25 March 2023
TOPEKA (KSNT)- High school softball season has kicked off, and a championship rematch is the first game for the Washburn Rural Junior Blues. For one family, this game means a bit more than the final score.
Last year, the Topeka High School Trojans were victorious over the Washburn Rural High School Junior Blues in the 6A Softball State Championship game. But this rivalry means more than the names on the front of the jersey.
Besides Topeka High and Washburn Rural being two of the best teams in the state, two of the best players in Kansas play for each team. With Washburn Rural’s Emerson Cope and Topeka High’s Adisyn Caryl, it makes sense why they are both great players, as they are cousins who have been playing with each other for more than a decade.
“These guys have been playing since five years old and started playing competitively with each other at the age of five at club ball or t-ball,” Wayne Cope said, Emerson Cope’s father. “It’s amazing seeing these two compete, against each other in a situation like today with competing high schools. But in the summer, watching them compete together.”
Cope is currently committed to play softball at The University of Nebraska. Caryl is committed to their Big Ten Conference rival Illinois. This shows this rivalry is not going anywhere anytime soon.
Washburn Rural won the first game of the doubleheader by a score of 4-3, and the second game 8-3 over Topeka High.