•March 30, 2016•
Arthur-Lovington/Atwood-Hammond Knights baseball team traveled to Monticello March 22 with the Sages hitting their way to a 17-0 five inning win.
ALAH was held to one double by Marcus Vanausdoll.
Bradley R. Miller was the starting pitcher who was relieved by Cory Griffin.
Wittig got the win for Monticello with Myers also on the mound for the Sages. Read More
•March 30, 2016•
Taekwondo Master Roberts along with 22 of his students competed in the Southern Illinois Taekwondo Invitational Championship in Olney March 12. The team won 40 medals and two grand champion trophies.
Pictured are Taekwondo Invitational Participants: Aubree Olmstead, Brett Matusas of Neoga, Mia Bianca Roberts, Lillian Daniels of Mattoon, Amaya Queitzsch of Effingham, Alex Corrie, Logan Corrie of Windsor, Reeze Bok of Mattoon, Caden Loew of Effingham, Ayla Schilling of Mattoon.
Seth Rakestraw of Windsor, Toby Cline of Mattoon, Josie Roberts of Windsor, Joshua Reside of Charleston, Damien Coney of Bethany and Natalie Zakowski of Mattoon.
Jack Nacke of Arcola, Paul Olmstead, Ethan Olmstead and Brooklyn Matusas of Neoga, Lahiru Perriyannan of Charleston, Kyle Meyer and Master Kevin Roberts of Mattoon.
Photo by Mike Brothers
Brett Tuttle dives safely back to second after stretching a long single in a 4-3 win in Sullivan baseball action against Heritage last week.
•March 30, 2016•
Sullivan Redskins baseball team topped the Heritage Hawks 4-3 in Sullivan action March 23.
Tom Schibur was the winning pitcher for Sullivan varsity allowing three earned runs and throwing 10 strikeouts in seven innings.
Alec Ballinger scored one run, getting two hits in four at bats.
Brett Tuttle had two hits and two runs in four trips to the plate. He was left on base twice.
Zach Hrvol had two at bats and was walked twice, getting left on base one time. Bryce Farris had one hit and one RBI in four trips to the plate. Read More
2016 Okaw Valley Timberwolves Varsity Roster: Taylor Coleman, Hayden Francisco, Drew Fruchtl, Dylan Park, Justin Johnson, Ian Tiarks, Alex Martin, Connor Cloyd, Tanner Coleman, Jared Bunfill, Trey Yarnell, Garrett Fritz, Sam Hagerman, Stewart Morgan, Hutson Dickens, Austin Hill, Cody Drake, Austin Sutton, Kam Roley.
•March 23, 2016•
By Matt Kracht
News Progress Sports
Timberwolves baseball fans have been looking out the window waiting for spring ever since last season’s team finished as one of four state finalists in Peoria. Now the sun is out, the grass is kind of green and it’s time for another season of Timberwolves baseball!
Returning head coach Andrew Hagerman has produced back to back conference championships including a 20 plus game winning streak during last year’s Cinderella run.
This year Hagerman sees a group of seniors who know what they are playing for. “All of our seniors have displayed leadership in practice. They’ve been a part of something special here and want to keep a good thing going. Really, everyone returning from last year has come in ready to compete and help others.”
Okaw Valley’s home opener versus Central A&M scheduled for March 14 was cancelled due to conditions. The Timberwolves will instead start with three consecutive road games 3/16 at Mt Pulaski, 3/18 at Stew-Stras Windsor (at Stew-Stras High School) and 3/22 in Ramsey. The first game back at home will be March 23 and the de facto opener versus Brownstown/St. Elmo. Read More
•March 23, 2016•
Okaw Valley Timberwolves softball team opened their season last week.
Varsity players won 3-1 over Paris.
Photo by Darian Hays
ALAH High School Softball Team back row left to right: Taylor Powell, Alyssa Herschberger, Janette Comstock, Morgan Mercer, Callie Schable, Bri Smith, Madi Corum, Reagan Miller; front row left to right: Marissa Herschberger, Macy Hollingsworth, Mycaela Miller, Logan Kauffman, Jazmine Arnett, Nisa Asghar, Shelby Frederick, Megan Osborne.
•March 23, 2016•
By Matt Kracht
News Progress Sports
The 2016 Lady Knights softball season got off to a promising start Tuesday despite an 8-3 loss to rival Tuscola.
