Even though he felt extremely pleased with his team’s 15-1 start, Riverside softball coach Greg Reynolds still was looking for perhaps a little validation as to just how good the Cyclones were.
 
Most of their first 15 wins had been lopsided contests with the Cyclones outscoring their first five opponents of the season by a combined 160-18. A few tests did follow – a 7-3, 9-5 sweep of Valley Falls, a split with McLouth and 7-6 win over Pleasant Ridge – but Reynolds was still looking for the ultimate test for his team.
 
And he know Oskaloosa – last year’s Class 2-1A state champion – would provide it last Thursday.
 
As good as Reynolds and the Cyclones may have felt about the 2026 season going into that doubleheader, they feel even better coming out of it. Riverside pulled out a pair of tight wins, beating the Bears 3-2 in the first game of the twinbill before pulling out a 67-5 extra-inning victory in the second game.
 
“Honestly, it really answered a lot of questions for myself and a lot of the girls, I think,” Reynolds said. “When you’re having success against more average or lesser teams, you just never know how good you really are. Oskaloosa is one of those teams that’s going to be a measuring stick. If you’re going to go anywhere, you’re going to have to beat teams like them. They’re a very good team. They pitch it well, play good defense, have a lot of team speed, coach it well.
 
“Getting those wins gave our girls a lot of confidence.”
 
Riverside already came into this season riding a huge wave of confidence after enjoying a breakthrough season a year ago. Having not had a winning season since 2019 and posting a then school-record 11 win sin 2024, the Cyclones somewhat burst onto the scene a year ago.
 
Riverside lost just four games during the regular season – two to two-time reigning Class 2-1A state champion McLouth and two to eventual 2025 2-1A champion Oskaloosa – before qualifying for the Class 3A state tournament, the first state berth in program history.
 
The turnaround wasn’t anything magical, Reynolds said.
 
“We had a little bit of influx of talent and have had some nice kids come in the past few years,” said Reynolds, who served as an assistant coach in 2025 before taking over the head coaching job this season. “But the biggest difference was we eliminated errors, caught the ball a little better behind our pitching, and scored a few more runs. Just did a little bit of everything a little better and that helped out.”
 
The program also got a boost from the success of another program at the school as Riverside’s girls’ basketball team enjoyed its best run in program history with back-to-back Class 2A state runner-up finishes in 2023 and 2024, several of those key players also softball players.
 
“When you get used to winning and expect to win, you’re more willing to do what it takes,” Reynolds said. “Some of our keys kids played basketball. … Learning how to win is crucial and expecting to win were key things our girls really picked up on.”
 
Last year’s breakthrough season culminated in a 22-6 record as the Cyclones won their state debut with a 6-5 victory over Minneapolis. The run at a title ended with an 11-0 semifinal loss to eventual state champion Frontenac and the Cyclones fell in the third-place game to Burlington 9-0.
 
But getting a taste of that environment and losing just one player off last year’s state roster has carried over in a big way this season.
 
“It was crucial,” Reynolds said. “We’ve only got about half of our girls that play travel ball, the other half are just good athletes that work hard in season. Some of them had never seen what top-flight pitching, top-flight offense and defense looks like. We were probably a little shell-shocked last year. It was a whole different level. … Some of them got frustrated in a good way to want to work harder and it fueled them.”
 
The one graduation loss from a year ago was a significant one as Alexis Scott was Riverside’s starting shortstop and also pitched in addition to being one of the top hitters on the team.
 
That void has been filled more than capably this season by freshman Rory Stewart, whose .574 batting average, 4 home runs and 32 RBI rank second on the team. She’s also gone 2-1 as the Cyclones’ No. 3 pitcher with a 1.61 ERA.
 
Her addition comes on the heels of last year’s arrival of standout Kennedy Griffin, who was a major addition to the program a year ago as a freshman. After leading the Cyclones with a .500 average, 11 home runs and 46 RBI a year ago, Griffin is having an even bigger year this spring.
 
She’s hitting a team-high .585 with 10 home runs and 47 RBI, while also going 7-0 with a 0.92 ERA and 52 strikeouts in 37.2 innings pitched.
 
Returning pitcher Mia Jackson is 10-0 with a 2.03 ERA and 74 strikeouts in 55 innings while also hitting .368. Niahla Duncan is hitting .556 and Ella Wisler is hitting .455 and as a team, Riverside is hitting .411 after hitting just over .300 as a team last year.
 
Against Oskaloosa, Jackson hit a solo home run and Griffin had a tie-breaking RBI double and Stewart an RBI single as the Cyclones beat Oskaloosa ace and North Carolina State commit Lily Pullen 3-2. In the second game, Wisler had three hits, including two doubles and a home run, one of her doubles coming in the decisive eighth inning as Riverside scored twice in the frame to win 7-5.
 
