2013 IL 11/12 year old Softball State Tournament: Weekend Recap

Beardstown’s 11/12 Softball team made their weekend to the state tournament a very successful and fun experience this weekend.  They got things started on Saturday when they took on Evergreen Park.  Right away it would be shown that Beardstown would have little trouble with this team as Beardstown would score 3 runs in the first and 6 runs in the second en route to a 11-1 victory.  The big stories to come out of this game was Autumn Hobrock finally finding her bat as she went 3-3 with 3 RBI’s and 3 runs scored.  The other story was the outing on the mound for Olivia Dour.  She would have a bit of trouble with the first batter she face but she got into a rhythm and really looked like the pitcher that we have seen in the past.  The line score for Evergreen Park was 1 run, 5 hits, 3 errors, and 6 left on base while Beardstown would score 11 runs, on 9 hits, commit 1 error, and only left 2 on base.

The second day of action saw Beardstown taking on a very tough, and quick, Freeport club.  Needless to say this game would prove to be the game of the tournament season when it was all said and done.  After 4 and a half innings of play both teams would be scoreless but Beardstown would soon find their bats getting 2 runs on 2 hits in the bottom of the 5th.  Needing only 3 outs would prove to be a challenge for Beardstown in the top of the 6th as Freeport used a lead off Ground Rule Double from Abby Smith to plate 3 runs and turn the tables on Beardstown.  However with 2 outs in the bottom of the 6th inning and no one on, Taylor Danner was able to reach safely on an error.  Raquel Rawlins would get a base hit and then Maddie Craig would walk to load the bases for Olivia Dour.  Luckily for Beardstown the Freeport catcher, Taylor Holland, would allow a rare pass ball and Danner was able to slide into home safely to tie the game up.  Dour came out in the top of the 7th and pitched through a tough jam to give her team a chance to end it.  Autumn Hobrock would come up and line a double on the third pitch of her at bat followed by Alyssa Dour sending a walk off double to score Hobrock and earn Beardstown a spot in Tuesday night’s state championship contest.  This Beardstown squad would not give up today and their fight and determination has earned them the day off tomorrow. If Beardstown can win Tuesday, or Wednesday if defeated on Tuesday, they would earn themselves a trip to the Central Region Tournament in Indianapolis.

WIVC Basketball: West Central @ Brown County

Last night we got a chance to get our first looks at the Brown County and West Central girls basketball teams as they faced off in an early season WIVC matchup.  After 1 qtr of play, these 2 teams were tied up  11 but West Central would not waste any time in changing that trend.  The Lady Cougars got a bit of a lead before halftime and then really separated themselves from Brown County in the second half en route to the 64-43 victory.  Brown County’s Vanessa Markert led all scorers with 20 points on the night.  For West Central, Kaydee Carmody led the Lady Cougars with 16 points.  As a team, Brown County shot an outstanding 71% from the Free Throw line which any coach has to be pleased with this early in the season.  West Central had trouble finding the basketball night but don’t expect that to be a common problem or this team.  I think that West Central will be a team that has grabbed a lot of attention by the end of this season as they have many strengths and have some excellent players coming off of the bench.  Now looking at the season for Brown County, I think the Lady Hornets really have the potential to turn some heads and be a competitive team.  They have a great group of girls but they just need that varsity game experience to really get to the level they are looking to be at.

