SPORTS
APRIL 17, 2013 • LOVELAND HERALD • A7
Editor: Melanie Laughman, mlaughman@communitypress.com, 513-248-7573
HIGH SCHOOL | YOUTH | RECREATIONAL
Loveland serves up spring tennis By Scott Springer sspringer@communitypress.com
have been open for a couple of weeks for high school tennis squads. The following is a recap of some of the teams in the Loveland Herald coverage area:
Loveland
Coach Jeff Sharpless’s Tigers finished third last season at 11-7 (6-2 in the old FAVC). Loveland has had 21 consecutive winning seasons. Senior Shawn Eldridge is handling first singles; junior Andrew Gordon plays second singles and sophomore Eric Shokler, third. First doubles has been senior Ben Clawson and junior Kyle Jarc, while second doubles is handled by senior Alex Genbauffe and sophomore Johan Harris. “I feel we are strong top to bottom and should challenge for the league title,” Sharpless said. Prior to last season, the Tigers had won four consecutive league crowns. Loveland is home with Moeller on April 18.
Moeller
Alex Thompson picked up Greater Catholic League Coach of the Year honors for guiding the Crusaders to a second-place finish in the GCLSouth. Moeller was 4-2 in the league typically dominated by St. Xavier and 10-8 overall.
Loveland set for boys volleyball By Scott Springer sspringer@communitypress.com
LOVELAND — While most spring sports are dependent on the weather, volleyball is not.
“I like the fact that even though only one of the 12 players on varsity was a varsity player last year, all are working hard and give it their best shot with what little practice time we get,” Swensen said. “With seven of the 12 being new this year to the sport this year, it is still enjoyable to see their desire to learn the sport and win.” The rest of the Tigers are comprised of seniors Kyle Schweer, Daniel McCarthy, Bryson McGillis, and Justin Byrd; juniors Joel Moss and Davis White; and sophomores Koby McGillis, Ian Leever and Michael Viox.
PRESS PREPS HIGHLIGHTS By Scott Springer sspringer@communitypress.com
Softball
Loveland’s Eric Shokler watches his return shot during a match against CHCA at Loveland April 10. NICK DUDUKOVICH/THE COMMUNITY PRESS
» Loveland held off Ursuline 8-7 on April 8. Junior Olivia Pifer got the win and struck out eight. Sophomore Maeci Ujvari had the game-winning sacrifice fly and was 2-3. Senior Phoenix Crane was 2-3 with a homer.
Boys tennis
» Loveland beat Lakota East 4-1 on April 8. Senior Shawn Eldridge and junior Andrew Gordon had singles wins. The Tigers beat CHCA 3-2 on April 10. Juniors Gordon and Ethan Conte had singles wins.
CHCA
Eagles’ senior Logan Henize is another player who makes the region’s Division II landscape interesting to watch. As a junior, Henize reached the state singles tournament, and he’ll aim for a return trip as CHCA, led by coach Lynn Nabors-McNally, enters the year ranked No. 3 in the Division II coaches’ preseason poll. Ben Wittkugel, Joe Kabalin and Colin Kenney are also seniors expected to contribute, according to Nabors-McNally.
HERALD
CommunityPress.com
The Loveland Tigers compete on the club level in volleyball and are led by third-year coach Terri Swensen. Last year’s squad was 6-12 and Swensen returns sophomore libero Blaine Hamilton and senior outside hitter Matt Becker. Senior middle hitter Jon Vincent is also expected to be a factor along with many newcomers that are developing.
LOVELAND — The courts
LOVELAND
Girls lacrosse
» Cincinnati Country Day got by Loveland 11-10 on April 9. The Lady Tigers rebounded with a 15-14 overtime win at Indian Hill April 11.
Loveland’s Andrew Gordon follows through on a return during a tennis match at Loveland High School against CHCA April 10. NICK
Loveland’s Ben Clawson waits for the ball to come back down during a serve attempt against CHCA at Loveland High School April 10. NICK DUDUKOVICH/THE
DUDUKOVICH/THE COMMUNITY PRESS
COMMUNITY PRESS
Returning starters are seniors Logan Wacker, Brett Carlin and Mike McGrath and junior Kevin Morrison. Seniors Jack Sherman and Toby Frisch are also expected to contribute. Wacker was second team GCL-South last season and will
help the Crusaders seek a third-straight winning season. Rounding out the Moeller squad are Nick Schaeffer, Brendan Farlow and Bruno Rozzi. Moeller is at Loveland April 18 and then back home with Seven Hills on April 19.
Sportsman voting: May 1
The fifth-annual Community Press and Recorder Sportsman and Sportswoman of the Year Award voting period for the 2013 award will run Wednesday, May1, through Tuesday, May 22. When it’s time to vote, you’ll go to cincinnati.com/preps. Click on the Sportsman of the Year item on the right-hand side of the page. Readers will be able to vote once a day for their favorite athlete per paper. Winners for 2013 will receive two Reds tickets courtesy of the Cincinnati Reds. Neither the articles nor ballots will count against the meter, so you do not have to be a Cincinnati Enquirer/cincinnati.com subscriber to vote on your favorite candidate. Email mlaughman@communitypress.com with questions and follow the hashtag #SOY2013 for updates on Twitter.
