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Hilltop Press
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This week in baseball
• Monroe beat Mount Healthy 11-1 in five innings, May 10. • North College Hill was defeated by Ripley 15-5 in six innings in the Division III Sectional, May 10. • St. Xavier beat Loveland 10-0 in six innings, May 10. St. X’s Dalle was the winning pitcher, and Chris Rutz hit a grand slam and had four RBI. • Roger Bacon beat Norwood 8-2, May 11, in the Division II Sectional. Roger Bacon’s Jason Light was the winning pitcher, and was 3-4 at bat with three RBI. Roger Bacon advances to play McNicholas, May 13. • Lakota West beat Winton Woods 12-2, May 11. • St. Xavier beat Glen Este 10-7, May 11, in the Division I Sectional. St. X’s winning pitcher as Jake Sambrookes, and Chad Sudbrack was 2-3, hit a double, scored a homerun and had six RBI. • McNicholas beat Roger Bacon 5-4 in 12 innings in Division II Sectionals, May 13. Roger Bacon’s Nathan Sketch hit a double and had two RBI. • La Salle beat Kings 4-3 in 11 innings in Division I Sectionals, May 13. La Salle’s Joel Feldkamp was the winning pitcher, and Zach Dillman was 2-6 with two RBI. La Salle advances to play Loveland, May 20. • Hamilton beat Aiken 12-0 in five innings in Division I Sectionals, May 13. • St. Xavier beat Little Miami 4-2 in Division I Sectionals, May 13. St. X’s Joe Gellenbeck was the winning pitcher, and Guetle was 3-4. No. 17 St. X advances to the sectional finals to face No. 7 Oak Hills Thursday, May 20, at Western Hills at 5 p.m. If victorious, St. X advances to the district finals to face the winner of No. 4 La Salle vs. No. 11 Loveland Saturday, May 22, at Western Hills at 2 p.m. • Lakota West beat Mt. Healthy 14-1 in five innings in Division I Sectionals, May 13. • Finneytown beat Wyoming 9-2 in Division II Sectionals, May 13. Finneytown’s Michael Deitsch was the winning pitcher, and was 3-3 at bat with two runs, and RBI and two doubles. Finneytown beat No. 2 New Richmond 15-7 May 14. No. 7 Finneytown advances to the sectional finals to face No. 4 Bethel-Tate Thursday, May 20, at Turpin at 5 p.m. If victorious, Finneytown advances to face the winner of Ross and Bellbrook Saturday, May 22, at Mason at 2 p.m.
This week in softball
• Finneytown beat St. Bernard 17-8, May 8. Finneytown’s winning pitcher was Jessica Kathman, and Alex Voland was 3-5, scored a homerun, and had two RBI. • McAuley beat Winton Woods 10-0 in five innings in the Division I Sectional, May 10. McAuley’s Kayla Owens pitched 11 strikeouts, and Maria Meyer hit a double and had two RBI. McAuley advances to play Mount Notre Dame, May 12. • Reading beat Roger Bacon 4-3 in the Division III Sectional, May 10. Roger Bacon’s Kassee Florea was 23 and hit a double. • Kings beat Finneytown 10-0 in Division II Sectionals, May 11. • Mount Notre Dame beat McAuley 6-0, May 13, in Division I Sectionals. • New Richmond beat Mt. Healthy 19-0 in five innings, May 13, in Division II Sectionals.
