Softball

ORAN, Mo. — Becoming successful in athletics takes hard work and dedication, along with time and commitment. For multiple sports, it takes even more. Oran senior and three-sport athlete Kaylee Payne showed what all four characteristics lead to after a successful athletic year with the Lady Eagles, earning her the 2020 Standard-Democrat Girls Athlete of the Year...

With the cancellation of spring athletics for the 2020 season, seniors in the Standard-Democrat coverage area cannot have final moments with their teammates. Below is the 12th part of a series of stories on recognizing senior athletes, where they are going next, what they loved most about playing their respective sport at their school, and more...

Each year the Semoball Awards recognizes outstanding high school athletes from around the region. That tradition continues this summer albeit in a different format because of lingering COVID-19 concerns and social distancing requirements.

The 2020 Semoball Awards will be conducted in a "virtual" fashion on Facebook Live on July 11 at 7 p.m. Here is a list of the 2019-20 Winter Sports Finalists for the 2020 Semoball Awards. 2019-20 Winter Semoball Nominees Taydrianna Barnett, Sikeston...

Standard Democrat Sports Editor Alex Wallner is introducing a series of stories, titled "Home Early," on former area spring-sport athletes who are playing in college and have had their seasons end due to the coronavirus pandemic. BENTON, Mo. — Former Kelly softball standout Lilly Jones was anticipating her first moments as a college softball player...

Prior to her high school athletic career being cut a season short due to the coronavirus pandemic, Scott City senior Heather Conaway achieved a lot of success both individually, as well as helping the Rams succeed as a team.

BENTON, Mo. — Softball is Kelly junior Alaney Moore’s first love. It’s the sport she wants to continue playing in college, and one that she has been successful at thus far in her career. Her junior year, Moore batted .446 with 22 RBIs, 11 doubles, and 28 runs scored, earning her all-district and second-team all-state honors in the process...

There was no shortage of magnificent accomplishments performed by the athletic teams at Notre Dame throughout this school year. And there was not a dearth of individual achievements by the Bulldog student-athletes either.

SIKESTON — With the cancellation of spring athletics for the 2020 season, seniors in the Standard-Democrat coverage are not able to have final moments with their teammates. Below is the sixth part of a series of stories on recognizing senior athletes, where they are going next, what they loved most about playing their respective sport at their school, and more...

Southland junior softball standout Jenna Gibson is preparing for softball season in a much different way this spring. Gibson now finds herself spending countless hours at indoor training facilities since high school softball season and school was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic...

Southland junior softball standout Jenna Gibson received more than a few calls when she became old enough for colleges to contact last fall. “Once colleges could talk to me in September I probably had about 20 to 30 schools reach out to me,” she said. “I had an email list and stayed in communication with several schools. There was even one school from up in New Jersey but I felt like that was too far away. I never even really considered some of them but did go on around 10 visits.”...

Good Sports is a column featured weekly in the Southeast Missourian and on semoball.com. It is primarily designed to showcase people who have impacted the sporting life of Southeast Missouri, so that readers may get to know them more fully. Responses have been edited for clarity and brevity...

Delta C-7 senior Kagan Teal has been playing softball since she could pick up a bat. “I’m involved in many sports but softball has always been my favorite sport,” Kagan said. “I’ve been playing since I was two. It was always one of those things that just clicked, and I was good at it. ...

NEW MADRID, Mo. — New Madrid County Central standout Lily Johnson is taking her softball career to the next level. Johnson recently signed a letter of intent to play softball for Union University in Jackson, Tenn. Last spring, as a junior, Johnson pitched in 19 games for the Lady Eagles. She logged 240 strikeouts and an ERA of 1.16 in 2019...

The Senath-Hornersville Lions softball squad hopes to have the opportunity to display its skills on the diamond under new head coach Melani Rooney this spring. Rooney, who has served as an assistant coach under previous head coach Leigha Woody for the past four seasons, is a 2008 graduate of nearby Kennett High School...

The Malden Green Wave softball program enters the spring hoping for an opportunity to continue its recent string of success. The Green Wave return six players off of last season’s squad that finished 20-6 and won its sixth straight district title. The returners are senior Krista Hilfiker, junior Katie Shuffler, junior Hailey Rojas, junior Madison Saulsbery, junior Hope Hartman, and sophomore Olivia Slaughter...

Editor's note: Selection to the All-Southeast Missourian Team does not necessarily constitute selection to the Semoball Award finalists for softball. The 2019 girls softball season was a memorable one in Southeast Missouri, with Notre Dame advancing to the Class 3 quarterfinal game in late October...

