1-0).

2B — Morgan Byrn, Sophie Taylor, Kristen Gile, LHS. 3B — Byrn, Jolona Shield, Gile, LHS. HR — Byrn, LHS.

LHS highlights — Byrn, 3-for-3, 3 runs, 5 RBI; Taylor, 3-for-3, 3 runs, 2 RBI; Shields, 3-for-3, 3 runs, 3 RBI; Gile, 3-for-3, 3 RBI.

Game 2

SM West 000 10 — 1 2 5

Lawrence 253 4x — 14 14 1

W — Jolona Shield (1-0). L — Cheyenne Stevens.

3B — Kenzie Garvin, Marly Carmona, Morgan Byrn, LHS. HR — Sophie Taylor, Garvin, LHS.

All of the players on Lawrence High’s softball team were itching to play a game after the team’s first practice 36 days ago. That itch intensified after last week’s season opener was rained out, and the Lions pumped all that excitement into their swings at the plate during a doubleheader Tuesday at LHS.

Lawrence High smashed 29 hits against Shawnee Mission West and turned its first games of the season into routs, 17-1 and 14-1.

Six of the first seven batters reached base in the first inning of Game 1 before junior Morgan Byrn hit a two-run double. Byrn followed that with a three-run homer in the second and finished 3-for-3.

“Oh my gosh, it feels great,” said Byrn, who went 2-for-4 with two runs and two RBIs in the second game. “Having like 40 days straight of just practice, it feels great to come out here and actually play a game and just actually beat somebody like that.”

Did the Lions actually expect to hit so well in the first game?

“We actually kind of thought we would,” said LHS assistant coach Nicole Riley, who filled in for first-year head coach Joe Dee Tarbutton, who missed the games because of a family emergency. “Practices the last five weeks have gone really good, and the girls have been hitting the ball really well in practice. We were hoping it would transfer (over to games).”

The second game was more of the same. Junior Kenzie Garvin hit an inside-the-park grand slam in the fourth inning, drilling the ball over the head of the left fielder, who was playing shallow despite a triple from Garvin in the third inning. Sophomore Sophie Taylor also added an inside-the-park home run to center field, and senior Marly Carmona had a two-run triple.

“Last year we just ended on a bad note. This year we just came out and just hit the crap out of the ball,” Garvin said. “It felt so good.”

On the mound, left-handed junior Jolona Shield and right-handed junior Megan Sumonja forced the Vikings (0-4) to hit into routine plays in the field. On the few hard hit balls, there were strong defensive plays from Byrn at third base, senior Kristen Gile at first and senior Andrea Mills in center field.

“It’s a good start to the year,” Byrn said. “It gives us some confidence going into all of our other games this year. It’s a perfect way to start.”

The Lions (2-0) go on the road for a doubleheader against Shawnee Mission East at 2 p.m. Saturday.