Graphic courtesy of Blue Dragon Sports Information
By John Mesh
The Hutchinson Blue Dragon softball team split a key Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference doubleheader from the Dodge City Conquistadors Wednesday afternoon at Dodge City’s Legends Park.
The Blue Dragons won the first game 6-3 and lost the second game 6-3.
The Blue Dragons are 34-8 overall and in first place in the Jayhawk Conference at 26-4. Hutchinson is now 15-7 on the road.
Dodge City is 25-25 overall (17-13 Jayhawk Conference and 16-8 at home).
Morgan Tomlinson was the starting pitcher in Game 1 of the doubleheader against the Conqs. She was staked to an early 3-0 lead as the Dragons scored one run in the top of the first inning and two in the second.
Bailey Backhaus hit her 10th triple of the season to drive in the two runs in the second inning. She is second in triples in Blue Dragons’ single-season history.
In the bottom of the second inning, Hutchinson’s center fielder Kaibryn Kruger and right fielder Gabby Stauffer made nice running catches as part of a 1-2-3 inning for Dodge City’s offense.
Hutchinson did not score in the top of the third inning despite a lead-off walk to the Blue Dragons’ Tailor Golly. Dodge City went scoreless the bottom of the third inning despite back-to-back hits.
In the top of the fourth inning, the Blue Dragons left the bases loaded. In the bottom of the frame, Dodge City plated two runs to cut the Blue Dragons’ lead to 3-2. Tomlinson helped herself defensively by starting a 1-6-3 double play.
In the top of the fifth inning, Bailey Backhaus singled with one out, but the Blue Dragons were held scoreless. Dodge City went scoreless with one hit in the bottom of the fifth.
The Blue Dragons plated two runs in the top the sixth inning to increase their lead to 5-2. Emily Dice tripled in a run and scored on Kaibryn Kruger’s RBI groundout. Dodge City hitters went down 1-2-3 in the bottom of the sixth.
Brooke Backhaus homered in the top of the seventh to give Hutchinson a 6-2. Dodge City scored one run on the bottom of the seventh to make the final score 6-3 in favor of the Blue Dragons.
Aubree Thomas started on the mound for the Blue Dragons in the second game. In Game 2 in the top of the first inning, Golly doubled and Stauffer had an infield single, but the Blue Dragons failed to score. Thomas retired the Conqs 1-2-3 in the bottom of the first inning on three ground balls.
The Blue Dragons got a pair of hits in the top of the second inning but did not score. The Conqs scored three runs in the bottom of the second, including a leadoff home run, to take a 3-0 lead.
In the top of the third inning, Hutchinson cut the Dodge City lead to 3-1 on an RBI double by Stauffer that drove in Stauffer. The Blue Dragons stranded two runners.
Dodge City scored two runs in the bottom of the third inning for a 5-1 lead.
Hutchinson’s Addi Lutz led off the top of the fourth inning with a single, but Hutchinson did not score. Dodge City had one hit but did not score in the bottom of the fourth.
In the top of the fifth inning, Brooke Backhaus tripled down the right-field line to score Golly and cut the Dodge City lead to 5-2.
After Dodge City went down 1-2-3 in the bottom of the fifth, the Blue Dragons scored one run in the top the sixth. Dice doubled home Haley Kruger.
However in the bottom of the sixth inning, Garden City gets its third leadoff homer of the game to build the final 6-3 cushion.
Hutchinson plays Barton Community College in a 1 p.m. doubleheader Saturday at Cougar Field in Great Bend.
The Region VI Division I softball tournament is scheduled for May 2-5 at Dodge City’s Legends Park.
Hutchinson Trinity baseball team sweeps Moundridge
The Hutchinson Trinity Catholic baseball team swept a doubleheader from Moundridge Tuesday night at Hutchinson’s Rice Park.
The Celtics won the first game 7-3 and the second game 10-5.
Trinity (5-5) will play a road game against Canton-Galva/Elyria Christian (0-14) next Tuesday.
Moundridge (7-6) hosts Ell-Saline (0-8) on Friday.
The Hutchinson Trinity (3-7) softball team lost to Moundridge 18-3 and 15-3 Tuesday night at Our Lady of Guadalupe softball diamonds in South Hutchinson.
Coach Proffitt: Salthawk girls soccer team battled throughout double overtime victory over Valley Center
The Hutchinson High School girls soccer team improved to 7-3 with a 3-2 double overtime victory over Valley Center Tuesday night at the Salthawk Soccer Complex.
Hutchinson junior Rhyan Galyon recorded her third hat trick of the season. Her first goal was on an unassisted free kick.
Perla Pena assisted on for the second goal. Alayniah Johnson got the assist for the game-winning third goal in overtime off a throw in.
