Losing seven seniors off a team that went 22-7 and reached the Class 3A regional championship game a year ago could have had Council Grove baseball coach Matt Wilkens a bit unsure about how the Braves would follow that up this season.
 
But there wasn’t an ounce of concern in Wilkens’ mind coming into the 2026 season.
 
“We returned a lot of key positions, both of my All-State kids – my pitcher and shortstop – and a ton of role guys,” Wilkens said. “Just a lot of experience. We lost a lot but we had a lot of guys playing roles last year that have stepped in this year and played major roles. I had the luxury of those guys having to step up into bigger roles in football, basketball and wrestling so they had two seasons of role experience before they even hit the baseball field with me.”
 
With expectations still high, Council Grove has perhaps even exceeded them this spring. After rolling to a 15-3, 16-6 sweep of Flint Hills League rival Mission Valley in last week’s regular-season finale, the Braves finished as undefeated Flint Hills League champions – their first league title since sharing the 2018 crown with Mission Valley in Wilkens’ second year as head coach.
 
Overall, Council Grove is a program-record 23-1, its lone loss coming to Cheney in a doubleheader split in early April. The Braves finished the regular season on a 14-game winning streak and hold the No. 1 seed in the Class 3A 3 regional, playing host to Herington in the postseason opener.
 
“We thought we could bring back the league title,” Wilkens said. “But the overall record itself, we did exceed expectations there because we did pack our schedule with some tough competition, Cheney, Chapman. … We had high expectations, wanted to bring that league title back and want to make a run at state.”
 
Not only has Council Grove posted a stellar win-loss record, the Braves have been dominant in doing so. Of their 23 wins, 15 have come by 10 runs or more. Only four of their victories have been by less than six runs with a tough 7-6, 8-6 sweep of Chapman arguably their toughest night of competition.
 
On the night Council Grove suffered its lone loss to Cheney, the Braves also beat the Cardinals 19-8.
 
The secret to Council Grove’s success?
 
“Pressure baseball,” Wilkens said.
 
The Braves have mastered getting runners on base this season. In addition to hitting .401 as a team, they’ve also drawn 135 walks as a team (5.6 per game) and also have set a team record for getting hit by pitches. As a team, the Braves have been hit 70 times this season with Grady Kepley setting a school record for times hit in a game (3), season (18) and career (25), his single-season mark one more than Joshua Senne (17 HBP).
 
And once the Braves get on, they keep the pressure on, setting a school record with 185 stolen bases as a team. Bradley Doornbos leads the team with 31, while Senne (27), David McDiffett (23) and Luke Stewart (22) each have more than 20 and five others have at least 10.
 
“We’re willing to take a pitch and we’re willing to walk,” Wikens said. “These kids aren’t taking selfish swings. They’re doing whatever it takes to get on base and they’re looking past the batting average to do so.”
 
The batting averages haven’t necessarily suffered either. Reid Buttrey leads the Braves with a .600 average, while Senne (.492), Maxton Villalobos (.487), Stewart (.424) and Doornbos (.421) all are hitting over .400. Seven Braves have at least 20 RBI led by 30 from Doornbos and 28 apiece from Buttrey and Stewart.
 
Buttrey and Villalobos – Council Grove’s two returning players who earned All-Class 3A honors – have led a pitching staff that’s gotten production across the board with eight Braves making multiple appearances this season. That duo has logged the most innings with Buttrey recording a 9-0 record with a 2.77 ERA and 49 strikeouts and Villalobos 8-0 with a 1.73 ERA and 35 strikeouts.
 
Colson Hartman also has 35 strikeouts in a relief role and has set a school record with four saves. He struck out five in two innings in the second game of the Braves’ sweep of Mission Valley to finish the season after Buttrey had thrown a 3-hitter in the opener. 
 
Buttrey had 4 RBI in the second game after Doornbos drove in four in the opener with Stewart adding 3 RBI in that contest. 
 
“It was a confidence booster,” Wilkens said of the sweep of the Vikings, who had gone into the game 17-2 overall and undefeated in league play, their only losses coming to Class 4A power Hayden. “We looked at their stats and their stats were pretty gaudy. They have great batting averages, their ERAs are low and the strike a lot of people out. I kind of pitch by committee so our stats don’t look real gaudy.
 
“So when you looked at their stats and our stats we didn’t necessarily look like the better team on paper. But the boys went out there and showed they’re going to put the ball in play, they’re going to put pressure on you, our pitchers are going to throw strikes and our defense is going to make plays.”
 
