High School Baseball
Central Lee outlasted Van Buren County last night 10-6. Bo Herdrich and Chase Johnson combined to throw 13 strikeouts in the win. The Hawks will host Fairfield tonight at 7 pm.
Van Buren County will take on Winfield-Mt. Union on Monday, June 10th, at 5:30 pm at home.
Winfield-Mt. Union took down Highland last night 6-4. Tyson Kaalberg and Cael Phillips each tallied two RBIs in the winning effort.
Mt. Pleasant has now picked up two conference sweeps to start the season with an 11-4 victory over Keokuk last night. The Panthers rode the momentum of a three-run third inning that saw Zach Newton collect one of his three RBIs for the game and an RBI double for Brayton Hutson. Payton Hagans got the job done on the mound, going 6.1 innings and notching 11 strikeouts to go along with his three RBIs at the plate. Head coach Brent Broeker talked about what has gone into this recent offensive production.
“We’ve been working on two strike approaches a lot. Actually if you looked at our first two innings, we struck out three of the six outs. So coach Bjork got on them a little bit and said hey this is ridiculous and we started then focusing a little more and put the bat on the ball and, you know, these kinds of games, you know, on a dirt infield, grass, you don’t know which way it’s going to bounce. Sometimes you get lucky, and balls get through that shouldn’t. But you know, our kids are, you know, putting the bat on the ball just like there tonight. You know, we got guys all up and down the lineup that can do that. So, it’s making it a lot easier so that we don’t have to buy all the time we can. We can run out of things so they’re doing a good job so far.”
Mt. Pleasant will travel to Alburnett tonight with first pitch at 7 pm. KILJ 105.5 FM, kilj.com, will be on the call with the pregame show at 6:45 pm.
New London will hit the road to face off against Danville tonight at 5:30 pm.
Burlington Notre Dame will travel to Fort Madison tonight at 7:30 pm.
West Burlington will face off against Mediapolis tonight at 5:30 pm.
High School Softball
WACO fell to Pekin last night 13-1. The Warriors will take on Louisa-Muscatine on Tuesday, June 11th, at 5:30 pm at home.
Fairfield was unable to avoid the sweep last night against Burlington, losing 5-0. Laney Norris and Faith Jones each picked up a hit in the loss. The Trojans will host a tournament this weekend, starting today with Central Lee, Van Buren Country, and Mt. Pleasant making the trip.
Mt. Pleasant picked up their first conference win of the season against Keokuk last night in dominant fashion 10-3. Myah Starr picked up the complete game win in the circle with two strikeouts; according to Starr, the Panthers were ready to go,
“I think we all just had a big boost of energy today especially and so seeing everyone kind of get ready to go initially I think was a big thing and having just the right energy in the first place.”
At the plate, Keagyn Coleman caught fire, going 3 for 4 and finishing with a game high five RBIs. Coleman believes this win will help the squad’s confidence for the rest of the season and gave a nod of confidence to her dad,
“I think our minds set is really good. I think we have a better chance at winning more games this season than we have in the past couple of seasons…”
Head coach Derek Coleman will be looking for this win to help propel his young squad into their tournament at Fairfield today.
“Hopefully huge. I mean they needed that win. Now hopefully we can go over to Fairfield this weekend and build on it and just keep it all away the rest of the year.”
Central Lee defeated Van Buren County last night 12-5. Kylee Roen, Ali Pedretti, and Lexie Wiley each finished with an RBI for the Warriors.
Winfield-Mt. Union was squashed by Highland last night 14-0. The Wolves will attempt to bounce back tonight against Columbus on the road at 5:30 pm.
Holy Trinity Catholic will host Lone Tree on Monday, June 10th, at 5:30 pm.
New London will square off against Danville tonight at 7 pm.
Mediapolis will face off against West Burlington tonight at 7 pm at home.
Prospect League
The Burlington Bees were shot down by the Illinois Valley Pistol Shrimp last night 6-3. Reese Moore and Jackson Reid each tabbed an RBI for the Bees. The Jackson Rockabillys come to town tonight with first pitch at 6:30 pm.
The Clinton LumberKings chopped down the O’Fallon Hoots 15-3 last night in game one. Eight players registered an RBI in the win as RJ Sherwood smacked a home run in the winning effort.
Game two saw the Hoots enact their revenge with a 3-2 walk-off victory. The LumberKings travel to take on the Pistol Shrimp tonight at 7:05 pm.
This Day in Sports History
1892 – John J. Doyle of the Cleveland Spiders is the first to pinch hit in a baseball game.
1989 – The first baseball game to start outdoors and end indoors, as the Toronto Blue Jays’ stadium closed the roof during the game. They go on to beat the Brewers 4-2.
1989 – Wayne Gretzky wins his 9th NHL Hart (MVP) Trophy in 10 years.