By CONOR NICHOLL

cnicholl@dailynews.net

A nondescript building sits on the south side of Eighth Street. The driveway is gravel and high grass and weeds engulf the parking lot. Old machinery, scrap iron and rusted-out oil hammerheads surround the premises.

But the place is the hub of one of Kansas' top youth baseball and softball programs. Roughly 12 by 25 yards, the building is painted blue with red and white trim. The window that faces Eighth reads "Lady Larks" and "Hays Rangers," a local softball and baseball squad. Inside is filled with batting cages, netting and pitching machines.

During the winter months, the two teams gather here to practice.

"It definitely pays off in the spring," Bruce Schumacher, the head coach for both teams, said.

The Lady Larks softball team finished the season with a 34-8 record and won the 14-and-under AFA State Championship in Lawrence, their second title in four years.

The 10-and-under boys, who have five older sisters on the state title squad, finished fourth at the NBC Hap Dumont state tournament and completed the year 31-4.

"They are starting to get a very big collection of trophies and medals," Schumacher said. "It is kind of a neat deal to where they both share the building and they work with each other as far as fundraising and they help each other out even on fundamentals and hitting."

The softball team is filled with players who will either enter their freshman year of high school or eighth grade. They also had catcher MaKenzie Altman, the starting freshman catcher for the Class 3A state title-winning Thomas More Prep-Marian team in the spring.

Altman earned second team all-state and was one of the leading hitters for the Lady Larks. They had plenty of other talent, too.

"We had different players lead throughout the year," Schumacher said. "Our top four hitters were usually pretty solid, but the reason we (were) as well known and as powerful in the state as we are was that we could hit very well up and down the lineup. From one game to the next, it is hard to say who is going to be generating the most hits and RBIs."

Schumacher said "hitting was definitely the team's strength" all season, including seven runs in a victory over Wichita Blue Ice in the state championship game. Pitching-wise, Heather Ruder, Katelyn Schumacher and Rachel Jacobs were solid.

"All three pitchers had a very good year," Schumacher said.

The full roster included Taylor Rathgeber, MacKenzie Albers, Jacobs, Ruder, Lang, Kassidy Stecklein, Shea Briggs, Schumacher, Bailey Hensley, Altman, Paige Lunsford and Hanna Pfannenstiel.

The boys' team includes Ryan Ruder, Marcus Altman, Jared Vitztum, Justin Pfeifer, Jared Rack, Jarett Pfannenstiel Jared Haynes, Braydon Delzeit, Cole Schumacher, Nathan Engel, Dalton Hensley and Peyton Hoffman.

"They did very well this year," Schumacher said. "I think they won half of their tournaments."

And for both teams, it's a success that starts on Eighth Street.