News Progress

Photo by Keith Stewart
Pictured are the Okaw Valley softball team’s six seniors, who were recognized last Wednesday between a double-header against Argenta-Oreana. From left to righ: Paige Harlin, Amy Orris, Savannah Birch, Hayley Carlson, Amanda McClain, and Keeley Benning.

May 13, 2015

Now in position to win division

by Keith Stewart
keith@newsprogress.com

After letting the first game slip by in the seventh inning, the Okaw Valley softball team got downright mad.
Or so it appeared.
The Lady T-Wolves came back and began the second game of last Wednesday’s double-header against conference foe Argenta-Oreana by taking a 10-0 lead. The Lady Bombers would resist later in the game, but OV eventually snuffed out any comeback by way of a six inning 10-run margin to split the series 1-1.
“I was pleased with the way we bounced back. In game one, we looked like we were sleep walking,” said head coach Dave Benning. “Argenta was the aggressor. We’ve talked about it all season, how the style of Argenta is to put pressure on you constantly and force you to make plays. I think we had four maybe five errors–some very crucial errors. And Argenta did make some mistakes themselves but in their case, their explosion was the result of our missed plays.”
In game one, OV struck first with a lone run in the bottom of the second, but Argenta came back to take a 3-1 lead in the third. A back-and-forth affair then ensued with the Timberwolves pushing three runs across the plate in the fourth to retake the lead and then four more in the fifth but only after Argenta managed two of their own to make it a 5-8 game in favor of OV. The Bombers tacked on one more run in the sixth to pull within two, but heading into the seventh, the Timberwolves just needed three outs to wrap up the game a half-inning early. Read More

Photo Courtesy of Michelle McClain
The SOV girls’ track and field team celebrated its seniors last Tuesday during the Redskin Invitational. Pictured, from left to right, are the team’s five seniors: Caity Ohm, Amanda McClain, Kennedy
Lucas, Emily Neuhauser, and Tori Murphy.

Finish fourth at CIC meet

May 13, 2015

by Keith Stewart
keith@newsprogress.com

Competing at their last home invite of the year, SOV’s girls came away with a second place finish and celebrated their five seniors including Tori Murphy, Caity Ohm, Kennedy Lucas, Emily Neuhauser, and Amanda McClain.
And the five didn’t disappoint as each finished in the top five of at least one event.
“My five seniors have done a great job leading the team both by their actions and by continuing to encourage, motivate, and mentor the underclassmen,” said girls’ head coach Kali Taylor. “As a high school coach, it is always neat to see how they grow and mature throughout their high school careers…Amanda and Emily continue to prove that they are two of the toughest, strongest sprinters in the state, consistently improving on their times, splits, and pushing each other and the rest of their competitors to a higher level each meet. Caity, Tori and Kennedy may not score as many points as the other two, but each have brought their own leadership abilities and dynamics to the team over the course of their careers.” Read More

Photo by Keith Stewart
Sullivan senior and softball player Elissa Stewart signed her letter of intent committing to play softball at Parkland in a ceremony held January 28. Pictured, front row, from left to right: brother Blake, mother Amy, Elissa, and father John. Back row: Sullivan head softball coach Ben Richter and Parkland head softball coach Chuck Clutts.

Sullivan senior will play as Cobra beginning this fall

May 6, 2015

by Keith Stewart
keith@newsprogress.com

Amy Stewart still recalls one of her daughter’s earliest tests on the ball diamond.
Just five years old at the time, Elissa Stewart was participating in an instructional league in her hometown of Hoopeston when she was on the receiving end of the ball.
“She got hit, and you could tell she was hurt, but she picked up the ball and made the out,” recalled her mother Amy. “She didn’t cry. She made the play and went on.”
These days, the Sullivan shortstop is, if ever, not without a smile streaked across her face regardless of whether she is leaping high in the air with the audacity for the catch or off to the races after laying down a bunt. But this past January, that smile was perhaps a little wider as she signed her letter of intent, committing to play softball as a Cobra come next fall. Read More

Photo by Keith Stewart
Okaw Valley pitcher Amanda McClain chases down a bunt laid down by Sullivan’s Elissa Stewart Saturday.

Clements ends game with walk-off

May 6, 2015

By Matt Kracht
NP Sports Reporter

Two of the area’s top prep softball teams went to battle on Saturday for bragging rights on Sullivan’s north diamond. Amanda McClain and Heidi Clements, both all-conference pitchers, dueled it out for seven innings before Clements took matters into her own hands with a walk off game winner.
Sullivan head coach Ben Richter said he was pleasantly surprised by the outcome.
“I am just still trying to figure out how we pulled this one out,” he admitted. “That was a great team that hits the ball well. Amanda McClain is a talented pitcher, but we put the ball in play, putting the pressure on them.”
Asked whether he could put his finger on a play that changed the game, Richter pointed to Brittin Boyer’s two-run triple in the bottom of the fifth. Read More

Photo by Keith Stewart
Sullivan pitcher Jacob Piper eyes an in-field popup while first baseman Dakota Clayton supports and Okaw Valley base runner Justin Johnson watches in anticipation.

T-wolves’ defense lacks in the loss

May 6, 2015

by Keith Stewart
keith@newsprogress.com

Of Sullivan’s 10 runs Saturday, only three were earned. In what was an uncharacteristic day for the typically stalwart Okaw Valley defense, the Timberwolves committed three costly errors and had a handful of dropped third strikes on which Sullivan was able to reach first. And despite a seventh inning rally by OV, Sullivan kept the lid on the Timberwolves, who fell 10-2.
Errors in both the first and second innings helped Sullivan to a 6-0 lead going into the third. From there, the two Moultrie County rivals stood at a stalemate for the next three innings, though OV’s offense finally began to come around in the fifth but was ultimately stopped short, stranding two runners on first and third base. OV would continue the slight momentum into the sixth after Taylor Coleman reached first on a fielding error. After Jacob Piper’s first walk of the day, Garrett Fritz singled between third and short to load the bases. Cody Drake then hit a hard grounder to third baseman Zak Hrvol, who committed a fielding error, allowing Coleman home. But OV would muster no more in the inning and instead again stranded runners. Read More