News Progress

Photo by Keith Stewart
Pictured is the Okaw Valley softball team with their regional championship. The Lady Timberwolves defeated Arthur-Lovington/Atwood-Hammond 12-2 Friday in Windsor.

Big fifth inning propels T-Wolves past Knights

May 27, 2015

by Keith Stewart
keith@newsprogress.com

Some will call it a regional championship.
But for those close to the Okaw Valley softball program, including head coach Dave Benning, it’s more like unfinished business.
The Lady Timberwolves, who entered the Windsor/Stew-Stras regional as the no. 1 seed and faced off against two-seed Arthur-Lovington/Atwood-Hammond Friday afternoon, gritted their teeth through four innings before taking advantage of a three-error fifth that would prove pivotal in their 12-2 win.
After the Knights’ Macy Hollingsworth started the bottom of the fifth by striking out Maddie Perrine, the ALAH freshman gave up back-to-back hits to Amanda McClain and Paige Robinson. Then back-to-back errors allowed OV two runs. After the first pitch on Paige Harlin’s at-bat, the Knights attempted a throwout at second, during which Natalie Jeffers stole home. Harlin would soon after lay down a bunt, and the ensuing throw to first was high, allowing yet another run to score, putting OV up 6-2. Jesse Robinson then singled to shortstop, the hard shot ricocheting off the glove to score the last run of the inning. Read More

Yeakley returns in two events

May 27, 2015

by Keith Stewart
keith@newsprogress.com

The Arthur-Lovington/Atwood-Hammond boys’ track and field team will be sending three athletes to O’Brien Stadium in Charleston Thursday to compete in four events.
“Obviously it’s great for all three to have qualified,” said head coach Ryan Whelan. “Going in to the sectional meet, that was the hope with things.”
Leading the small pack is junior Colton Yeakley who advanced, again, in the discus, with a throw of 165 feet, 10 inches and taking second at the Pana sectional. But the junior also qualified for the shot put with a fifth place throw of 48-3. Read More

Photo by Keith Stewart
Bryce Farris (left) and Nick Frerichs (right) bump gloves after Farris’ quick lineout grab at third in the bottom of the third.

Redskins get to experience Major League ball park for last game of the year

May 27, 2015

by Keith Stewart
keith@newsprogress.com

The Mattoon Green Wave might have avenged a season opening loss by defeating Sullivan 6-3 on Sunday afternoon, but win or no win, nothing was going to take away from the experience of a lifetime that the Redskins were able to receive by playing ball in the St. Louis Cardinals’ Busch Stadium.
“It’s awesome. Playing on a field like this makes every ground ball easier,” said head coach Troy Rogers. “It makes pitching easier. You throw quicker.  The adrenaline is going. You can’t have a better setting. And our pitchers threw well. They went out and threw strikes like they have been all year. Defensively we had a few mistakes, but there was also a bad call at first, which led to a two-run inning. And he apologized to me. He felt bad. That’s baseball. You have to learn from it and go on. But they had a great day. They had fun.”
The game itself was a back-and-forth affair with neither team doing much through three innings. In the bottom of the fourth, the Redskins (or Eagles if one was abiding by the scoreboard listing), fell behind 2-0 thanks to two errors and two Green Wave hits. And until the fifth, Sullivan’s offense had stalled, going three up, three down each of the last four. That goes without saying that the Redskins started the game off with their top three hitters in Alec Ballinger, Dylan Hart, and Nick Frerichs all coming within 15 feet or so of a home run. Read More

Photo by Keith Stewart
Pictured is the Okaw Valley baseball team with their regional championship. The Timberwolves defeated Windsor/Stew-Stras 9-0 Saturday in Assumption.

Defeat Windsor/Stew-Stras 9-0

May 27, 2015

by Keith Stewart
keith@newsprogress.com

Okaw Valley head coach Andrew Hagerman sort of knew how Saturday’s regional championship was going to go. More than just predicting or hoping for a win, the OV coach actually dreamed of how the final out would come.
With two outs in the bottom of the seventh, the Hatchets’ Devon Deremiah took an 0-2 count to third baseman Taylor Coleman, who promptly fielded the grounder and shot it to first base for the winner. Like Hagerman foresaw.
“I actually had a premonition Taylor would get the last putout,” he said. “Peyton is striking the whole town out and then there’s a shot at Taylor, and he’s awake for it. First play of the game he’s seen and he ends the regional.”
The Timberwolves didn’t have to play a ton of defense, however, as senior Peyton Hagerman went off for 14 strikeouts and allowed just one hit and two walks. Read More

Photo by Keith Stewart
SOV's Amanda McClain is seen midair during her jump of 18-8 1/2 Thursday at the state track meet preliminaries in Charleston. The jump would not only mark McClain's personal best, but also set a school record.

SOV track team to state finals in four events

May 22, 2015

by Keith Stewart
keith@newsprogress.com

After finishing with a time in the 400m dash more familiar of her freshman year, senior Amanda McClain went and sat down in the grass near the south end of O’Brien Stadium Thursday in Charleston to regroup. There, she remained with her mother and her head coach Kali Taylor, mulling over her 1:00.08
in the 400m dash, an event in which she earned first at last year’s state meet.
“It’s aggravating to get a time like that, that I haven’t done since my freshman year, but I figured it wouldn’t be a very good time because I didn’t have much time to rest. I was pretty tired,” said McClain, who moments before the 400m had anchored the 4x200 relay. “I knew it would be a tight race and there would be a tiny window for our relay to get in depending on how other teams did. I wanted to try to give it all for the relay because it means more to me than the 400.” Read More