Loveland junior Hannah Bellamah attacks the CCD defense April 9. SCOTT SPRINGER/COMMUNITY PRESS
Rough week for Loveland baseball teams The following are submitted summaries from Loveland varsity and junior varsity baseball games in week two.
Varsity
Game 6 – Hamilton The Tigers got behind early in this game and never recovered, losing 14-4 at home against the Big Blue for their first loss of the season. Hitting leaders in the game for Loveland include: Plitt 2-4, 2R; Bullock 1-3, 2 RBI 2B, R; David 1-1, 2B. Game 7 – Badin Loveland traveled to Hamilton Badin Tuesday and lost the second game of the season to the Rams 5-2. The Rams got off to a quick start putting their first two batters on base with a single, an error and followed by a three-run homer by T.J. Nichting to jump out to a 3-0 lead after the first inning. Hamilton scored 2 more runs in the fourth to go up 5-0. The Tigers rallied in the top of the fifth beginning with lead-off walk to Reid Waddell followed by Aaron Malloy’s first career home run, over the
left-center field fence. Hitting leaders in the game for Loveland include: Waddell 2-3, 2B, R; Malloy 1-2, RBI, HR, R. Game 8 – Lebanon Wednesday the Tigers played at Lebanon, extending their losing streak to 3 games with a heart breaking 9-8 loss . Loveland jumped out to a quick 3-0 lead after the first on a lead-off walk to Adam Beran, a single by Aaron Malloy and a walk to Darren Sackett to load the bases. Chris Sackett then brought home Beran with a sacrifice fly to right with Malloy advancing to third. Danny Tringlehoff then drove in Malloy with a single through the right side of infield. Ryne Terry followed with a double over the right-fielders head scoring Darren Sackett. In the third inning the Tigers put two more runs on the board with a lead-off walk to Malloy, who was sacrificed to second on a bunt by Darren Sackett. Chris Sackett then singled bring in Malloy. After a ground out advanced Chris Sackett to second, Ryne
Terry drove him in with a single to left. In the fourth, after 1 out, Reid Waddell drew a base on balls and Malloy singled to put runners at first and second. A wild pitch lead to Waddell scoring with Malloy advancing all the way to third after the catcher threw the ball into left field attempting to peg Waddell at third. Darren Sackett walked to put runners on first and third, Chris Sackett then singled to drive in Malloy and move his brother to third. An errant throw by the catcher attempting to pick off the younger Sackett at first allowed the older Sackett to score from third for an 8-0 Tiger lead after 3 1/2 innings. From that point on things fell apart for the Tigers. From there Lebanon went on to score 2 in their half of the fourth, five more in the sixth and two more in the bottom of the seventh for the 9-8 come from behind victory. Hitting leaders in the game for Loveland include: Terry 3-4, 2 RBI, 2B; C. Sackett 2-3, 3 RBI, R, SF; Malloy 2-2, 3R; D. Sackett
2R, S. The Tigers end the week 5-3 overall, 2-0 in the ECC.
Junior varsity
The Loveland JV baseball team lost at home to Hamilton last Saturday 7-2. The Tigers fell behind 4-0 after the first inning, scored single runs in each of the second and third innings to cut the lead before Hamilton came back with two in the fourth and 1 in the sixth for the final score. Hitting leaders for the Tigers in the game include: Ealy 1-2, RBI; Paschal 1-3, 2B; Wilson 1-3, 2B On Tuesday the JV Tigers hosted GCL Conference member Badin, winning a five-inning run rule shortened game 14-4. What started out as a close game with each team scoring single runs in the first inning and two in the second, turned into a route with Loveland scoring three in the third and breaking the game wide open with six in the fourth. Another two runs by the Tigers in the fifth completed the runrule win. Jay Wilson (W, 2-0) started and got the win for the Tigers. Hitting leaders for the
Tigers in the game include: Paschal 3-3, 4 RBI, 3R; Ross 4-4, 2 RBI, 2B, 3R; Norton 3-4, R; Timmerman 2-4, 2 RBI, 2R; Meszaros 2-4, RBI, R: Davis 1-1, 2 RBI, R; Roberts 1-2, RBI; Cox 1-2, RBI, 2R; Lakes 1-4, RBI. Wednesday the Loveland JV squad took on Lebanon at home, losing a game which at first looked to be a sure win. The Tigers scored two runs in the first, followed by four in the third and another two in the fourth to take an 8-2 lead. But the JV Warriors came roaring back in the fifth scoring 9 runs to take an 11-8 lead. The Tigers scored a single run in each of the fifth and seventh innings around another run by Lebanon in their seventh for the disappointing 12-10 loss. Hitting leaders for the Tigers in the game include: Norton 2-4, 3 RBI, 3B, 2B, R; Wilson 3-5, RBI, 3B, 2B 2R; Roberts 3-5, RBI, 2R; Timmerman 2-3, 2 RBI, 2R; Paschal 1-3, 2 RBI; Ross 2-5, RBI, R; Lakes 1-4, RBI, 2B. The JV Tigers conclude the week with a 4-3 record, 1-1 in the ECC.