COLUMBUS, Kan. – Columbus High School head softball coach Aimee Saporito has been named the CNC Coach of the Year.

“It means a lot,” Saporito says, “There are a lot of great coaches in our league. The thought that they would vote for me means a lot.”

Saporito led the Titans to an 18-3 overall record this spring, and their first ever CNC league title.

“It was big. That was definitely one of our goals, as it is for every team going into the year. It was something we knew was attainable, but it was something we knew we would have to work for,” she says of the team winning the league championship, “Everyone says it’s one of the toughest leagues in the state, and you can see that by Frontenac going and winning the state championship. So…it’s tough.”

In addition to Saporito earning Coach of the Year honors – eight Columbus players earned All-CNC recognition.

“You always want to get all of them on there. You hate to leave one off…but it was a big deal for us,” Saporito says, “Through the past several years it’s been a struggle to get one or two of them on there, let alone eight of them. I truly believe they deserve it and they worked hard for it.”

1st team All-CNC (*-Unanimous)

P Graci Major (Columbus)*

P Lexi Robinson (Girard)

P Aubree Saporito (Columbus)

C Kaitlyn Hayslip (Frontenac)

INF Heather Arnett (Frontenac)*

INF Erin Anderson (Girard)*

INF Jailyn Rodriguez (Columbus)

INF Mia Sarwinski (Galena)

OF Emmaline Senecaut (Girard)*

OF Blayze McNemar (Galena)*

OF Abi Beaman (Frontenac)

2nd team All-CNC

P Maddy Cole (Galena)

P Mia Brown (Frontenac)

P Halle Panter (Baxter Springs)

C Addi Saporito (Columbus)

INF KT Lopp (Columbus)

INF Lily Mooney (Columbus)

INF Hattie Pyle (Frontenac)

INF Kenadee Rhinehart (Baxter Springs)

OF Katie Simpson (Columbus)

OF Bailey Troike (Girard)

OF Raegan Pitts (Baxter Springs)

Honorable Mention All-CNC

P Avery Johnson (Frontenac)

C Lea McGown (Girard)

C Sidney Hailey (Baxter Springs)

INF Lauren Yaghmour (Colgan)

OF Torey Tedlock (Columbus)

OF Chloe Harnar (Galena)

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Columbus falls to Wichita Collegiate 10-3 in 3A state championship game. Kolt Ungeheuer smashes a two-run home run in the 6th inning.

The Titans finish the season as the class 3A state runner up with a 22-3 overall record. It’s the best finish in program history.

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COLUMBUS, Kan. – The Columbus High School baseball team has done something no other team in program history has done before.

“They’ve played together since they were 5 or 6 years old. They know each other well,” says Columbus head coach Mick Tedlock, “The chemistry with them…it’s just fun to coach.”

The Titans have earned their first ever trip to the 3A state baseball tournament in Manhattan – where they will face Sabetha on Thursday in the first round.

“There’s a lot of focus, but we’re just having fun with it,” says Columbus senior Jaxson Haraughty on preparing for the team’s first ever state tournament appearance, “Coach Tedlock has never made it this far, and none of us have either. We’re having a lot of fun with it. He was saying that his arm was hurting a few days ago because he’s never made it this far,” Haraughty adds with a  laugh, “We’re just having a lot of fun with it, but we’re staying focused and worried about winning games out there.”

“We’ve had a lot of good baseball players come through Columbus, but our league and regional have been so tough,” Tedlock says on making state for the first time, “It’s great…the community support has been so awesome. I have great assistant coaches in Troy Haraughty and Taylor Spear. They help me a lot to keep these kids focused. They’ll be ready.”

Columbus enters the tournament with a 20-2 overall record. Their only two losses were to Girard and Frontenac in the regular season.

Girard has also made the 3A state tournament, and Frontenac finished the season 17-4 overall – so this Columbus team has been battle-tested all spring.

“We have the toughest regional and toughest league in the state, all classes. I’ll say that confidently,” Haraughty says, “It’s tough. Usually the team that wins our regional is playing for a state title or winning a state title, and I don’t think that’s going to be any different this year.”

The Titans are the #3 seed in the tournament, while Sabetha enters as the #6 seed.

“They’re a traditional powerhouse. They’re really the only team in the bracket that has made a lot of noise in a state tournament,” Haraughty adds, “I think we can go out and beat them, we just have to play our ball.”

“They’re a baseball town. They always have been,” Tedlock says of Sabetha, “They play well defensively and they hit the fastball. We’re going to have to go out there and make sure we play our game, like we have been all year.”

Columbus will send right-hander Seth Stover to the mound in game one against Sabetha.

Stover has proven to be one of the best in southeast Kansas this season – and a guy the Titans have leaned on in some big spots throughout the spring.

“The main thing is winning that first one,” Tedlock says, “We’re going to go out with Seth on the mound, that’s no secret…and we’re going to go after it.”

First pitch for Thursday’s game against Sabetha is scheduled for 5:45 PM in Manhattan.

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GALENA, Kan. – (WATCH) Columbus tops Frontenac 5-1 to claim a 3A regional championship Tuesday, and earn a spot in the state tournament for the first time in program history.

“It’s wonderful. It’s wonderful for me, but I’m so happy for these kids,” says Columbus head coach Mick Tedlock, “The community and the parents, they’ve helped so much. These kids have done a great job and they deserve it. The motto the whole year was to finish every game, one game at a time. These kids played their hearts out all year long and they finished, but we’re not done yet. We’re going to go to state and we’re going to represent our region.”

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WATCH: Columbus earns a share of the CNC baseball league championship with a sweep over Riverton.

The Titans won game one 10-2 and game two 6-2.

Columbus shares the CNC championship with Girard – with both schools finishing with 10-2 records against league competition.

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GIRARD, Kan. – Columbus High School junior Kolt Ungeheuer was on the mound for the Titans baseball team on Thursday night, helping the team beat Girard 8-5 in game two of a double-header.

Less than 24 hours later, Ungeheuer smashed the school’s high jump record in his first ever high school track meet – winning the event at the Girard Invitational.

“I’ve been playing a lot of baseball lately. I just decided to come out and try it for the first time since junior high,” Ungeheuer says, “It went well today.”

The junior cleared 6 feet, 10 inches on Friday afternoon. That mark is 6 inches clear of the previous Columbus High School record of 6 feet, 4 inches.

“I didn’t really expect to go that high,” Ungeheuer says, “I’ve only practiced about three or four times. I’ve never actually tried to go that high, so I didn’t really know what to expect.”

“He asked if he could come out this year. It just happened that they didn’t have a baseball game so he was able to come out and compete,” says Columbus track and field coach Heath Perry, “I never expected he would go 6 feet, 10 inches…but he’s an athlete.”

After such success in his first ever high school meet, Ungeheuer says he plans to work on the high jump a little more the rest of the spring.

“I think I will,” he says of practicing the event more, “I’ll always put baseball first, but I have to try to find time to do more of it. I think I can continue to get better if I keep going at it, and practice more than three or four times like I’ve been doing now. Hopefully I’ll just keep getting better at it.”

“I’d like to see him out here. We have our league meet in a couple weeks and regionals about three weeks from now,” Perry says, “With the jump he’s got…he’s up there in the state. We’ll see how we can work it out to get him to meets and practice. We’ll get with coach Tedlock and hopefully get it worked out.”

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