BY JIM MISUNAS
The Great Bend Panther baseball team will never discover whether the third time was truly the charm. Their spring season was canceled by the KSHSAA due to the coronavirus threat.
“I feel bad for our seniors because they got their senior-season taken away. It’s a punch in the gut,” said Great Bend baseball coach Randy Beck. “Everyone is in uncharted waters because It’s outside everyone’s control. It was tough consoling our guys.”
Beck knew when state basketball was canceled before the semifinals, it was a bad sign.
“We knew it was serious when state basketball was canceled,” Beck said.
In back-to-back years, the Panthers qualified for the 5A state baseball tournament by upsetting Hays High 6-2 and Liberal 2-0. The Panthers shocked the state-ranked Indians and state-ranked Redskins in regional championships.
“Qualifying for state baseball in back-to-back years is really exciting for everyone involved,” said Beck. “It’s a group that showed they had the confidence and ability to finish big games. We had a lot of experience. It’s hard to teach that.”
After beating Wichita Northwest 7-3, the Panthers stunned rival Hays High 6-2. Great Bend (10-11) lost 6-2 to St. Thomas Aquinas at Wichita’s 5A state baseball tournament. It was a similar script two years ago when the Panthers (9-14) shut out Salina Central 3-0 and Liberal 2-0 to qualify for 5A state. Shawnee Heights downed the Panthers 10-2 at state baseball.
Western Athletic all-league shortstop Alex Schremmer (.373), All-WAC pitcher Colin Hall (7-4), All-WAC 3B-P Joey Soupiset (.222; 2-2), 1B-P Eddie Bujanda (.357), 2B-P Riley Smith (.268); OF Nahum Olivas and OF Christian Zahnter would’ve led the Panthers. Hall earned regional semifinal pitching wins against Salina Central and Wichita Northwest the past two seasons. Other pitchers included Layton Holden, Jacob Kennedy, Chayse Gruber and lefthander Paco Hernandez.
“We showed great potential and had high hopes,” Beck said. “They’ve put in hard work. We had experience and a good team atmosphere led by our seniors.”
Beck said Hall will pursue an opportunity to play college baseball. Schremmer has signed a football letter of intent at Fort Hays State.
Beck served as an assistant with coach Jeff Langrehr for Great Bend’s 1995 and 1998 state baseball champions and state runners-up in 2005 and 2006.
“We’ve learned that you never take qualifying for the state tournament for granted,” Beck said. “One play can change the momentum in a ballgame. You have to play good baseball and earn a few breaks. The team that generally makes the fewest mistakes ended up winning. We had really good baseball teams in 2005 and 2006, but lost back-to-back championship games.”
GREAT BEND SENIORS—1B-P-C—Eddie Bujanda; P-C-SS—Colin Hall; OF—Nahum Olivas; SS-P—Alex Schremmer; 2B-P-C—Riley Smith; 3B-P—Joey Soupiset; OF—Christian Zahnter