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May 19, 2010
| YOUTH | Editor Melanie Laughman | mlaughman@communitypress.com | 248-7573 HIGH
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Lancers win GCL-South track title, again By Tony Meale
tmeale@communitypress.com
For the fourth time in the last five years – and the 14th time since 1992 – the La Salle High School track team has won the Greater Catholic League South division championship. “Winning the GCL is one of our goals each and every year,” head coach Frank Russo said. La Salle, which hosted the meet May 12 and 14, totaled 106 points. St. Xavier (77.5), Elder (48) and Moeller (24.5) finished second through fourth, respectively. Among the event winners for La Salle were Ethan Bokeno (800, 1:57.85), Travis Hawes (1,600, 4:26.29; 3,200, 9:45.64), Ray Claytor (high jump, 6-4), Chris Fisbeck (long jump, 21-1.75), Rodriguez Coleman (110 hurdles, 14.84) and Andrew Silber (pole vault, 15-0). La Salle also won the 4x800 relay (8:00.95). A league title is the latest firstplace finish for the Lancers, which have also won – among others – the Legends Classic, the LaRosa Track and Field Classic and the Roosevelt Memorial, which they last won in
1995. “We’ve had a great year – really, an outstanding year,” Russo said. “This group is one of my best groups ever.” Russo credited a trio of seniors – Fisbeck, Claytor and Cameron Cole – for their leadership. “They’ve really stepped up not only in practice but also on meet days,” Russo said. Juniors Hawes and Bokeno, meanwhile, have been nearly untouchable. “Travis is undefeated in the 1,600 since the Coaches’ Classic, (which was) about the third week of the season,” Russo said. “He’s maintained his health all year, and it’s really paid off. He’s running with tremendous confidence, and he’s much more focused than I’ve ever seen him. He’s putting it all together.” The same can be said for Bokeno. “He’s really come alive in the 800,” Russo said. “He’s running with more confidence than I’ve ever seen before. You’re not going to find a nicer, more passionate athlete than Ethan.” Other top contributors include Dennis Rapien, Jaleel Hytchye,
Tyrin Nelson, Cam Pankey, Daniel Scott, Matt Farrell, Jesse Beck, Alex Thiery and Dwight Hill. “Dwight is a product of hard work and dedication and great leadership,” Russo said. “He’s been a huge part of our success.” This depth allowed La Salle, which won league titles from 20062008 before finishing second to Elder last year, to regain conference supremacy. “Last year was an anomaly,” Russo said. “We sustained a great deal of injuries from top to bottom. I felt we had a little better team (than Elder) entering (last) season, but it shows you have to be able to stay healthy.” La Salle, which won the league from 1992 to 2000, holds the record for most consecutive GCL titles – a mark that dates back to 1932. The Lancers now prepare for the Division I district tournament, which will be held at Winton Woods May 19 and 21. Russo said his team’s goal is to win districts, contend for a regional title and then advance as many athletes as possible to state. Russo, who began his tenure at La Salle in 1985, has six
top-five finishes at state on his resume, including a state title in 1994. The Lancers finished second in 2008. "We look at winning a state title as a two- to three-year process,” Russo said. “Advancing athletes to the state championship, exposing them to the depth of talent, the air of intensity, the 10,000 fans – (those) can be mental and emotional adjustments.” Russo pointed to recent history to support his qualify-as-juniors and win-as-seniors philosophy. La Salle had two state champions in 2008: Chandler Burden (shot put and discus), who became the first Southwest Ohio athlete to ever win both throwing events, and DeVier Posey (400), who is currently a wide receiver at Ohio State. Burden and Posey both qualified to state as juniors; Burden finished seventh in the shot and did not advance to the finals in discus, while Posey did not advance to the finals in the 400. The following year they were state champions. “I think we’re a year away from contending for a state title,” Russo said. “But getting to the state meet is a huge accomplishment.”
