•May 30, 2018•
The Okaw Valley softball team handed out season awards and recognized All-Little Okaw Valley Northwest players this past week.
Five Timberwolves earned LOVC Northwest All-Conference honors.
Grace Harlin and Natalie Jeffers were unanimous selections for first team infielders.
Infielder Bella Benning earned second team honors, and pitcher Grace Bunfill also was named to the second team. Read More
Photo furnished
WSS Hatchets team heads to state after winning IHSA Super-sectionals in Springfield.
•May 30, 2018•
By Jason Brown
NP Sports
Windsor/Stewardson-Strasburg softball team’s No. 7 IHSA Class 1A ranking this season was not good enough.
After winning its regional, WSS shutout Central A&M last Tuesday and Cumberland Saturday to win the Effingham Sectional title.
But the Hatchets were not finished.
WSS avenged last season’s super-sectional loss to Calhoun with a come-from-behind win to knock off the Warriors 7-2.
The Springfield super-sectional win gave the Hatchets their first trip to the Final Four tournament at state in Windsor or Stewardson-Strasburg’s softball history.
WSS is scheduled to play Argenta-Oreana at 12:30 p.m. at the EastSide Centre in East Peoria, Friday. Read More
Photo submitted
Sullivan’s Jadon Nuzzo (center) is pictured.
•May 30, 2018•
Four area athletes competed in the Class 1A Boys’ State Track and Field meet at Eastern Illinois University’s O’Brien Field in Charleston Saturday.
The Arthur-Lovington/Atwood-Hammond boys’ track and field team placed eighth in state with 26 points, and Sullivan tied for 49th with five points.
ALAH’s Logan Hall, who is to run at the University of Illinois next school year, was state champion in the 1,600-meter run with a time of 4:22.45, and he was runner-up in the 3,200-meter with a time of 9:25.14.
Freshman Layton Hall placed 18th in the 3,200-meter at 10:13.93.
Senior Knight high jumper Kobe Wells cleared 6 feet 6 inches for second place.
For Sullivan, junior Jadon Nuzzo pole vaulted 14 feet for fifth place and five points.
•May 23, 2018•
The Sullivan girls’ track and field team competed in the IHSA Class 1A State Track and Field Meet at Eastern Illinois University last weekend.
Esther Miller finished in 29th place in the triple jump with a leap of 32 feet 8.5 inches and in 30th place in the 400-meter dash with a time of 1:03.64. Read More
•May 23, 2018•
Two athletes, sophomore Kenli Nettles and senior Hannah Wallen, from the Arthur-Lovington/Atwood-Hammond girls’ track and field team competed in the Class 1A State Track and Field meet at Eastern Illinois University’s O’Brien Field in Charleston. Read More
•May 23, 2018•
by Jason Brown
NP Sports
The Okaw Valley softball team’s season came to a heartbreaking end in the Class 1A Moweaqua Regional last Wednesday.
“Our season was streaky to say the least,” said OV coach Dave Benning. “At one point in the middle of the season, we lost five games in a row after winning four in a row. I believe we were playing our best softball at the time of regionals in that we had won seven of our last 10 games.”
The No. 5 Timberwolves headed into the bottom of the seventh inning up 4-2 against host Central A&M but could not hold on to the lead.
CAM tied the game at four when an OV error led to the winning run, 5-4.
OV opened the scoring in the first inning when Madison Voegel’s sacrifice fly scored a run. Read More
Photo by RR Best
The Okaw Valley High School baseball team celebrates its third Regional Conference title.
•May 23, 2018•
by Jason Brown
NP Sports
The Okaw Valley baseball team won its third regional title in four years with a 3-0 shutout of Argenta-Oreana at the IHSA Class 1A Meridian Regional championship in Macon Saturday.
Despite defeating AO twice this season 5-1 (April 25) and 18-0 (May 1), the No. 1 seeded Timberwolves were not taking anything for granted.
In last year’s regional championship, AO upset OV.
The Timberwolves, especially senior Garrett Fritz, were determined not to let that happen this season.
Fritz took the mound and shut down the Bombers in the top of the first inning.
In the bottom of the first, Fritz drove in two runs with a home run.
OV scored another run in the first, and that was all the run support he needed. Read More
•May 23, 2018•
The Sullivan softball team’s season came to an end in a gut-wrenching back-and-forth game against Shelbyville in extra innings in the Class 2A Tuscola Regional last Tuesday.
Sullivan scored three runs in the top of the first inning, but the Rams answered with two runs in the bottom of the inning.
Sullivan plated four runs in the second inning to take a 7-2 lead.
Shelbyville scored three runs in the third, and each team scored a run in the fourth inning for an 8-6 Sullivan lead.
The Rams scored two runs in the fifth inning to tie the game. Read More
Photos by Bridgette Cole
WSS Softball celebrating second straight Regional championship.
•May 23, 2018•
by Jason Brown
NP Sports
The Windsor-Stewardson-Strasburg softball team won its second-straight Class 1A Regional championship by shutting out host Nokomis 9-0 Monday evening.
The game was originally scheduled for Saturday but postponed because of rain which means the Hatchets will have to play back-to-back days.
WSS, who is ranked No. 7 in the state, took a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the second inning and took control of the championship game by scoring seven runs in the third inning.
Each team recorded six hits, but WSS also induced nine walks.
“Great team win, everyone contributed.” Coach Craig Moffett said. Read More
•May 23, 2018•
After beating Pana in the first round of the Class 2A Riverton Regional, the Sullivan baseball team’s season ended in the second round with a 6-1 loss to Williamsville.
Sullivan got on the board first with a run in the top of the third inning, but Williamsville countered with three runs in the bottom of the inning. Read More