photo by: Conner Becker/Journal-World

Lawrence High sophomore Keira Norris hurls a pitch during the softball City Showdown on Friday, May 3, 2024, at LHS.

The Lawrence High softball team split a low-scoring doubleheader with Shawnee Mission East on Thursday to finish its regular season with a 9-16 record.

In the top half of the doubleheader, Charlee Burghart’s third-inning RBI single to score Harper Dye went down as the Chesty Lions’ lone run, but that was all they needed thanks to Keira Norris’ 16-strikeout complete-game shutout, as they won 1-0.

They were not quite as lucky in the second game Thursday night, when a series of walks and a passed ball in the sixth inning allowed SME to put two go-ahead runs across against LHS reliever Sophie Rowley and make it 3-1.

Burghart again drove in the lone run for the Lions, this time with a home run in the first inning, but it was quickly equaled by Campbell Norris’ RBI single for the Lancers’ in the bottom of the frame.

Maddy Crawford went 2-for-3 in the game as the lone player with multiple hits.

LHS will learn its draw on Saturday for 6A East Regional softball competition next week. The top 16 teams make the bracket, and the Chesty Lions sat in 10th in KSHSAA’s official standings as of Friday morning, with some results still pending from Mill Valley and Blue Valley Northwest that could alter their seeding.

Game 1 box score

Lawrence 001 000 0 – 1 2 0

Shawnee Mission East 000 000 0 – 0 4 1

W – Norris; L – Thomas.

Highlights for LHS: Norris 7.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 16 K; Burghart 1-3, RBI.

Game 2 box score

Lawrence 100 000 0 – 1 6 0

Shawnee Mission East 100 002 X – 3 4 1

Highlights for LHS: Zeckser 5.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 2 K; Burghart 1-3, HR, RBI; Crawford 2-3.

Baseball and softball wrap-up

LHS baseball ended its own regular season with somewhat poorer form than its softball counterpart Wednesday, following up its defeat in the City Showdown with an 8-1 home loss to Blue Valley North. The Mustangs jumped out to a 5-0 lead through three innings thanks to a barrage of hits in the second, and the Lions did not score until a passed ball in the bottom of the seventh.

LHS dropped five straight to close the year after beating Shawnee Mission West on April 27 and by Friday ranked 10th in its region with a 13-13 record.

Free State baseball also slumped to a loss on Wednesday, dropping a 5-2 decision against Saint Thomas Aquinas. Ben Graves tripled to right field to score Cole Wright and tie the game in the bottom of the fifth, but the Saints broke the deadlock by tripling twice against Graves to score three runs in the seventh, and Will Ray was able to lock down the Firebirds for the win.

Free State wrapped up its regular season at 19-6, good for the third-best record in the West Regional.

The Free State softball team had already finished up Tuesday at 17-6 with a victory over Shawnee Mission East, in which Elsa Carrillo struck out 16 batters and allowed just four hits, and Abry Hill drove in four runs as the Firebirds won 9-1. They are second behind Derby in the 6A West Regional.

All seeding will take place Saturday, and regional play for baseball and softball will take place between Monday and Thursday.

Soccer update

Soccer will also seed its brackets on Saturday for the following week of regional competition. However, per the KSHSAA website, there are no postseason play-in games this year and only the top 16 teams are seeded, meaning that 19th-place LHS (1-14-0) is on the outside looking in for the East Regional. The Lions lost 5-0 to Olathe South on Thursday.

As for Free State, the Firebirds also suffered five-goal losses in each of their last two matches, but on the strength of their City Showdown victory on May 2 and a 3-3 draw Monday at Olathe South, they sit at 3-12-1, which is 14th in the West Regional.

Last year, Free State beat LHS in a play-in game and pushed top-seeded Garden City to its limit in a 3-2 loss that took multiple overtimes.