By Scott Elpers

The Derby Informer has combed through the NCAA ranks and kept tabs on Derby High School graduates who have continued to excel in sports at the collegiate level. In this issue, The Informer highlighted several athletes who had noteworthy spring seasons in baseball and softball. Check back next week for more Derby graduates who performed well in other spring sports.

Baseball

In his senior season, right-handed pitcher David Ormiston went 9-2 as a starter and helped Tabor College to a 44-15 record and a share of the Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference regular season title. Ormiston pitched one out shy of 85 complete innings and struck out 77 batters, including a four-game stretch where he had 32 K’s.  

Jordan Jenkins put up steady numbers at the plate in his sophomore season at Pratt Community College. Jenkens compiled 48 hits, 35 runs and two homers across 46 games. He also had 27 RBIs and a .316 batting average.  Fellow Pratt teammate Kaleb Conneley saw some brief action this past season as a sophomore with four RBIs, four hits and one home run in 17 at-bats.    

After stops at Kansas City Community College and Cowley College, Drew Rainey ended his college career as a relief pitcher for Wichita State University. The lefty had seven relief appearances on the mound in his senior season for the Shockers, pitching just over six innings and striking out five batters. 

Infielder Chris Roman batted .277 with 23 hits and 14 RBIs for Cowley College as a freshman this past season. 

Freshman Zach Ashford saw significant playing time in his first season at the college level. Ashford played in 29 games for Friends University, hitting .317 with 21 hits, 14 RBIs and a home run.

Ashford was one of three former Derby baseball players on Friends’ roster. Taylor Warkins pitched in 17 games for the Falcons. The right-handed sophomore had 29 strikeouts in 57 innings of work. Junior Steven Chrapkowski also pitched in 31-2/3 innings across 21 games for the Falcons and struck out 21.

Hutchinson Community College’s Jordan Hicks saw his first collegiate action on the pitching mound in his freshman season. Hicks was called on for 1-2/3 innings of work, giving up one hit and one run.

Softball

After a successful varsity career at Derby, freshman Austen Hilt transitioned into the starting lineup at Cowley College. In 48 games, Hilt racked up five homers, 58 hits and 36 RBIs while batting .389 for the Tigers. 

Sammie Shook led Wichita State with 10 home runs in 2011, which helped her snag second-team All-Missouri Valley Conference honors. In 2012, the Shockers got a makeover, moving Shook from third base over to first, where she started 30 games and had a .960 fielding percentage. On offense, Shook had 15 hits, five RBIs and a home run on 75 appearances at the plate as a junior.

After two seasons at Cowley College, Hayley Heincker started most of her junior season in left field at Washburn University. Heincker played in 34 games this past season and started in all but two of them. She had .930 fielding percentage on defense and 15 hits and five RBIs in 71 at-bats on offense.

Washburn teammate Kayla Oldham was used frequently on the mound in her freshman season. The right-handed pitcher led Washburn with a team-best 3.28 ERA across 22 games in her first collegiate season. Oldham had 17 starts for the Ichabods and pitched 117-2/3 innings with 54 strikeouts.   

Cortnie Killen offered Tabor College some stability at the plate and first base with a .362 batting average and a .997 fielding percentage. She had 38 hits, 15 RBIs and a .448 slugging percentage in her junior year.