“I’ve been very pleased,” Reynolds said. “Having success last year and getting a taste of it, we’ve improved coming into this season. We’re hitting it better and pitching it better and between the two, it’s made a difference for us. By this time of the season you know who you are and what you’re about. If we catch the ball defensively like we’re supposed to, we can play with anybody we feel like. We can hit the ball, even against top-flight pitchers and pitch it well enough to get the job done.”
 
After adding a sweep of Doniphan West on Monday, Riverside sits at 17-1 with just a doubleheader left against Sabetha. The Cyclones clinched the Northeast Kansas League title and have also wrapped up the No. 1 seed in their Class 3A regional quadrant.
 
But the path to a second straight state berth won’t be an easy one. Their regional quadrant also includes Silver Lake (20-4), which has finished runner-up in Class 3A each of the past two seasons, Oskaloosa (20-4), Centralia (15-3), which is having the best season in program history, and Jefferson West (13-5), which also was a Class 3A state qualifier a year ago.
 
While much has been made about the Class 3A regional quadrant that includes Haven (21-1), Southeast of Saline (19-1), Trinity Academy (19-3), Osage City (20-4), Cheney (15-3) and Minneapolis (15-5), the argument certainly can be made that the quadrant Riverside is in is the toughest in Class 3A this spring.
 
“It’s going to be a way to get through there,” Reynolds said. “You’re going to have to be really good in multiple games on multiple nights. It’s not going to be an easy trek for anybody and whoever survives, I’d like to think they’re going to do well at state. The top four or five teams, any one of them could win it. I like our chances to be very competitive, but it’s going to be really tough.”
 

 
OTHER SOFTBALL STANDOUTS

• Washburn Rural’s Henley Rapp had a big week in helping the Junior Blues improve to 15-4 on the season. In four games last week, Rapp was 9 for 11 with 2 doubles, a triple and a home run. She drove in 14 runs and was an anchor behind the plate defensively.
• Osage City handed Mission Valley its first loss of the season in a split with the Vikings, who won the first game 10-2 before the Indians came back with a 2-1 win in the nightcap behind a strong showing in the circle by Sawyer Serna. The Indians followed with a big sweep of Council Grove as Peyton Pitts had 14 strikeouts in a 5-1 win in the opener with the Braves. Pitts has 97 strikeouts this season and is just 29 away from 500 in her career.

 

 

• Santa Fe Trail went 6-0 last week with sweeps of Wellsville, Osawatomie and St. Marys, getting 5 shutouts in those six games. Gretchen Huizenga threw an 8-0 shutout of Wellsville and a 3-inning shutout of St. Marys, striking out 6 of the 10 batters she faced against the Bears. Reese Black had a 9-strikeout shutout of Osawatomie, Kailyn Claypool allowed just two hits in a shutout of Osawatomie and Sydnee Sleichter struck out 7 in a shutout of St. Marys, also getting the win in an 11-1 win over Wellsville. Offensively, Kendall Baird hit three of the Chargers’ 7 home runs in the week with Huizenga adding a pair. Huizenga finished with 15 hits in the games and Baird had 11 and Bailey Walker 10. Trail also didn’t commit an error in the six games.
• Lilly Rumsey belted four home runs last week for Seaman, including three in a doubleheader loss to Wamego. Rumsey finished with 13 RBI and hit .722 in doubleheaders against Leavenworth, Manhattan and Wamego.
• In Wamego’s doubleheader sweep of Seaman, Landri Adams went of 300 career strikeouts. Adams is 7-2 with a 0.55 ERA and 89 strikeouts this season for the Red Raiders, who are 14-4.

 
BASEBALL STANDOUTS

• Rock Creek’s Blade Grieshaber and Palmer Martinie combined for a no-hitter in the Mustangs’ 1-0 win over Spring Hill. Jaxon Pendell’s RBI single in the fifth was the game-winning hit, scoring Peter Martinie. The Mustangs followed with a 6-2, 11-2 sweep of North Central Kansas League rival Clay Center with Wyatt Wells and Palmer Martinie getting the wins. Noah Valburg had 3 RBI in the opener and Wells and Jordy Scott each drove in two runs in the second game.
• Seaman’s Cooper Hayes pitched a 5-hit shutout in the Vikings’ 6-0 win over Leavenworth last week. Hayes struck out 5 in 6 innings.
• Marais des Cygnes Valley’s Ty Calderwood recorded his 100th career strikeout against Marmaton Valley. Teammate Dalton Lingenfelter was 6 for 9 and had 6 stolen bases on the week.
• Mission Valley’s Gunnar Trickel improved to 8-0 on the season, recording 14 strikeouts in 7.2 innings pitched last week. His 154 career strikeouts rank fourth all-time in school history and he’s also hitting .549 this season with 28 RBI. Keegan Hoelting hit .530 with 6 RBI and also stole 5 bases in sweeps of Osage City and Lyndon.