Prep recap: Mullet promise motivates upstart Capital in district play-in victory

GAME OF THE DAY

If everything goes as planned, Allie Laufenburger will have a mullet by the end of the week.

The Capital High senior promised her team before the start of the season that if the Eagles made the 5A state softball tournament, she’d cut her long, brown hair into a mullet. Her team is only two wins from making that a reality.

“The realization that I’m actually gonna get a mullet is setting in a little bit,” Laufenburger said. “Whatever I can do to get them motivated.”

Capital dispatched Meridian 11-1 in five innings Saturday to secure a spot in the 5A District Three Tournament, which begins Monday. The fifth-seeded Eagles (17-8) draw No. 4 Eagle (14-8) in the first round, and the 6 p.m. matchup will be played at Capital High.

The top four teams at the district tournament automatically advance to state, and a fifth team can qualify via a play-in game.

It will be Capital’s first appearance in the district tournament since 2018, and the Eagles are looking for their first district win since 2017.

“I just think we have really amazing team chemistry,” Capital second baseman Carly Turpen said. “Not a lot of teams get that where everyone gets along. And we have a lot of young talent this year. Me and Allie have been here for four years, but a lot of the freshmen can kind of pull us along when we’re not doing good. It’s really great to see that we have new talent coming in and it’s just kind of all building off each other.”

It’s a long way removed from a team that had single-digit wins each of the past three seasons and last made the state tournament in 2012. Capital just calls it the “new norm.”

“It just means we bring a new Capital norm, like, a new precedent to Capital,” Laufenburger said. “Capital softball’s going to show up to every practice with the same intensity. ... In previous years, we haven’t had as much focus. So this year, our new norm was to put in the work at practice so that that would translate to games.”

As a four-year starter, Laufenburger is helping to set the new standard for the Eagles. On Saturday against Meridian, she went 2-for-3 at the plate and earned the win in the circle, striking out six while limiting the Warriors to just three hits and one run. She also hit a walk-off, two run single in the bottom of the fifth to induce the 10-run mercy rule.

Grace Wontorcik, Kharson Castell, Maysn Mogel and Lizzy Turpen also had two hits each in a well-rounded effort for the Eagles.

“They know what they didn’t get when they were freshmen,” Capital coach Shane Alder said of Laufenburger and Carly Turpen. “The camaraderie that they’ve brought and taught this team and the will and the desire that they have and their work ethic is just rubbing off on everybody.”

It also might cost Alder a bit of pride. He promised to dye his beard pink if the Eagles made state.

And what happens if Capital were to win its first state championship in program history?

“If we win state, she’s gonna go bald,” Carly Turpen said.

SATURDAY’S HIGHLIGHTS

• Caden Tucker, Skyview (baseball): Went 2-for-4 at the plate with a double, home run and 4 RBIs to lead Skyview to a 10-2 victory over Boise.
• Nick McDaniel, Owyhee (baseball): Delivered a walk-off single in the bottom of the seventh to lift the Storm to a 2-1 win over Capital.
• Treyton Swygart, Middleton (baseball): Pitched six innings of one-run ball with 10 strikeouts and helped his own cuase with a 2-for-3 performance at the plate, including a triple, in an 8-1 win over Caldwell.
• Caden Casagrande, Bishop Kelly (baseball): Limited Nampa to one hit in an 8-0 shutout and went 2-for-4 at the plate with a double and two RBI.
• Jeff Fahey, Melba (baseball): Pitched 3.1 innings in an 8-0 shutout, allowing just one hit while striking out five and adding a 2-for-3 outing at the plate with a pair of doubles.
• Alyssa Castiglione, Mountain View (softball): Smashed a two-run home run to prove the difference in the Mavericks’ 6-4 victory over Centennial.
• Talia Jenkins, Kuna (softball): Hit a walk-off solo home run as the Kavemen topped Rocky Mountain 8-7 in a district play-in game.
• Brooke Garman, Vallivue (softball): Cranked three home runs and drove in seven runs as the Falcons routed Columbia 20-10 in the first round of the 4A District Three Tournament.

This story was originally published May 7, 2022 at 5:04 PM.