While it is tough to see the Seward County Lady Saints Fabiana Monte without a smile on her face, that smile was even larger on Thursday as she was informed that she was one of 40 NJCAA basketball players from throughout the country that has been selected to participate in the NJCAA All-Star Weekend July 25-28 in Niceville, Florida. 

                Monte and Butler’s Ashlee Ivy were the only two players from the Jayhawk Conference to accept their bids to the event.  Over 100 players from across NJCAA Division I, II, and III were nominated for the event and the group of 40 was chosen by a committee of coaches spread out between those three levels. 

                Monte will not be the only Lady Saint participating in the weekend’s events, however she will be the only Seward player on the court during her stay.  Former Seward All-American and Saints Athletics Hall of Fame member Kim Ortega will be inducted into the NJCAA Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame on the second night of the event, joining Alfreda Harris, Susan Summons, and Gwyn Young as the Class of 2013. 

                On July 27^th and 28^th, the 40 players will be broken down into teams and will compete in a number of games against one another with a heavy dose of four year coaches expected to be in attendance. 

                Monte was a key part of the Lady Saints 20 win season in 2012-2013, averaging 10 points and 3 rebounds per game for Seward.  The freshman from Diadema, Sao Paulo, Brasil played in all 31 games for the gals in green, starting 19 as a rookie.  An extremely gifted athlete, Monte was second on the team in steals with 47 and assists with 68 for the Lady Saints. 

                When asked about her feelings of getting chosen for the event Monte said “I was so surprised.  I am very excited for the opportunity to play against some of the best players in the country.”  She went on to say “I just want to thank my teammates and the other people here at Seward so much for helping me get here.  They have been my family here when things have been tough on and off the court.”

The post-season awards for the Jayhawk West Champion Seward County Saints kept pouring in on Wednesday as Tyler Wiedenfeld, Bryson Allen, Troy Owen, and Hayden Howard were named to the NJCAA All-Region VI Team.  Wiedenfeld and Allen were both named 1^st Team All-Region selections for their efforts on the diamond this season while Owen and Howard were 2^nd Team selections. 

                Wiedenfeld had a spectacular year at the front of the Seward rotation in 2013, finishing 11-3 with a 2.61 ERA in 97 innings pitched.  He far and away led the region with his 97 innings pitched and tied for the region lead with his 11 wins.  Wiedenfeld struck out 68 hitters over the course of the season and walked just 20. He finished the season in the top five in the country in both innings pitched with 97 and wins with 11.   His 97 innings pitched and 11 wins in 2013 are 4^th most in a single season in school history and his 2.61 ERA is 7^th best in a year. 

                Allen burst onto the scene in the Jayhawk Conference this season as a freshman, hitting .391 with 30 extra base hits and 40 RBI’s.  Allen started all 63 games for the Saints as a rookie and led the nation in at bats with 230.  His 10 triples were most in the region and were 6^th nationally while ranking 2^nd in a single season in school history.  He stole 10 bases which led the Saints this season and scored 60 runs which also led Seward and ranked 2^nd in the region. 

                Owen was a fixture in the middle of the Seward order and hit .330 with 15 doubles, 3 home runs, and 39 RBI’s.  His 15 doubles tied Allen for the team lead and ranked 8^th in the region.  His power numbers also stacked up with some of the best the Jayhawk Conference had to offer as his 3 home runs ranked in the top 30 and his 39 RBI’s in the top 20. 

                 Howard seemed to have gotten stronger as his freshman campaign came to a close.  He was unbeaten at 5-0 in his final 6 starts of the year and posted a 1.22 ERA during the stretch.  He finished the season at 8-3 overall with a 1.69 ERA.  Howard was second on the team to Wiedenfeld in both strikeouts with 65 and innings pitched with 74 2/3.  Howard’s 1.69 ERA on the season marks the second best ERA in a single season in school history and is the best ERA by a pitcher who threw more than 40 innings in a season.  His ERA mark was tops in the Jayhawk West and was the best ERA of any starter in the region this season.  He finished the year in the top seven in the region in all three pitching triple crown categories (wins, strikeouts, ERA). 

