BY BRETT MARSHALL

If there is one description of Carson Umphres when it comes to his role with the Great Bend Panthers’ baseball team, it could be that he likes to be in the middle of things.

Depending on the opponent and other factors, the senior can be found pitching the bulk of innings for his squad. When he’s not throwing on the mound, he will be either in centerfield or shortstop (when Daxton Minton is pitching – the usual shortstop).

“It’s been a great season, and everyone is competitive on the team,” said Umphres who was voted by the conference coaches as the 2025 Player of the Year. “I think we’ve got a great collection of athletes and it’s a real credit to the coaches. It says a lot about how they get people to come out and then develop them in all the sports we have at the school.”

The POY award was a bit of a surprise to Umphres when he was notified.

“It’s a great honor because there are many other outstanding players in the league,” he said. 

Umphres finished the 2025 season 8-2 with two saves. Umphres (1.47 ERA) yielding 14 earned runs in 661/3 innings with 66 strikeouts and 16 walks.

“My velocity improved quite a lot this year,” Umphres said. “I was able to work on my arm strength (increasing fastball from 85 to 90 mph).”

Umphres utilizes a variety of pitches, and the repertoire includes a slider, change-up, knuckleball and fastball. 

“I’ve been throwing the knuckle ball since I was 10, and it is my favorite pitch,” Umphres said. “Not too many hitters in high school see a knuckle ball and I think that’s why I like it so much. I don’t throw a curve because I couldn’t control it and I’ve got my change-up to throw to the other side (of the plate).”

When he is hitting, Umphres is in the lead-off spot with the goal of getting on base any way possible.

“Last year I didn’t hit a lot of hard balls for base hits and this year the ball got to the outfield a lot quicker, so I had to find ways of getting to second base,” Umphres said. 

That translated into stealing bases, and he had 31 of those. He batted .443 (39-88) with eight doubles, three triples, five home runs 35 RBI and 46 runs scored.

“I opened up my spray chart for hitting this year,” Umphres said. “I had a lot of hits to the gaps and had many more hits to the right side.”

Defensively, when he’s playing centerfield and shortstop, he’s usually in the middle of most plays.

“At shortstop you’re like the commander of the defense, making sure the ball gets where it needs to. You just put it all on the line.”

Also Panthers named on the Western Athletic Conference first team are SS/P Daxton Minton (.420, 7-2, 3.11 ERA); 1B Ian Premer (.409); and OF/P Koehn Ribordy (.404, 1-0, 3.40 ERA)

FIRST TEAM ALL WAC

GREAT BEND—P/CF/SS Carson Umphres, 12; SS/P Daxton Minton, 11; 1B Ian Premer, 11; OF/P Koehn Ribordy, 11

HAYS HIGH—P/IF Carter Graham, 12; P/IF Cooper Johnson, 12

GARDEN CITY—P/IF Jakobe Rathbun, 10

LIBERAL—P/OF Alex Schwindt, 12; 

DODGE CITY—P/1B Max Gonzalez, 10

COACH OF YEAR—Dustin Dreher, Hays High

PLAYER OF YEAR—Carson Umphres, Great Bend

SECOND TEAM ALL WAC

GREAT BEND—3B Trenton Kern, 11; P/OF Hunter Herrman, 12

HAYS HIGH—P/OF Trace Jacobs, 12; P/IF Johnny Cano, 12; OF Ian McGuire, 12

GARDEN CITY—U Kyler Metzen, 12; U Culden PLankenhorn, 11

LIBERAL—OF Landon Martinez, 12

DODGE CITY—P Jace Gifford, 11

WAC BASEBALL

Hays High 11-1 19-10

Great Bend 10-2 25-6

Liberal 4-8 8-18

Dodge City 3-9 8-17

Garden City 2-10 6-16

PANTHER PITCHING—Umphres 8-2, 1.47 ERA; 14 ER-66 1/3 IP; 66 K/66 1/3 IP; Herrman 6-1, 1.73 ERA; 11 ER-44 1/3 IP; Minton 7-2, 3.11 ERA; 15 ER-33.2 IP; Kaiser 2-0, 2.52 ERA; Mohr 1-1, 3.50 ERA; Ribordy 1-0, 3.40 ERA; 10 ER-16 IP; Oelger 0-0, 0.00 ERA

PANTHER BATTING—Umphres .443, 39-88; 46 R, 35 RBI, 8-2B, 4-3B, 5-HR; Minton .420, 37-88; 32 R, 26 RBI, 6-2B, 2-3B; Premer .409, 34-83; 31 R, 22 RBI, 7-2B, 3-3B; Ribordy .404, 38-94; 23 R, 29 RBI, 3-2B, 2-3B; Kern, .302; 29-96; 16 R, 27 RBI, 4-2B, 1-HR; Wondra .285; 24-84; 20 RBI; 2-2B; Kaiser .276, 24-87; 8 R, 2-2B, 1-HR, 15 RBI; Mohr .276, 21-76; 22 R, 16 RBI; Schartz .273, 6-22; 12 R, 3 RBI; Herrman .211, 12-57, 6 RBI