photo by: Chance Parker

Free State senior shortstop Sara Roszak is mobbed by her teammates after hitting a walk-off three run home run against Derby to win the regional championship. Free State won 6-5 Friday, May 21, 2021.

For four years, Free State softball seniors Tatum Clopton, Georgia Rea and Sara Roszak have been fixated on winning a class 6A state title.

In 2018, as freshmen, they wanted to prove that they could play on the highest level high school softball had to offer and helped the Firebirds bring home the program’s first ever softball state title.

A year later, as sophomores and defending champs, it was all about proving that Year 1 was not a fluke and that they could handle the pressure of trying to repeat. They did that, too, running through the Class 6A state tournament by giving up just seven hits — and zero runs — in three consecutive victories.

In 2020, their minds remained focused on the same goal, but this time heartbreak stole the show. When the 2020 season was canceled because of the pandemic, their minds instantly shifted to 2021 and finishing what they started.

At 3 p.m. today, against Olathe South at the Shawnee Mission District Softball Complex, those seniors and the rest of their teammates — including three other seniors, Robin Todd, Samantha Bradbury and Anna McIntire — and will take the first step in what they hope will be a memorable final chapter.

“This is it,” Rea said at Monday’s practice. “Our last go around. And because it’s the last one, I think we want it this year more than ever.”

The senior Firebirds enter their last ever state tournament seeded second at 19-1 overall. Their lone loss of the season came to No. 3 seed, Washburn Rural (20-2) and the Junior Blues loom in Friday’s second round. But acting head coach Charley Bowen made sure to point out that this team is not looking past Olathe South in Round 1 for a second.

“If you don’t come ready to play, anything can happen,” Bowen said.

Added Rea: “Of course our overall goal is to get back to the state title game and win it, but we really are just taking it one game at a time right now. That’s our focus.”

The seventh-seeded Falcons (15-6) and Firebirds are two of five Sunflower League teams in this year’s eight-team tournament. That marks the most ever by one league at the Class 6A state softball tournament.

And it almost didn’t happen. Last Friday, in the regional title game at FSHS, the Firebirds were down to their final two outs when Roszak belted a three-run home run that made the 3-peat possible.

At different moments in that game against Derby, Bowen said he saw evidence of his team playing not to lose and feeling the pressure of trying to get back to state.

Roszak’s walk-off home run eliminated all of that and the Firebirds have been as loose this week as they have been all season.

“It’s one and done now; everybody has a little bit of pressure on them,” Bowen said with a grin. “We’ve got a lot of girls who have been there and have won it. So I think that experience can be a little bit of an advantage. It still has to be taken away from us.”

Junior second baseman Jasmine Brixius said she thought that mindset would serve this team well. Brixius, who was a freshman on the Firebirds’ state title team in 2019, said this group plays better with a free mind.

“We’re all really excited and amped up,” Brixius said. “And I think if we play our A game, we’ll be fine. We want to win this one for our seniors and send them out the right way.”

That’s not to say anyone expects it to be easy. Two of their three wins at the 2019 state tournament came by the final score of 1-0. And the close call against Derby was a reminder that maximum focus at all times is what it takes to win it all.

“This just confirms everything we’ve thought leading up to now,” Clopton said after the win over Derby. “It’s going to be so much harder this time, and we’re going to have to really fight to finish this off right.”