The process of building to back-to-back 20-win seasons has been a journey for the program, which Wilkens took over in 2017. At that time, he only had a handful of players in his program that played competitive summer baseball.
 
But since taking over the high school program, he’s also instilled commitment to the sport during the summer and recently had competitive traveling teams at nearly every age group. Last year’s senior class as well as this year’s crop of seniors and juniors largely made up a traveling team that he started when he took over the program.
 
“We’re baseball savvy,” he said. “We’ve got a lot of kids that have played a lot of ball and I haven’t had teams like that in the past. In the past, I’ve had to put kids in spots where maybe they could hurt us the least and now I have kids competing for every spot on the field. That makes a big difference when you’re not ‘hiding’ a kid, so to speak.
 
“It’s been a long journey and when we took some all-Council Grove kids teams to Kansas City and playing against a lot of bigger towns, we took some beatings. But we learned from it and adjusted and tried to get as much out of it as we could. We’ve got several kids playing showcase baseball now and they’re trying to carry on that tradition.”
 
Council Grove’s regional is a tough one. If the Braves beat Herington in the opener (they swept them 16-1, 17-7 in the season opener), there’s a strong chance they could face Cheney in the regional semifinals. The Cardinals (17-9) take on Halstead (13-10) in the quarterfinals. 
 
Also in the regional is Trinity Academy (18-6), which is the defending Class 3A state champion, Hesston (11-11), which was last year’s state runner-up, as well as perennial power Wichita Collegiate (16-6), which won back-to-back titles in 2022 and 2023.
 
Council Grove’s last state tournament appearance came in 2016.
 

 
OTHER BASEBALL STANDOUTS

• Sabetha captured the Big East League championship, sweeping Silver Lake with a pair of walk-off wins last Thursday. Jayton Mayer’s walk-off RBI single gave the Bluejays a 6-5 victory in the opener and then Sabetha won the nightcap 10-9 in 11 innings on a walk-off sacrifice fly from Curtis Fitzgerald. The Bluejays set a team record for stolen bases in a season with 117 while Reid Mitchell set the individual single-season stolen base record with 28.
• Frankfort claimed its third straight Twin Valley League title, finishing the regular season with a 16-2 mark in league play and 20-3 record overall. With an 11-1 win over Marysville last Friday, the Wildcats clinched the No. 1 seed in their Class 2-1A regional. Wes Anderson spun a 3-hitter in the win over Marysville, striking out five and also hit a pair of triples and drove in three runs. Henry Ketter had a pair of RBI.
• Resuming an April 10 game with Concordia that was suspended in the middle of the fourth inning by lightning, Rock Creek scored 5 runs in the top of the fifth to break open a 10-3 win on Monday that clinched a share of the North Central Kansas League title with the Panthers, who earned their share of the league title with a sweep of Clay Center on Tuesday. The legue title was the fourth straight for the Mustangs (second straight NCKL). The Mustangs followed with a 2-1, 12-0 sweep of Tonganoxie to finish the regular season 21-4 and on a 9-game winning streak after also sweeping Pittsburg and Dodge City at the end of last week.
• Riverside claimed the Northeast Kansas League title, going 14-2 in league play to edge Valley Falls by a game and Maur Hill by a game and a half after each finished with three league losses.
• Burlington went undefeated in Pioneer League play to capture the league title with a 12-0 mark. The Wildcats are 20-2 overall going into the postseason on a 13-game winning streak.
• Southeast of Saline went 11-1 in North Central Activities Association play to claim the league title, finishing the regular season 19-3 overall.
• With a 12-1, 7-2 sweep of Hayden last Friday, Washburn Rural clinched the Centennial League title. Both teams entered the doubleheader tied atop the league standings at 7-1, but the sweep gave Rural the crown at 9-1 in league play, two games ahead of Hayden and Manhattan, who each finished 7-3.

 

 

• Oskaloosa’s Hunter Miller finished off a stellar career with a 3-hitter against Wellsville, striking out seven and allowing just one earned run. He finished his career as Oskaloosa’s all-time leader in strikeouts (228) and wins (18) and also tied single-season records for strikeouts (96) and hits (41), while finishing top five in 14 other single-season or career stat categories.
• Marais des Cygnes Valley went 5-1 in the final week of the regular season with Dalton Lingenfelter hitting 100 career strikeouts during the week. He also hit a pair of home runs, including a grand slam.
• Doniphan West split with Riverside and swept Maur Hill in the final week. Kolter Peterson struck out 7 in a complete game 2-1 win over Maur Hill and Prezten Pace also had a complete game in a 6-1 win. Ketcher Peterson struck out six in a 4-3 win over Riverside. Kayson Keller had four putouts from third base.
• Jackson Heights’ Kolby Bowhay hit .600 with 10 runs scored and 11 stolen bases in the final week of the season while Austin Zeller hit .588 with 11 RBI and six steals. Hayden Schultejans struck out 12 of the 18 batters he faced in 5 innings pitched, not allowing an earned run.
• Osage City’s Tyson Mullins hit 100 career strikeouts last week against West Franklin and has 101 in 86.2 career innings.