The Southland Rebels softball squad enters the 2020 season looking to make continued noise in the Tri-County Conference after finishing runner-up to Holcomb in its conference tournament last season. “Obviously, Holcomb will be really good again,” Southland coach Macy Shearer said. “We also had some competitive matches with Cooter last year and look have some tough battles with them again this season. It should be a competitive conference.”...

The pieces appear to be in place for another big year for the Kennett Indians softball program in 2020. Kennett graduated only two starters off of last season’s squad that won its sixth straight district title and placed second at the spring state tournament...

The Holcomb Hornets softball program enters its 2020 campaign hoping for repeat success coming off its best season in school history in 2019. “We most definitely want to try to repeat our season last season,” Holcomb shortstop Bailey Cupples said. “We want to repeat as conference champs and put ourselves in a position to try to win the district.”...

The SEMO Umpires Association will host its annual preseason meeting, along with MSHSAA rules review meetings for both baseball and softball February 26 at River Eagle Distributing in Cape Girardeau.

Neelyville’s Bailey McGruder has signed to play softball at Dyersburg State University. “It was a relief to get that done and make sure that is secured,” McGruder said. “It just felt like home. I went back to play a tournament there, we sat there and we ate dinner with them. It clicked. It felt good. I liked the town, I liked the team. The players were all really nice, the coaches seemed like they were invested.”...

McKenzie Smith started her senior year at a new school and with new teammates playing softball. After recently signing her National Letter of Intent to play softball in college, the Poplar Bluff senior is looking forward to another new adventure. “Coming here was culture shock,” said Smith, who started her high school career in Puxico...

After all of her teammates headed to the sideline with less than 2 minutes left before tipoff of the Advance Hornets’ recent girls basketball game against Oak Ridge, sophomore Alandry Below grabbed a teammate to rebound, as she shot a few free throws...

SIKESTON — Sikeston senior Emma Drury signed her National Letter of Intent to continue her academic and softball career at Dyersburg State Community College, on Thursday morning, at the Sikeston Field House. Drury finished her senior season with the Lady Bulldogs by hitting .357 with 16 RBIs. She also had an on-base percentage of .493, a slugging percentage of .571, and an on-base-plus-slugging percentage of 1.064...

Jackson senior athletes Elizabeth Snyder and Ashlyn Prince recently signed National Letters of Intent to compete in college. Schneider will play soccer at Mineral Area Community College, while Prince signed to play softball at St. Louis Community College...

Poplar Bluff sophomore BreAnn Thresher is looking forward to taking her softball career to an international level next summer with an invitation to join a select group of American players on a seven-day trip to Spain. The team, sponsored by ACIS (American Council for International Studies), will play games in Barcelona and other cities in Spain in July...

The Southeast Missouri State softball program didn't have to search far in order to bolster its talent.

SIKESTON — Kelly junior Alaney Moore earned second-team all-state honors for Class 2 last week. Joining her on the second team were four pitchers, three catchers, five infielders, four outfielders, and one at-large. Moore, an infielder, earned a spot alongside Baylee Jobson (Sr., Marceline), Jodi Polly (Sr., Eugene), Rylee Lunn (Sr., Summit Christian), Aubrie McRoberts (Sr., Warsaw), and Lexus Hagood (So., Neelyville)...

Good Sports is a weekly feature that appears in the Southeast Missourian, as well as online at Semoball.com. It profiles the life of a person connected to sports and allows our readers the opportunity to know the people who are impacting athletics throughout Southeast Missouri in a deeper way...

SIKESTON — All-District teams from Class 2 and Class 3, along with the Class 2 All-Region, were announced last week. Starting with the All-District rosters, in Class 3, District 1, Sikeston senior Emma Drury made the first team, while senior Naudia Lazcano, junior Jordi James, and freshman Nayla Bonner were honorable mentions...

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. - One year later, another frustrating result. The East Carter Redbirds had three hits and put five other balls in play against Sherwood and lost 5-0 in the MSHSAA Class 2 semifinals on Friday at the Killian Sports Complex in Springfield, Mo...

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. - "I wanted this so much for them. They worked so hard," East Carter coach Teresa Kearbey-LeGrand said. "I don't know if it was nerves, if it was the waiting game, the anticipation, the air out of their sails because of the first game. I just don't know, but we just did not look like ourselves."...

SIKESTON — The SEMO All-Conference softball teams are here. Sikeston had one member on the first team and four more on the second team. Notre Dame had six nominations on the first team, while Jackson had four. North County and Farmington each finished with three nominees, and Kelly, Chaffee, Cape Central, and Poplar Bluff each rounded out the team with one...

