The Pittsburg girls finished second in the Class 4A regional Friday at Iola and placed a small percentage of the 3,456 qualifiers across the state of Kansas for next weekend's state track meet in Wichita.

Chelsea Baker qualified in several events: second in the triple jump at 35 feet, 6 3/4 inches, fourth in the high jump at 5-0, third in the 100-meter hurdles in 16.82 seconds and she participated in the second place 4x100 relay with Nicole Striplin, Sarah Jewett and Andie Casper.

Casper won the lone Pittsburg girls regional title in the long jump with a leap of 17-3 1/4. She finished just outside the top four in the 100 and the 200. Casper also participated in the 4x400 with Jewett, Striplin and Lizzy Willis.

The versatile Jewett finished third in the 800 in 2:28.15 and took part in all three state-qualifying relays: 4x100, 4x400 and 4x800 with Willis, freshman Morgan Plank and Katie Phalen.

Frontenac dominated Parsons 15-0 in a three-inning run-rule Class 4A regional first-round game Monday afternoon.

Frontenac pitchers Lindsey Gorham and Rachel Amershek combined on a three-inning no-hitter. Gorham struck out two.

Offensively, Jennifer Long went 2-for-2 with two runs scored, a walk, two stolen bases and one RBI. Ashton Alex went 2-3 with two runs scored, a double and two RBI. Gorham supported herself with two RBI and two runs scored and her stat line included a walk and a sacrifice. Sam Bonner drove in three runs with a triple, her lone hit of the contest. Libby Warrick scored a run and Ryleigh McCartney scored two.

Frontenac (18-1) plays Baxter Springs at 3 p.m. Wednesday in the semifinals, back in Chanute.

Frontenac junior pitcher Brett Macary threw a complete game shutout gem, the Raiders took advantage of Girard errors and used strong baserunning to break open a scoreless game early on and the defending Class 3A state champions moved into the semifinals of their Class 4A regional with a 7-0 first-round win Monday night at the Raider Sports Complex.

“Brett threw a very good game,” Frontenac head coach Bill Sullivan said. “He’s been sharp all year and we felt confident throwing him tonight.”

Frontenac (19-0) will now take on returning 4A state qualifier Pittsburg (10-11) in the 2 p.m. semifinal game Wednesday in Altamont. Columbus and Coffeyville will meet in the other semifinal — Columbus defeated No. 2 seed Labette County 3-1 on its home field and Coffeyville outlasted Independence 2-1 in 12 innings.

The Girard Trojans swept the Crawford-Neosho-Cherokee League titles on Thursday, the girls by 20 points over Frontenac and the boys in a landslide with the second-best team (St. Mary's Colgan) 42 points behind the Trojans, 141-98.

On the boys side, Drew Davied, a freshman who has won nearly every meet this season, won his first league title in the high jump with a mark of 6 feet, 8 inches, matching his personal best (one of the best high school marks in Kansas).

Logan Franklin won the javelin at 167-9, finished third in the shot put at 39-10 and third in the discus at 119-3.

The Kansas State High School Activities Association (KSHSAA) released its regional brackets for baseball and softball on Wednesday.

On the baseball side, defending Class 3A state champion Frontenac (18-0) earned a No. 1 seed in Class 4A and will host three games on Monday — a play-in game at 2 p.m. between Girard (2-16) and Parsons (1-15), a first-round game at 4 p.m. between Pittsburg (9-11) and Baxter Springs (7-10) and Frontenac will take on the Girard-Parsons winner in the 6 p.m. nightcap.

The Columbus Titans won their first Crawford-Neosho-Cherokee League title on Wednesday, finishing the fifth of five official league tournaments with a 327 team score, 19 strokes better than both St. Mary’s Colgan and Frontenac, and Dawson Soper won the individual sweepstakes with a low round of 78.

The weather spat nice cool rain all tournament at Schifferdecker.

Officially the road team Tuesday night, the Frontenac Raiders closed out their regular season with a sweep of Southeast, 6-0 and 7-1.

Last season, the Lancers handed the Raiders their first loss of the regular season in Game 20. No go this season as Frontenac won both to close its back-to-back Crawford-Neosho-Cherokee League championship season 17-1 overall, no doubt securing a No. 1 seed in the Class 4A regional next week.

Frontenac senior Lindsey Gorham won both games in the circle, pitching all 14 innings. She allowed seven hits in the first game and four in the second, striking out nine in the first and three in the second, and walking one hitter in each game.

The St. Mary’s Colgan Panthers more than likely wrapped up a No. 1 regional seed and gave seniors Nate Grimaldi, Grant Normand and V.J. Piccini a proper home sendoff Tuesday night by sweeping Girard, 8-1 and 12-2.

“In all aspects, I thought we played well,” Colgan head coach Mike Watt said. “Pitched well, hit well, ran the bases well, solid defense and I really think we’re starting to put it together at the right time of the year.”

Girard native and Kansas senior pitcher Tanner Poppe tossed his best game of the season Wednesday and the Jayhawks defeated the Baker Wildcats 8-0 at Hoglund Ballpark.

Poppe retired the Wildcats 1-2-3 in the first, a sign of the smoothness achieved by Poppe during his seven innings of work. He allowed only a single hit, fielded a sharply-hit grounder behind his back in the second, retired the side five innings, fanned seven, walked none and reached only 70 pitches on the good old pitch count to improve his overall record this season to 3-3 and drop his ERA to 4.38.

He's been an important four-year contributor to the Pittsburg High baseball program.

Not in batting average, home runs, RBI or any hitting, pitching and defensive statistical category.

Until this week, he never recorded a hit at the varsity level and in fact, received limited playing time. His value transcends numbers and every team includes players like him who do not make the papers or the evening news.

In a time when certain players quit over playing time or transfer to another school or give up their sport or lash out at everybody in the world or cry and whine about not being a superstar, Pittsburg senior Evan Owen provides an example of a team player, somebody who simply enjoys playing baseball and being part of the guys.