By TYLER HENRY
Lead Sportswriter - Salina Post
The Southeast of Saline softball postseason began right where the regular season ended, with a pair of victories over Herington and Council Grove to advance the Lady Trojans to the regional championship game.
SES will face Silver Lake in Osage City on Thursday at 5:00 for a ticket to this year’s 3A state tournament.
3A regional quarterifinal: SE of Saline 16, Herington 0
The opening round of this year’s regional bracket was pure domination for the Lady Trojans, who scored eight runs in the first and second, never needing to bat in the third inning to clear the first hurdle.
The top of the Southeast’s lineup raked in this game, as Reese Heinrich, Kyiah Samuelson and Abby Wyatt combined to hit 6-7 with 9 RBI on the day.
In the circle, Carlee Dye dominated, striking out five and issuing zero walks as part of a one-hit shutout.
3A regional semifinal: SE of Saline 5, Council Grove 2
Game two of Tuesday’s doubleheader was far from as straightforward as Council Grove put up a good fight in a low-scoring affair.
Neither team put a single run on the board until the bottom of the fifth, when the Lady Trojans finally scratched across a pair of runs.
Southeast followed that up with two more in the sixth, and by the time Council Grove got on the board, it was too late as SES survived and advanced 5-2.
This time around, Reese Heinrich and Emma Zurfluh were the only Lady Trojans with an RBI, as SES capitalized on five different Council Grove errors in the field.
In the circle, Karlee Zurfluh shut down the Lady Braves, racking up 13 strikeouts and allowing just two unearned runs on four hits in a complete game effort that saw her issue zero walks.
The Lady Trojans will travel to Osage City this Thursday to battle Silver Lake, who defeated St. Mary’s 11-0 and Riley County 11-0, at 5:00.