Progress not measured in wins for NCH softball By Tony Meale tmeale@communitypress.com
Finishing a season 3-13 – which is what the North College Hill softball team did following a 15-5 loss to Mariemont in the opening round of the playoffs May 10 – would leave most coaches feeling disheartened. But not Bruce Baarendse. “We’re still very young; we had one senior (Tanielle Johnson), two juniors (Theresa Carmichael and Chelsea Livingston) and the rest were sophomores and freshmen,” Baarendse explained. “So I wouldn’t say we struggled. We actually improved a lot.” Leading the team were sophomores Paige Thomason (3B) and Rachel Zapf (P), both of whom hit nearly .500. Thomason also led the team in doubles, triples and home runs, while Zapf led the team in hits. Also assuming large roles were junior outfielder Chelsea Livingston, who led the team with 28 RBIs, sophomore Valencia Stallings, who hit nearly .400, and Theresa Carmichael, whose 37 stolen bases were among the most in the city. “We hit the ball much better this year and didn’t strike out as much,” Baarendse said. The Lady Trojans began the year with a 4-2 win
MARK CHALIFOUX/STAFF
North College Hill sophomore catcher Stephanie Pierman gets ready to take a pitch against Mariemont in the sectional tournament game on May 10.
MARK CHALIFOUX/STAFF
North College Hill’s Rachael Zapf gets ready to run from second base in a sectional game against Mariemont May 10. NCH fell to the Warriors 15-5. over St. Bernard before losing four straight to New Miami, Cincinnati Christian, Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy and Cincinnati Country Day; three of those losses were by 10 runs or more. NCH then won two of its next three, with 13-8 and
37-2 wins over Seven Hills and Aiken, respectively, to move to 3-5. The Lady Trojans, however, closed the year on an eight-game losing streak. “We have to get better defensively,” Baarendse said. “The games we won – or came close to winning –
were the games we played good defense.” Baarendse did credit the defensive play of sophomores Marie White (OF) and Stephanie Pierman (C). “Marie is one of the best defensive outfielders in the league,” he said. “And we really didn’t have anyone at catcher, but Stephanie stepped into that role nicely.” Other contributors included Rhonda Baldwin, Kaylee Bowman, Elizabeth Carney, Joel Earl, Patty Gallarod, Zaire Hopgood, Zhane Hopgood, Abolo
Janay, Brianna Lampley and Brianna Thomason. Baarendse hopes another year of experience will make his team more competitive in the Miami Valley Conference, in which the Lady Trojans went 2-8. Nevertheless, Baarendse said his team displayed a positive attitude all season. The boys' team, meanwhile, fell 15-5 to Ripley in the opening round of the tournament May 10 to finish the season 0-14. Head coach Brant Trabel could not be reached for comment.
Young Warriors softball team makes progress By Mark Chalifoux mchalifoux@communitypress.com
The Winton Woods High School softball team made a lot of progress in the 2010 season, even if it isn’t readily apparent in the team’s 220 record. “Our record doesn’t indicate the success we achieved. The girls really made a lot of progress and developed great team chemistry,” head coach Jeff Merrill said. “Our enthusiasm is high going into next year.”
Part of the reason for the enthusiasm heading into the offseason is because the Warriors bring back their entire team. The roster was made up of five juniors and six freshmen this season, so part of the adjustment the team made was gaining experience for the younger girls. “They had a great attitude and worked hard to make varsity. I knew they had the mental toughness to keep working through tough spots to become better players.”
Merrill said the team knew there would be some bumps in the road this season. “We knew we’d take our lumps but we looked at this as a season to grow and get better and these girls never quit and never gave up. They kept working hard every day to get better,” he said. The team was led by junior centerfielder Katie Sherman. She led the team in batting average, hitting .425, and in hits, with 28. Another junior, Staci Sneed,
who was injured early in the season, helped provide leadership along with Sherman. “They both started as freshmen so they could really relate to our younger kids. They were like big sisters to the freshmen and provided great leadership for us,” Merrill said. Cassie Yery and Taylor Kinley, two freshmen, made tremendous strides this season, according to Merrill. “They just got better every day,” he said. They finished as the No. 2 and
No. 3 hitters on the team. Merrill said the team has a really strong work ethic and hates losing, and that working on the mental part of the game will take them to the next level. “They have a lot of basics down but they need to think about situations more. That will be the big challenge to continue to improve, that and our run production,” he said. “If we keep getting better every day, the success will show up in the win column.”