WIVC North Football: Central-Southeastern vs. Brown County

A long time rivalry was renewed tonight for the first time in 8 years as Central-Southeastern traveled to Brown County to take on the Hornets.  The storylines leading into this game were endless as these two teams are only separated by 15 miles and know a lot about each other.  The game got out to a very quick start as CSE went 3 & out on their first possession.  Then Brown County comes out and put together a quick scoring drive to take a 7-0 lead.  CSE didn’t wait any time as they came right back out and scored a couple of unanswered touchdowns.  Though the Hornets would get a score in a crazy ending to the 1st half.  CSE took a 14-13 lead into the halftime break.  After a very long drive to start the 3rd quarter that resulted in the Hornets turning the ball over on Downs, the Panthers offense came to life and finally pulled away from Brown County for the 36-19 victory.  Brady Long had an outstanding night for the Hornets as he gained 114 yards and 2 touchdowns on 12 carries.  Bobby Keltz had a great night as well for the Panthers as he gained 97 yards and a touchdown on 21 carries.  Probably the most interesting stat of the night was that Brown County was able to hold the Panthers to just over 250 yards of offense while the Hornets had 328 yards of offense.  CSE is now headed into a big matchup next week against a very tough Triopia team that will really test the Panthers.  I think that CSE will have to shore up things on defense in order to give themselves a solid shot against the Trojans.  For Brown County, the Hornets were greatly improved this week and came up just short tonight. With 3 losses on their record though, the Hornets will be looking to use the rest of the schedule to battle their way to the playoffs.  I think this game tonight went a long way in teaching this young Hornet squad that they can play with the top teams in the WIVC, but it will be up to them to execute and step up to the challenge.  Needless to say for all teams in the WIVC, we are in store for a very close and exciting second half of the season.

Prairieland Volleyball: Farmington @ Rushville-Industry

The Rushville-Industry Lady Rockets were looking to get their week off to a hot start last night as they hosted a tough Farmington volleyball squad.  This entire match would be a lot of trading points back and forth with neither team getting much of a advantage until late in the set.  Farmington won a hard fought set 1 26-24 while the Lady Rockets would take set #2 25-19.  Then look out, Rushville-Industry came to life and these ladies absolutely started playing like the team many people know they are capable of being.  The biggest difference for them, was that they played with minimal errors.  With momentum on their side, the Lady Rockets won the match by a score of 26-24, 25-19, 25-12.  Kristyn Haulk was outstanding for Farmington this evening with 9 Assists.  While Madison Kessler had 19 assists for the Lady Rockets and Carly Rhoades added in 14 Kills.  This was a great way for the Lady Rockets to get this week started as they have 3 conference games this week that they could use to help keep them in the top of the conference standings.

Prairieland Football: Farmington @ Rushville-Industry

Last night the Rushville-Industry Rockets opened up their home schedule by hosting a very tough Farmington squad.  This game got out to really a great start for both teams as they were playing well on both sides of the ball and neither was committing penalties. Farmington would strike first as Seth Bales would get a 25 yd field goal to make it 3-0.  Then in the next possession, Mason Plater would find Austin Gardner on a 7 yd pass play to make it a 6-3 score in favor of the Rockets.  With time running down in the 1^st half, Farmington had a long 4^th down play looming near the 50yd line and they come out and run a fake punt that caught Rushville off guard and began the momentum swing in this contest.  Farmington would score before the half and took a 10-6 lead into halftime.  Neither team could score in the 3^rd quarter and Farmington’s offense held onto the ball most of the 2^nd half.  They would pick up one more score and Farmington would claim the victory over the Rockets by a score of 17-6.  Macae Skaggs led the way for the Farmers with 112 yards of rushing on 22 carries.  Skaggs was the workhorse for Farmington in the 2^nd half and the Rockets could never find a way to stop him.  J.R. Boyd led the Rockets on the ground attack with 52 yards while Mason Plater was good for 55 yards of passing.  The Rockets now fall to 1-2 on the season and have a very hard two weeks ahead of them as they go to Elmwood/Brimfield next week and then come home to face Beardstown in week 5. These two games could be huge for the Rockets in terms of playoff aspirations as a win would put them in a much better position and would be a huge momentum swing for this team that is greatly improved.