Arthur-Lovington/Atwood-Hammond head coach Jerry Lane was positive about the takeaways from the contest. “There are lot of positives I can take away from this game. I got four freshmen starting, a couple sophomores and a couple juniors. We just got to get used to playing together since we have only been outside twice before today. We get rid of one inning, and we are right there in the ball game against one of the better teams we are going to face all year.”
In a matchup of staff, aces Macy Hollingsworth for the Lady Knights faced off against Morgan Day for Tuscola. Day is a velocity strike out pitcher while Hollingsworth pitches to contact with an excellent change up. Read More
Photo by Mike Brothers
•March 23, 2016•
Seleste Smith, signed a letter of intent to play softball for Robert Morris College in Springfield during ceremonies attended by teammates, family and friends in Sullivan High School gym March 17.
Pictured during the signing seated from left: Nancy Leslie, Smith’s grandmother of Tallahasee, Fla.; Smith; Cindy Leslie, Smith’s mother and Chloe Smith, her sister; standing from left: Redskin head softball coach Andy Wagner, Robert Morris College head coach Boyd Nowicki, Morris assistant coach Stacey Sparks and Smith’s summer league coach Todd Cooley.
Photo by Mike Brothers
Sullivan High School softball team. Front row left to right: Sarah Green, Bailee Pratt, Dani Boyer, Abby Elzy, Heidi Clements, Seleste Smith, Makenzie Ruppert and Jordan Bassett; Back row left to right: Irie Dulin, Ally Elzy, Lacie Green, Madison Wall, Josie Orris, Brooke Tuttle, Maryann Quiroz, Ally O’Neill, and Alexis Britton.
•March 23, 2016•
Although Sullivan Redskins softball team is young coach Andy Wagner has seven returning letter winners from the 2015 team to help guide the way.
Among the strengths for the 2016 Redskins is their pitching.
“I’m hoping to have many strengths,” Coach Wagner said. “A few I think will be nice, is having some solid pitching”
Those pitchers include Heidi Clements, Madison Wall and Abby and Ally Elzy.
“We have a very solid receiver of the softball in Makenzie Ruppert,” he continued. “I feel as if offensively and defensively we should be pretty solid.”
He pointed out that having Clements back on the mound with Ruppert catching makes a great leadership duo that could help the team reach new levels this season.
The team focus is on getting plenty of swings, pitching, defensive situations and running. Read More
Photo by Darian Hays
ALAH baseball team: Bradley R Miller*, Bradley D Miller, Tyler Emberton, Turner Emberton, Cory Griffin, Shandon Herschberger*, Nick Stoltey, Marcus Vanausdoll*, Waylon Schlabach, Keegan Morfey, Josh Garrett, Paul Brodnansky. An asterisk denotes senior players.
•March 23, 2016•
By Matt Kracht
News Progress Sports
Your 2016 Knights baseball squad will rely heavily on four returning starters to be competitive in 2016. Arthur-Lovington/Atwood-Hammond has a tentative home opener versus the Tuscola Warriors on Wednesday. However, weather could see the game moved to away or postponed to a later date. Regardless of when the Knights play their first game, fourth year head coach Craig Moffett thinks the majority of the spring weather has been an advantage. “We have been on the field more this year than ever before.” Spring practice is notoriously hit or miss weatherwise and with a younger group of players being on the field is key. “We have got a good group of kids working hard, and we are looking to upset some teams.” Read More
Photo by RR Best
Sullivan Baseball opened season at home last Friday with a loss, but came back on the weekend with a double header shut out.
•March 23, 2016•
Sullivan Redskin baseball started the season with a 9-6 win over Mattoon March 18.
By the end of Saturday they had gotten some batting practice while shutting out Cerro Gordo in a double header there.
On Saturday Cerro Gordo yielded to the Redskins’ bats with Sullivan getting 24 runs on 26 hits while holding Cerro Gordo to two hits.
Junior Tom Schibur got the win with five strikeouts, allowing two hits with one base on balls. Schibur threw 37 strikes in 54 pitches before Austin Minnigerode came in for relief, throwing one strikeout while pitching 8-15 strikes.
Alec Ballinger was 4-4 at bats, scoring four runs with two RBIs.
In five trips to the plate Brett Tuttle had four hits with four RBIs, while scoring three runs.
Zach Hrvol made the most of his six trips to the plate getting four hits and three runs while driving in two runs.
Bryce Farris got one hit with two RBIs and scored twice getting one base on balls. Read More