By MATT PIKE
The Mid-Buchanan Dragons softball team have become a dynasty within Class 2 District 7 over the last few years, and claimed their sixth straight district title beating the Lathrop Mules 10-7 in Lathrop on Tuesday night.
It marked the second year in a row the Dragons and Mules met in the Class 2 District 7 championship game, Mid-Buchanan winning last season 6-3. In fact, this six year run started against the Mules in 2021, where the Dragons earned a 6-1 victory over Lathrop. Mid-Buchanan has clashed with Lathrop three times, North Platte twice, and West Platte once in the dominant run.
Head Coach Regan Nash-Archdekin, who took over the program in the 2024 season, says it was her goal to build on the already great culture of the program.
"And just have the girls show up everyday wanting to get to this situation right here, and expecting to get to this situation, and not wanting anything less," Nash-Archdekin says after the game. "I have such a special group of kids and they're just great people too."
The Dragons fell behind early in the first inning when Jo Ashcraft's sacrifice fly scored Rheagan Hall and a single by Tylie Pritchett brought home Jacie Kannanavoid. Mid-Buchanan tied the game in the second inning off an RBI double from Janika Seckel, driving in Brooklee Thomas, and Zuzu Kountz doubling to score Seckel, making the game 2-2 headed into the bottom half of the inning.
In the bottom of the second, the Mules took the lead back on an RBI single from Hall, scoring Jade Hadley, which led to a pitching change. Senior Dru Pearson moved from center field to the circle, replacing Paisley Meyer while Seckel took over in right field, moving Keithley Black to left field and Hayden Salem to center field. Pearson struck out Kassanavoid for the last out, but in the third surrendered two more runs to the Mules with Paige Eichinger scoring on an RBI single from Peyton Cobb and Maddie Neill scoring when Hadley reached first on a two out error.
The teams combined for 11 errors in all throughout the game, continuing in the fourth inning where the Dragons stormed back to tie the game. Two batters reached via error in the inning, and with one out Meyer singoed to drive in Kountz to narrow the Lathrop lead to two. With the bases loaded, a ball one wild pitch to Thomas scored Ellason Lisenbee, then with a 1-1 count, a passed ball brought home Pearson to score the tying run, making it 5-5 at the end of four innings after the Mules were scoreless in the bottom half.
Neither team scored in the fifth inning, then in the sixth Mid-Buchanan took their first lead in the game, which would be for good. With one out and runners on the corners, Pearson advanced on defensive indifference to second base, before Meyer's sacrifice bunt brought home Sophia Smith and moved Pearson to third. Thomas walked following the sacrifice bunt, and she stole second, with Pearson scoring as she also stole home, giving the Dragons a 7-5 lead.
In the seventh, with two outs, Kountz tripled and Smith walked, before stealing second base, and Lisenbee singled to drive in Kountz, also scoring Smith on yet another error, moving Lisenbee to second on the same error. After Lisenbee moved to third, Pearson reached first on an error at shortstop, and Lisenbee scored to push the lead to 10-5.
In the bottom half of the inning, Ashcraft reached on an error, and scored on an error while Pritchett made it to second base. Then with two outs, the courtesy runner Eichinger, scored on another error, while Prestynn Coldren reached first. Cobb reached on an error to keep the game alive, putting runners on first and second for the Mules with two outs, before Pearson forced Arlie Hawkins to fly out to center field to end the game, sending the Dragons to another Class 2 Quarterfinals appearance.
Kountz says the Dragons, who played this same Lathrop team just one week ago for a share of the KCI Conference title, knew it was going to be a battle.
"We came in the two seed so we knew we were going to have to do some work, we knew we were going to have to earn it, we were just going to have to come out and work for it," Kountz says "So we practiced this whole week, we already faced their pitcher, so we knew what we were going to get, so we came in with that and then Regan really prepared us with their lineup. She knew what they were hitting well and what they weren't hitting well."
Pearson has been a part now of four of the six district championship teams, knowing the highs and lows, from a quarterfinal elimination her freshman year, to a second place finish, and then last year's third place finish. Pearson is ready to be back, and to get another shot at a state championship, what would be the first for Mid-Buchanan since 1979.
"It's very exciting, we work hard every single year," Pearson says. "We never take time off at practice, we never take time off plays, we're always go go go and we just work very hard and we work as a team together,"
For Mid-Buchanan, Kountz was 2-for-5 at the plate with an RBI while Lisenbee was 1-for-3 with an RBI as well. Seckel was 2-for-2 with an RBI and Meyer was 1-for-3 with two RBIs. Pearson pitched 5.1 innings and had six strikeouts while giving up two hits and four runs, just one earned.
Mid-Buchanan is now 20-6 on the season and will next play at Lone Jack on Saturday, October 24th in the Class 2 State Quarterfinals with the winner advancing to state in Springfield on October 30th.
On the other side for the Mules, both Cobb and Pritchett finished 1-for-4 with an RBI while Ashcraft and Hall were both 1-for-3 with an RBI. Kassanavoid, the Virginia Tech commit, was 0-for-3 at the plate. In the circle, Hall pitched the complete game, giving up eight hits and 10 runs, just five earned, with two strikeouts and nine walks throwing 144 pitches.
Lathrop finishes the season with an 18-5 record
You can follow Matt on X @KfeqMatt and St. Joseph Post @StJosephPost.