With one senior and a large junior class on last year’s softball team, East Carter gave itself a two-year plan. The due date is Saturday. The Redbirds (22-6) are back in the state semifinals for the second year in a row and will face Sherwood (24-3) in the MSHSAA Class 2 semifinals at 1 p.m. Friday at the Killian Softball Complex in Springfield. Palmyra (20-8) and Marceline (22-4) will play in the other semifinal. The third-place game is 5 p.m. Friday and the championship is 2 p.m. Saturday...

They say that all good things must end. Notre Dame's storybook season was abruptly cut short Monday as it lost its Class 3 quarterfinal softball game to visiting Incarnate Word Academy, 12-7.

ELSBERRY, Mo. — The Redbirds had another banner day Monday. With the help of a perfect relay throw, Makenna Moore tossed another shutout and provided the big hit as the East Carter softball team beat Elsberry 3-0 in the MSHSAA Class 2 quarterfinal. "I was nervous, obviously," Moore said of her sixth inning at-bat with the bases loaded. "My heart was racing."...

There may be no softball team remaining in the MSHSAA postseason that comprehends the importance of defense more so than Notre Dame.

It will be a busy weekend for five East Carter softball players. First, the Redbirds will play in the MSHSAA Class 2 quarterfinal in Elsberry at 3 p.m. Saturday. Then, Kennedy Thies, Audrey Carter, P.J. Gholson, Makenna Moore and Abagail Dinsmore will head to St. Francis Borgia High School in Washington, Missouri with the East Carter cheerleading squad to perform in the MCCA regional on Sunday...

SIKESTON — Community support is one thing that every coach tends to instill within their respective programs. On Thursday night, the Sikeston baseball and softball teams competed in the “Battle for the Diamond” at the Sikeston Recreation Complex. A seven-inning softball game where the baseball players took hacks in an unfamiliar sport...

The East Carter softball team gave their large group of fans something to cheer about early in the MSHSAA Class 2 sectional playoff Wednesday. Makenna Moore laced a two-run triple in the first inning then struck out 10 in tossing a two-hitter as the Redbirds beat St. Pius X of Festus 5-0 at a rowdy Rains Field...

Analytics are the big trend in Major League Baseball. The jury is out, though, on how relevant statistical information is in predicting the results of postseason high school softball. On paper, strictly looking at this season's numbers, host Notre Dame (26-5) should defeat visiting Hillsboro (20-9) in today's Class 3 sectional matchup...

As the East Carter softball team prepared for its upcoming MSHSAA Class 2 playoff matchup with St. Pius X of Festus on Monday, their coach was in St. Louis seeing her doctor. At this time last year, as the Redbirds were making a run to place fourth in the state tournament, Teresa Kearbey-LeGrand was diagnosed with breast cancer...

PERRYVILLE, Mo. – Through six innings, the top five hitters in the Notre Dame softball lineup hadn’t done much against Perryville senior pitcher Makayla Brown in Friday’s Class 3 District 1 championship game. The Bulldog hitters, who have been productive all season in averaging over 10 runs per game, had gotten just a couple of hits and no runs from that aforementioned group in 15 at-bats.

Molly Flanagan blasted a solo home run among her three hits as second-seeded St. Pius X defeated top-seeded Kelly 2-1, denying the Hawks their 32nd district title in the Class 2 District 2 Tournament championship game in Benton, Missouri. A.J. Agers went the distance on the mound to earn the win for St. Pius X (15-6). The one run she gave up was unearned and she recorded seven strikeouts and one walk...

PERRYVILLE, Mo. – History shows that Notre Dame softball wasn’t going to have much difficulty with Sikeston.

Now that they have returned to the MSHSAA Class 2 state softball bracket for a second consecutive year, the bullseye may finally be off the backs of the East Carter Redbirds. Makenna Moore pitched her fourth consecutive shutout Thursday, allowing two hits while striking out 10 batters, as the Redbirds repeated as district champions with an 8-0 win over Neelyville at Three Rivers College...

FARMINGTON — Poplar Bluff scored three runs in the second inning, but managed one hit after that as the Mules lost to Northwest 13-3 in the semifinals of the MSHSAA Class 4 District 1 tournament. Serena Davis, Breann Thresher and Ella Zgaynor scored for the Mules and Morgan Courtney had two hits...

BENTON, Mo. — The Kelly softball team started its quest for a 32nd district title Thursday against Chaffee in the semifinals of the Class 2 District 2 Tournament.

Parker Rhew was a hit this past week on and off the baseball diamond, as he easily won the Semoball.com Male Athlete of the Week honor.