Following a very successful season that saw them capture the Jayhawk West Championship and finish 3^rd at the NJCAA Region VI Tournament, five Seward County Saints have been named to the Jayhawk West All-Conference teams.  The Saints had four 1^st Team selections led by pitchers Tyler Wiedenfeld and Hayden Howard along with first baseman Troy Owen and the conference’s Freshman of the Year, outfielder Bryson Allen.  West Point bound Johnny Griffith was a 2^nd Team pick for Seward at third base.  The Saints had more 1^st Team choices than any other Jayhawk school, in fact, no other school had more than two (Colby) players chosen to the top team. 

                Seward ace Tyler Wiedenfeld was the only of the twelve 1^st Team All-Conference members to be chosen unanimously to the team.  Wiedenfeld was a perfect 8-0 in Jayhawk West games this season, posting a 2.00 ERA in the process. Wiedenfeld is the first Jayhawk Conference pitcher since the turn of the century to win his start in every conference series of the year and is the first pitcher in Jayhawk Conference history to do so that didn’t  receive the Most Valuable Player award, which went to fourth place Colby’s Jake Nath.  Wiedenfeld ended the regular season as the NJCAA’s win leader with an 11-2 record and  finishes his sophomore season with an 11-3 record to go along with a 2.61 ERA in 97 innings pitched this year. 

                Fellow rotation member Hayden Howard was also named to the 1^st Team in his freshman season.  Howard was electric down the stretch for Seward, going 5-0 with a 1.10 ERA in his final five starts of the Jayhawk West season.  He finished the year with an 8-3 record and posted the second lowest ERA in a single season in school history at 1.69.  Howard struck out a team high 68 batters and was second on the team to Wiedenfeld with 74 2/3 innings pitched. 

                Bryson Allen won the league’s Freshman of the Year award in a landslide and was picked as a 1^st Team All-Conference member after a stellar first season in green and white.  Allen hit .431 in Jayhawk West Conference games in 2013, 46 points higher than MVP Jake Nath who was second among West outfielders.  Allen also led all Jayhawk West outfielders in triples, home runs, and runs scored during his rookie campaign.  Allen led the Saints in hitting this season, finishing with a .391 batting average and was also tops on the squad in six other major categories including runs (60), hits (90), doubles (15), triples (10), home runs (5), and stolen bases (10). 

                Troy Owen was nearly a unanimous choice to the 1^st Team by the league’s coaches at first base for the Saints.  Owen put up big numbers for Seward in the middle of their order this season, hitting .364 with 9 doubles and 24 RBI’s in conference play.  Overall on the year Owen finished at .330 while tying Allen for the team lead in doubles with 15 and finishing third on the team with 39 RBI’s. 

                The head scratcher of the selections came at third base where despite leading all third basemen in hitting by 73 points during Jayhawk West Conference play, Saints three bagger Johnny Griffith was chosen to the 2^nd Team rather than the 1^st Team.  Griffith hit .438 in conference play and had 8 doubles and 22 RBI’s for the Saints during their Conference Championship season.  Griffith finished the season hitting .377 overall and was second on the team with an OPS of .986 while cracking 14 doubles and driving in 28 runs on the year. 

                Despite winning the league with the Jayhawk’s most inexperienced team this season, Seward Head Coach Galen McSpadden was bypassed as Coach of the Year in favor of second place Garden City’s Chris Finnegan. 

You couldn’t have asked for much more of an effort than the Seward County Saints put forth this weekend at the Region VI Baseball Championships in Wichita.  The Saints came from behind twice and won in extra innings in three straight elimination games, but their dream run came to an end Monday night at Lawrence-Dumont Stadium as Coffeyville ended Seward’s season with an 8-4 victory to eliminate the Saints from the tournament.  The Saints fell behind early once again 3-0 and trailed 4-1 in the 5^th before the Ravens stretched their lead to 8-1 into the 9^th.  Seward again didn’t quit though and pushed three runs across, bringing the tying run to the on deck circle before Coffeyville finally ended the game with a strikeout in the 8-4 decision. 

Both teams had scoring chances early on in this one as Coffeyville got a one out walk and a stolen base in the 1^st to put a runner in scoring position and the Saints drew a pair of two out walks in the 1^st, but neither team could push a run across to keep the game scoreless after 1. 

In the 2^nd the Red Ravens got the scoring started as three pitches into the frame they had runners on second and third with nobody out and a walk and a single later it was a 2-0 lead for Coffeyville.  The Ravens plated one more run in the inning, but Saints starter Derrick Valenzuela averted further damage, leaving the bases loaded at innings end to keep it just a 3-0 game. 

