SEAN BOSTON
Hutch Post
INMAN, Kan. — The Inman High School Teutons softball team is headed to the state tournament later this week for the fourth time in program history, and the first time since 2010.
Inman will open class 2-1A state tournament play on Thursday afternoon at 1 p.m. against Hays-Thomas More Prep-Marian at the Green Sports Complex in Pratt. The Teutons are the No. 4 seed with a 17-4 record, while the Monarchs are 21-8 and the No. 5 seed.
The Inman roster features one senior, two juniors, six sophomores and seven freshmen. The Teutons have relied heavily on the strong freshmen class. Of the nine starters in the regional championship game, seven of them were underclassmen, including four freshmen and three sophomores.
"You always hear how so and so is going to be a really good softball player and you just never believe it until you see it," head coach Bre Ryan said. "After the first couple weeks out at practice, I could believe it and knew these girls were here to play ball."
One of those is Taylor Froese, who went 3 for 4 in the regional championship game with two doubles, a triple and two RBI. Another freshman contributor is Lyla Levin, who has been dominant in the circle. Levin struck out 12 Remington batters in the title game.
The Teutons beat Sedgwick (17-1), Canton-Galva (6-1) and Remington (6-4) to punch their ticket to the state tournament. The win over Remington in the title game was bittersweet to Ryan and the team, because Remington was the lone team to sweep Inman in the regular season.
"I was kind of worried to be honest going into the game, because I didn't know what our mindset would be, knowing they had swept us earlier in the season," Ryan said. "The girls were very confident, not overly confident, but confident enough to know they could compete with Remington. That was our whole goal, was to just go and compete every single pitch and every single play, and they did that."
Ryan (formerly Beckerman) is an Inman native and took over the Teutons program in 2019. When she took over the job, she knew it was going to be a work in progress to get the team back to the state tournament.
The Teutons have struggled in recent years and finished just 6-14 last spring.
Ryan played on the 2007 team that finished as the class 2-1A state runner-up, falling to Wabaunsee, 2-1, in the championship game. Ryan got the start in the circle for the Teutons and remembers that May afternoon in Emporia.
"I'm going to preach to the girls that they need to live in the moment, take one play at a time and just chip away one play at a time," Ryan said. "You never know when that next time is or if you'll ever get back to the state tournament, so we'll all make sure to really take it all in and know that this doesn't happen every year."
The Teutons have lost three of their four games by two runs or less, so Ryan knows her team has been battle tested and hopes that will pay off come later this week.
"The girls are prepared," Ryan said. "They have been locked in all season long and ready and willing to fight. They don't back down from any challenge. They're ready to go out and do whatever it takes to get the job done."
Ryan has seen a lot of growth in her team from the 2-1 loss in the season opener at Moundridge until now.
"I'd say that our team has just completely bought in," Ryan said. "The girls all play really well together and know how each of them are going to respond to different situations. This team doesn't play like a bunch of freshmen, they're definitely mature and very knowledgeable."
Ryan feels extremely confident in her team heading into the state tournament later this week.
"I feel really good about it," Ryan said. "They are a really good group of kids that get along really well, and play really well together. They support each other and our mindset and focus right now seems like we are playing together as one team with one common goal."