2012 WIVC Football: Calhoun vs. Brown County

The 2012 Football season kicked off in Mt. Sterling last night as Brown County hosted Calhoun in a week 1 battle.  The start of this game looked to be a game of strong defenses but Brown County finally turned up the Offense in the 2^nd quarter.  The 2^nd quarter scoring started with Braxton Phelps getting 75 & 26 yard touchdown runs.  Then towards the end of the quarter Michael Scoggin had a 35 yard pick 6 interception to bring us to a 36-6 halftime score in favor of BC.  Calhoun came out in the 2^nd half and really dominated the offensive side of the game with a couple of touchdowns but it would not be enough as Brown County picked up the 36-18 victory.  Brown County definitely had  a lot of trouble on defense in the 2^nd half as they could not get a stop and just looked out of sync the entire half.  Calhoun’s Tavis Gauntt lead the team with 92 yards over 7 carries while Brown County’s Braxton Phelps lead the Hornets with 164 yards over 9 carries.  Both teams showed some positives last night but they have a lot they can improve on. Best part is this was only week 1 and they have 8 more weeks of football to improve upon.

WIVC Basketball: Calhoun @ Triopia

Calhoun and Triopia squared off in a great WIVC battle this evening. These two teams played a hard fought game where the Trojans were plagued by poor shooting and yet found a way to stay in this game.  As the night went on, Triopia started to figure out the key to playing defense against the Warriors and as a result took the lead in the 4th quarter.  Though Triopia could not take advantage of multiple opportunities to put Calhoun away and we would have to settle this one in overtime.  2 three pointers from Leo Herzberger would pull the Trojans out to a quick lead and Calhoun just could not respond and Triopia would pick up the 49-43 overtime victory.  Tyler Baalman led the Warriors with 25 points this evening while Leo Herzberger led the Trojans with 22 points on the evening.

 

WIVC Basketball: Brown County @ Triopia

Brown County traveled to Triopia last night for a WIVC battle between two rivals who know each other very well.  This game would not disappoint anyone who loves defense as Triopia played solid defense for 3 quarters here tonight.  But then finally in the 4th quarter Brown County found a way to pick up the offensive momentum which in turn, forced Triopa to start fouling.  Unfortunately for Triopia, Brown County went 10 for 11 from the free throw line in the game and pulled away for the 45-38 victory.  Triopia was led in scoring by John Love with 16 while Justin Volk had 14 for Brown County.  The Hornets shot 53% from the field in the contest while Triopia could only attain 37%.  Triopia did everything they could to keep themselves in this one but they got in a bit of a panic early in the 4th quarter while Brown County only missed one shot in the quarter, a free throw.

2012 Lady Spartan Classic: North Greene JV vs. Carrollton

Our second game of the day saw #3 Carrollton take on the North Greene JV team.  This is one of those games that is hard for anyone to get motivated to play in but once Carrollton got warmed up they really looked like a solid team.  The Lady Hawks are going to give a lot of teams a lot of fits this year as they are quick, shoot often, and they have bench players that can step in and fill rolls out on the court.  Due to a very instant loss of power, the back end of this game was played with only two lights in the gym but by that point the outcome was already decided.  Carrollton advances with the 62-20 victory of the North Greene JV.  Kylie Foiles led the Lady Spartans with 6 points while Kimberly Lake led the Lady Hawks with 13.  The North Greene JV team will take on Greenfield while Carrollton advances to take on Pittsfield.

2012 Lady Spartan Classic: Beadstown vs. Brussels

The opening round game of the 2012 Lady Spartan Classic was a very one sided affair.  Beardstown jumped out to the quick lead and never looked back.  Even though Brussels was the #8 seed in the tournament, they could never come up with an answer for anything the Lady Tigers would send their way.  Brussels main problem seemed to be that they stood around too much and never found any type of rhythm which allowed Beardstown to control just about every aspect of this game.  Beardstown would pick up the opening round victory by a score of 60-34.  Hannah Pohlman led the Lady Raiders with 12 points while Jill Harris was unstoppable for the Lady Tigers as she had 26 points. Brussels falls into the consolation bracket and get a bye in the next round while Beardstown advances to the Quarterfinals where they will take on #1 seed, Litchfield.