The Saints looked like they were in business in their half of the 3^rd as Jake Fuller and Bryson Allen singled to start the inning in front of the meat of the Seward order, but the next three Saints hitters struck out on three pitches each to quickly end the rally and the Saints momentum as the score remained 3-0. 

Valenzuela kept the Ravens in check in the top half of the 4^th and the Saints finally broke through on the offensive end as Alex Scanlan singled to start the inning and Bret Lewis came through with an RBI single with two outs to score him to make the score 3-1. 

A Seward error with one out in the 5^th proved costly later on in the frame as Coffeyville got an RBI groundout from Alex Wilson to push the Ravens fourth run of the game home to extend their lead back to three at 4-1. 

The Saints had Coffeyville right where they wanted them, in the same position that they had been in two times earlier in the tournament, down 4-1 before comeback victories.  However, this time, instead of seeing their deficit shrink, the Saints saw it expand.  Coffeyville used a leadoff single from .159 hitter Adam Valencia and another single from leadoff man Chase Rader to put two on with nobody out and on a double steal the Saints committed their second error of the game to allow one run to score and a safety squeeze one hitter later plated the other to make it 6-1. 

Once again the Saints had a good start to the inning in the 6^th as Troy Owen walked and Scanlan singled to put two on with nobody out.  Unfortunately though, the end of inning result was the same too as a fly out in four territory and a line drive double play later, the Saints were left without a run and still trailed 6-1. 

Two singles, a wild pitch and a sacrifice fly in the Coffeyville 7^th added a run to the scoreboard to make it 7-1 and  despite having their leadoff man reach for the sixth straight inning, the Saints were unable to score and their comeback hopes for this one began to dwindle. 

The 8^th was a well pitched one for each side as Adam Guay, in from the Saints bullpen for the fourth straight game, retired Coffeyville in order on just seven pitches while Raven reliever Tyler Bishop returned the favor, striking out a pair in a 1-2-3 inning of his own to send the game to the 9^th with the score 7-1. 

Coffeyville used their speed to manufacture an insurance run in the top half of the 9^th to extend their lead to 8-1 and while at the time the run seemed insignificant, as the Saints came to hit in their final at bats, the run proved to be a much needed one. 

Seward’s leadoff man was retired for just the third time in the game to start the 9^th and it looked like the cardiac kids were just running on fumes in their fourth elimination game in three days.

What looked like a harmless groundball off the bat of Reed Thompson turned into a Coffeyville error and it seemed to have jolted some life into the Seward dugout.  Lewis then doubled to put runners on second and third with one out and Fuller blooped a single into right to score both runners and make it an 8-3 game.  Allen followed suit with a single and Deven Nelson did as well to load the bases for the Saints, still with just one out in the inning.  Mason Marshall hit a sac fly to score Fuller from third to make it 8-4 and the Saints brought their biggest power threat in Troy Owen to the plate with the tying run now on deck.  After a six pitch at bat that featured four straight foul balls, Owen was unable to make contact with a 1-2 curveball from Coffeyville reliever Carlos Aldana and that ended the Saints run in an 8-4 game. 

Seward actually outhit the Ravens in the ballgame 11-10, but the Saints left 10 runners on base and were able to cash in just one leadoff man of six straight to reach in the middle of the game.  Fuller and Allen were again impressive atop the Saints order, each going 2 for 5, Fuller driving in 2 runs in the contest.  Scanlan and Lewis both had 3 hit games and scored a run.  Valenzuela took the loss on the mound, going 5 innings and allowing 4 runs on 5 hits and 6 walks. 

The Saints end the year at 34-29 overall and were 3^rd place finishers at the Region VI Championships. 

SEWARD COUNTY/COFFEYVILLE BOX SCORE

The Seward County Saints certainly haven't made anything in the 2013 Region VI Championship Tournament easy.  The Saints eeked out a 1-0 win in the bottom of the 9th in their first round win over Independence and upon arriving to Wichita have played 2-1, 8-5, and 8-7 games, but none of those hailed in comparison to Sunday night's win over Kansas City Kansas in their third elimination game of the weekend. This time the Saints started ahead, up 4-1 after three and 6-2 after five, but the Blue Devils came roaring back, scoring three in the 6th and one in the 8th to tie the game at 6.  The game went to extra innings with players and coaches walking on needles during every pitch.  The game went scoreless through the 10th before Reed Thompson came through with a single with two outs and the bases loaded in the bottom of the 11th to win the game 7-6 and send the Saints to another day in the tournament. 