“The girls battled throughout the game last night,” said Hutchinson girls soccer coach Jordan Proffitt. “They worked to string passes together to create goal scoring opportunities. We had multiple chances to score throughout the game, but decided to make it close and score with 14 seconds left in double overtime.
“Rhyan Galyon recorded another hat trick to add to her impressive season already. (Goal keeper) Baleigh Cousins and the defense stepped up and made some incredible goal line saves towards the end of the game. We are proud of the effort and determination the girls showed last night.”
Hutchinson will take on Maize South Tuesday night at the Salthawk Soccer Complex.
Buhler, Hutchinson girls swim teams 2nd, 3rd at Buhler Invitational
The Buhler and Hutchinson girls swim teams placed second and third in the Buhler Invitational Tuesday at the Hutchinson YMCA pool.
Andover Central won the meet title with 55 points, followed by Buhler with 340, Hutchinson 308, Maize South 284, Maize 223, Great Bend 176, Holcomb 173, Classical School of Wichita 112, Towanda-Circle 91 and Liberal 51.
The Hutchinson Salthawks won the 200-yard medley and the 400-yard freestyle relay. Alayna Wiggins placed first in the 100-yard butterfly with a time of 1 minute, 8.7 seconds.
Placing second for Hutchinson were AJ Gooch, 100 breaststroke, 1:15.83; and Wiggins, 200 freestyle, 2:16.5. Gooch was third in the individual medley, 2:27.6; and Morgan Most was third in the 100 freestyle, 1:02.24.
Buhler’s top finisher was Hannah Swain, who placed third in the 500-yard freestyle race with a time of 6:04.1.
Swain also placed fifth in the 200-yard freestyle race with a time of 2:23.9. and swam the first leg on the fourth-place 200-yard medley team. The others on the relay were Evey Brooks, Aivlynn Ehmke and Reyne Kaufman.
Hutchinson and Buhler results from Buhler Invitational
200 medley relay: 1.Hutchinson A (Julianna Stivers, AJ Gooch, Alayna Wiggins, Morgan Most), 2:04.84; 4.Buhler A (Hannah Swain, Evey Brooks, Aivlynn Ehmke, Reyne Kaufman), 2:14.72; 9.Hutch B (Avery Saenger, Rylee Miller, Emma Buller, Mariana Pina), 2:33.38; 12.Buhler B (Avery Schrader, Cassidy Banning, Cathlyna Theriot, Cora Nuttman), 2:45.31; 13.Hutch C (Kensley Keast, Avery Gooch, Selena Eddington, Kylee Dunn), 2:50.79.
200 freestyle: 2.Alayna Wiggins, Hutch, 2:16.5; 5.Hannah Swain, Buhler, 2:23.9; 8.Reyne Kaufman, Buhler, 2:31.06; 19.Payton Ball, 3:11.41; 20.Addie Yoder, Hutch, 3:15.28.
200 IM: 3.AJ Gooch, Hutch, 2:27.5; 5.Addyson Tech, Buhler, 2:51.87; 9.Rylee Miller,Hutch, 3:09.12; 10.Regan Walle, Buhler, 3:15.09; 12.Cathlyna Theriot, 3:23.63; 15.Cassidy Banning, 3:40.31.
50 freestyle: 6.Aivlynn Ehmke, Buhler, 28:04; 9.Emma Buller, Hutch, 28.97; 10.Grace Schmidt, Buhler, 29.1; 24.Avery Saenger, Hutch, 33.15; 29.Avery Gooch, 34.15, 35.Kylee Dunn, Hutch, 28.28.
Diving: 4.Ellie Keeton, Buhler, 164 points; 5.Evey Brooks, Buhler, 148.90 points; 7.Ellie Goering, 133.15 points.
100 butterfly: 1.Alayna Wiggins, Hutch,1:08.7; 4.Avery Schrader, Buhler, 1:21.86; 8.Ellie Goering, Buhler, 1:32.42; 9.Ellie Keeton, Buhler, 1:57.68.
100 freestyle: 3.Morgan Most, Hutch, 1:02.24; 5.Aivlynn Ehmke, Buhler, 1:03.69; 8.Grace Schmidt, Buhler, 1:05.9; 26.Cora Nuttman, Buhler, 1:27.03; 27.Kylee Dunn, Hutch, 1:27.64.
500 freestyle: 3.Hannah Swain, Buhler, 6:04.1; 4.Emma Buller,Hutch, 6:25.73; 5.Reyne Kaufman, Buhler, 6:49.9; 7.Avery Saenger, Hutch, 6:49.9; 11.Cathlyna Theriot, 5:10.12; 12.Selena Eddington, 8:18.56; 13.Payton Ball, Buhler, 9:13.68.