 

 
SOFTBALL STANDOUTS

• Centralia captured the Twin Valley League title for the second straight year, going 12-0 in league play this season. The Panthers finished the regular season with an 18-4 record overall, the best record in the program’s three-year history.

 

 

• Santa Fe Trail’s Gretchen Huizenga threw back-to-back no hitters as the Chargers secured their fourth straight Pioneer League championship, finishing 12-0 in league play this season. Huizenga got the first of those two no-hitters in a 15-0 win over Anderson County, facing just 13 batters in the four-inning game, striking out 4. She also homered in the contest, tying her with Brooke Neidhardt for the most in a season. In a 15-0 win over Iola on Tuesday, Huizenga no-hit the Mustangs for her second straight no-no. She also homered again to set the single-season home run record with 10, also giving her 24 in her career which also is a school record. Against Anderson County, Sydnee Sleichter was 4 for 4 with 3 RBI and threw a one-hitter while Trinity Fawl and Kendall Baird each had 3 hits and 3 RBI.
• Osage City and Mission Valley shared the Flint Hills League title, each going 11-1 in league play. The league title was the second in three years for the Indians while Mission Valley won its second straight.
• Rock Creek’s Brynna Zoeller surpassed 300 career strikeouts as the Mustangs swept Burlington 13-2 and 19-0 on Tuesday. Zoeller also homered in both games, hitting a grand slam in the opener and a three-run shot in the second game, driving in eight on the night. Zoeller had also struck out 10 in a 13-1 win over Baldwin last Friday, homering in that game as well. Hailey Lies homered in both games in a doubleheader sweep of Junction City earlier last week, giving her a school-record 11 this season, and the Mustangs now have hit 32 home runs as a team, a school record for a single season. Rock Creek also has scored a team-record 311 runs this season.
• Chapman, Wamego and Rock Creek shared the North Central Kansas League title, each finishing 10-2 in league play with splits with their co-champs. Wamego had a chance to clinch the league title outright after beating Chapman 3-1 on Tuesday, but the Irish took the second game 14-7 to force the three-way tie for the league title.

 

 

• Southern Lyon County won the Lyon County League title for the first time in the program’s seven-year history, finishing league play with a 6-0 mark and with a 14-7 overall record. Senior Kayla Steinke has set nine career school records including most hits (91), walks (79), doubles (22), home runs (3), stolen bases (52), runs (92) and RBI (73).
• Silver Lake finished as Big East League champion, going 18-2 in league play to finish one game ahead of Rossville, which handed the Eagles one of their two league losses. The Eagles are 22-4 overall.
• Southeast of Saline finished undefeated in North Central Activities Association play to win the league title in convincing fashion. The Trojans, who enter the postseason on an 18-game winning streak, outscored their league foes 166-14. Southeast’s only loss has come to Clay Center.
• Washburn Rural clinched the Centennial League title with a split against Manhattan on Tuesday, falling 3-2 in extra innings in the first game before rolling to a 12-7 win in the second game. The Junior Blues finished 9-1 in league play while Manhattan and Topeka High each finished 7-3.

 

 

• Doniphan West’s Clara Feighner passed 500 career strikeouts last week. Feighner just missed out on a no-hitter against Troy, allowing just one hit in a shutout win. Catcher Jaidyn Smith has been on the receiving end of more than 250 of Feighner’s strikeouts.

 

 

• Valley Falls’ Abby Wilson record her 200th career strikeout last week.
• Topeka High’s Madilyn Poole had a huge doubleheader against Emporia, going 3 for 3 in the first game and then going 4 for 5 and hitting for the cycle in the second game. She also had 4 RBI in the second game.
• In leading Perry-Lecompton to a 4-2 final week, Macie Corcoran hit .526 with a home run, 2 triples and 8 RBI. Olivia Hart pitched all 30 innings in the six games and went 3-1 with a 10 strikeouts.