The pitching matchup certainly didn't have the allure that the first matchup in the tournament did between the two teams.  The Saints sent Garret Smith to the mound who came into the contest with an 0-6 record and a 16.60 ERA while KCK countered with Eli Egger who was 3-2 with a 4.79 ERA.

Smith struggled in the 1st with his control, walking three and hitting two, but escaping the inning with one one run across as KCK took a 1-0 lead. 

The Saints struck right back as Jake Fuller and Bryson Allen reached to start the Seward 1st and came around to score two batters later on an RBI single from Mason Marshall to make it 2-1 Saints. 

The Blue Devils loaded the bases once again in the 2nd, but for the second straight inning Smith stranded all three KCK runners to keep it a 2-1 game. 

Seward extended upon their lead in the 3rd when Deven Nelson doubled and Marshall walked to put two on in front of Alex Scanlan who promptly lined a single to left center for a triple to score both runs to make it 4-1 Saints. 

The Saints cost themselves a run in the top of the 4th with a two out error to allow a KCK run to score to cut their lead to 4-2.

The 5th was scoreless as Smith was sharp, working through the Blue Devil lineup 1-2-3 to keep the score 4-2. 

Allen singled to start the Saints half of the 5th and Seward got a jolt from the unlikeliest of sources as Nelson hammered his first career homerun over the left field wall to cushion the Saints lead to 6-2.

KCK kept fighting though and a 6th inning walk followed by back to back triples quickly had them to within two at 6-4 and a groundball later it was a 6-5 game. 

The Seward offense went cold as reliever Cisco Medina pitching into his 7th inning of relief and the Blue Devils took advantage, pushing a run across on three hits in the 8th to tie the game at 6. 

The Saints went down on just seven pitches in the bottom of the 8th and it looked like KCK was going to take the lead in the 9th as they saw two runners reach on walks before Seward closer Johnny Griffith came into the game to shut down the rally and keep it a 6-6 game. 

Seward couldn't win it in the bottom of the 9th and Griffith struck out the side in the KCK 10th to keep the score deadlocked. 

Blue Devil closer Jake Woods followed suit, striking out all three Seward hitters in the bottom of the 10th and the teams went to another extra inning still tied at 6.

Griffith continued his dominance of the KCK bats in the 11th, striking out two more Blue Devil hitters to run his two inning total to five. 

Seward started their half of the 11th with an infield single from Francisco Bolanos and KCK failed to handle a sacrifice bunt attempt by Bret Lewis and the Saints had runners at first and second with nobody out.  A successful sac bunt by Fuller and an intentional walk to Allen loaded the bases for Seward.  Mr. Clutch Deven Nelson wasn't able to come up with the big hit this time and the bases remained loaded with two outs.  When Griffith came in to pitch, Reed Thompson came into the game in left field as a defensive replacement, but in this one, it was Thompson's offense which earned him hero's status.  After a self described horrible at bat in his first trip to the plate, Thompson wasted no time in the pinch this time, drilling the first pitch he saw up the middle and into centerfield for a single to score Bolanos from third to win the game 7-6. 

The game was nearly evenly played as Seward had 6 runs on 8 hits and 2 errors before the final swing from Thompson while KCK finished with 6 runs on 8 hits with 2 errors. The difference came in the left on base category where KCK left 14 baserunners stranded to the Saints 7. 

Nelson led the Seward offense, nearly hitting for the cycle with a single, a double, and a home run in 6 trips to the plate.  Nelson scored 2 runs and also drove in 2 in the win.  Scanlan was the only other Saint to have more than one hit in the win as he finished 2 for 5 with 2 RBI's.  Smith gutted out his best performance of the season, going 5 1/3 innings, allowing 5 runs on 6 hits and 5 walks while fanning a season high 6.  Griffith earned the win out of the Saints bullpen, going 2 2/3 innings of scoreless baseball without allowing a hit and striking out 5. 

The Saints live to see another day and will take on Coffeyville at 4:00 Monday at Lawrence-Dumont Stadium in Wichita.  To listen to the game click here.

SEWARD COUNTY/KANSAS CITY KANSAS BOX SCORE