200 freestyle relay: 5.Hutchinson A (Morgan Most, Julianna Stivers, Avery Saenger, Emma Buller), 2:00.75; 15.Hutchinson B (Kylee Dunn, Selena Eddington, Kensley Keast, Mariana Pina), 2:28.87; 16.Buhler B (Payton Ball, Cassidy Banning, Evey Brooks, Cathlyna Theriot), 2:31.61; 19.Buhler C (Payton Thompson, Ava Schmidt, Ellie Keeton, Cora Nuttman), 3:02.7; Buhler A DQ.
100 backstroke: 5.Julianna Stivers, Hutch, 1:11.98; 12.Avery Schrader, Buhler. 1:20.48; 18.Kensley Keast, Hutch, 1:32.98; 21.Selena Eddington, Hutch, 1:34.64; 26.Addie Yoder, Hutch, 1:44.87; 32.Ava Schmidt, 2:04.07; 33.Payton Thompson, Buhler, 2:15.49.
100 breaststroke: 2.AJ Gooch, Hutch, 1:15.83; 7.Addyson Tech, Buhler, 1:28.58; 8.Evey Brooks, Buhler, 1:31.12; 13.Mariana Pina, Hutch,1:42.1; 14.Rylee Miller, Hutch, 1:42.2; 16.Cassidy Banning, Buhler, 1:45.29; 19.Avery Gooch, Hutch, 1:47.99; 23.Cora Nuttman, 2:10.85.
400 freestyle relay: 1.Hutchinson A (AJ Gooch, Julianna Stivers, Morgan Most, Alayna Wiggins), 4:11.15; 5.Buhler A (Aivlynn Ehmke, Hannah Swain, Grace Schmidt, Avery Schrader), 4:23.15; 8.Buhler B (Addyson Tech,Regan Walle, Ellie Goering, Reyne Kaufman), 4:45.4; 11.Hutchinson B (Addie Yoder, Mariana Pina, Rylee Miller, Avery Gooch), 5:20.91; Buhler C (Payton Ball, Ellie Keeton, Payton Thompson, Ava Schmidt), 7:07.56.
Buhler Invitational complete results — https://www.swimcloud.com/results/342373/topteams/
Hutchinson Central Christian girls 2nd, boys 3rd at CKTL-Little River Meet at Burrton
The Hutchinson Central Christian girls track team placed second at the CKTL-Little River Meet at Burrton Tuesday and the Cougar boys finished third.
Little River swept the boys and girls team titles.
In the boys competition, Little River scored 241.5 points, followed by Sedgwick 87.5, Central Christian 79, Burrton 47, Lyons 16 and Fairfield 2.
In the girls competition, Little River placed first with 155 points, followed by Central Christian 87, Lyons 80, Sedgwick 32, Fairfield 29 and Burrton 11.
Central Christian’s Addi Loudenback won the 300-meter hurdles (51.27 seconds) and placed second in the 100 hurdles (17.94).
Central Christian’s Belle Barnett placed first in the girls high jump (5-6), followed by Townsly Huff in second (5-0) and Elyse Wyat in third place (4-2). Barnett won the girls long jump (16-3 1/4) and Huff won the javelin (104-7).
In the boys competition, Central Christian’s Konnor Sullivan won the 100-meter hurdles (17.03), placed second in the long jump (18-9 1/2) and was third in the 300 hurdles (44.96).
Jayden Linscheid won the boys high jump (6-4) and placed third in the long jump (18- 7 1/2). Keaton Miller was second in the shot put (40-0 1/2), second in the discus (121-10 1/2) and third in the javelin (136-2 1/2).
CKTL-Little River track meet results — https://ks.milesplit.com/meets/681976-cktl-little-river-2025/results/1155468/raw
Halstead, Haven boys first, second at Goessel CKTL Meet; Halstead, Haven girls place 2nd, 4th
The Halstead and Haven boys teams placed first and second at the Goessel Central Kansas Track League meet Tuesday at Goessel. The Halstead andHaven girls teams placed second and fourth.
Halstead won the boys title with 202 points, followed by Haven 150, Remington 82, Goessel 75, Peabody-Burns 12 and Centre 4.
Remington edged out Halstead 144-139 for the girls team title, followed by Goessel 101, Haven 58, Centre 49 and Peabody-Burns 13.
Goessel CKTL results — https://ks.milesplit.com/meets/653802-goessel-cktl-2025/results/1154948/raw
Buhler boys tennis team placed 2nd at Buhler Invitational
The Buhler High School boys tennis team placed second at the Buhler Invitational Tuesday.
Buhler senior Davian Spies paced first In the 15-player open draw singles division and Von Woleslagel placed sixth.
In the 14-team open draw doubles competition, Buhler’s Reuben Harder and Titus Bortzfield placed sixth. Buhler’s Tucker Schlatter and Ty Campbell placed 11th.
The Buhler squad competes at the Wichita Collegiate Tournament of Champions at 8:30 a.m. Saturday.