East Carter County

Poplar Bluff moved up to the largest class in wrestling and will face the same opponents in basketball while hosting the district this winter. Poplar Bluff Athletic Director Kent Keith announced in a statement that the school’s bid to host the MSHSAA Class 5 District 1 boys and girls basketball tournament had been accepted...

Notre Dame senior Blake Morris did not achieve his goal of first place but did finish in the Top 10 at Saturday’s MSHSAA Class 3 Boys Cross Country State Finals at the Gans Creek Recreational Area in Columbia, Mo.

COLUMBIA, Mo. — The Van Buren girls cross country team placed in the top four for the first time in program history at the MSHSAA Cross Country championships on Saturday at the new 5,000-meter Gans Creek course. Poplar Bluff junior Jaden Deaton earned all-state honors with a late comeback for 22nd place to become the fifth Mules runner to place in the top 25 at state and first since 2005...

A new era of cross country in Missouri starts Saturday when the MSHSAA state championships is held for the first time at Gans Creek Cross Country Course in Columbia. It’s the first time since 1975 the race will not be held in Jefferson City’s Oak Hills Golf Course in Hough Park where Poplar Bluff’s John Meyers won the 4A title in 1986...

In his last race on his home course, Notre Dame senior Blake Morris took top honors Saturday in the Class 3 District 1 cross country championships.

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."...

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...

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."...

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...

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...

On a windy afternoon at Cape County Park North, Timothy Sloan and Kennedy Thies took top honors Tuesday at the 12th annual Heartland Conference (small schools) Cross Country Invitational at Cape County Park North. Sloan, 17, of Woodland, crossed the finish line first for the boys in 18 minutes, 22 seconds, more than a minute slower than his personal best of 17:12 -- recorded a week ago at a meet in Bloomfield, Missouri...

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...

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...

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.

East Carter wasted little time to show why its the defending district champion. The top-seeded Redbirds scored 15 runs in the second inning as they went on to beat fourth-seeded Doniphan 16-0 in the MSHSAA Class 2 District 1 semifinals Wednesday at Rains Field...

In 24 hours, Neelyville went from giving up 12 runs to giving up nothing. Propelled by excellent defense from their freshmen, including a pair of diving catches from right-fielder Preston Goodnight, the fourth-seeded Tigers beat top-seed East Carter 6-0 in the semifinals of the Ozark Foothills Conference Tournament on Tuesday at Roger Pattillo Field, a day after edging Twin Rivers 13-12...

Cape Girardeau Central's Emily Ford and Megan Maxton paired up to win the doubles competition at the Class 2 District 1 Individuals Tournament on Thursday in girls tennis at Cape Girardeau Central High School. The duo downed two of their fellow teammates, Anita Kellum and Maria Seidu-Sofo, 6-1 each set to win the doubles championship...

ELLINGTON — Ellington’s Carson McNail and East Carter’s Kennedy Thies won the Black River League Conference cross country meet Wednesday. McNail won the boys race in 18 minutes, 23 seconds and Thies won in 22:33. McNail bested Bunker’s Eli Bullock by 10 seconds for the win and the two were the only runners to break 19 minutes...

PORTAGEVILLE, Mo. — Winners of its last four matches, the Sikeston volleyball team traveled to Portageville on Tuesday night, hoping to make five-straight victories. Sikeston got just that, as they swept Portageville 25-19, 25-16. Emily McHaffie led the team with eight kills and tied for the team-lead with 11 digs. Khrystionna Swann also had 11 digs...

ELLSINORE — Bottom of the seventh, down a run, two outs, runners on second and third, and East Carter’s Luke Roark at the plate. Roark was 0 for 1 with a strikeout and reached on an error so far as East Carter’s No. 9 batter. The entire Redbird roster was having trouble against Clearwater pitcher Trey Rivas, who went into the seventh inning working on a complete-game shutout...

Cooter 2, Holcomb 0 COOTER, Mo. - The Cooter Wildcats baseball team wrapped up the Tri-County Conference regular season championship by beating the visiting Holcomb Hornets 2-0 Thursday afternoon. Lane McLevain pitched an 83-pitch complete game shutout for Cooter.He allowed two hits, struck out two, and walked two...

Alexa Werneck of Dexter and Lane McLevain of Cooter were voted the female and male Semoball Athletes of the Week, respectively, for the week ending Sept. 7. Werneck, who plays volleyball for the Bearcats, received 399 votes after registering 13 kills (.333 hitting percentage), five blocks and three digs in Dexter's 2-1 victory over Jackson...

East Carter County’s Makenna Moore tossed a complete game and gave up just one earned run on four hits as the host Redbirds flew to their fourth win of the season in the 2-1 victory over Jackson on Tuesday in softball action in Ellsinore, Mo. Moore struck out...

ELLSINORE — Makenna Moore struck out a dozen, gave up one hit and made sure she didn’t have to pitch the seventh inning Monday afternoon. The East Carter senior pushed across the game-ending run with a walk as the Redbirds beat rival Twin Rivers 11-1...

The Cape Girardeau Central and Notre Dame boys swimming teams made quite a splash at Saturday’s Cape Rock Invitational at the Central Municipal Pool.

Molly Conrad hammered seven kills as the fourth-seeded Meadow Heights Panthers rallied and bounced back after dropping the first set to stave off an upset from a determined fifth-seeded Oak Ridge Blue Jays squad and prevailed (14-25, 25-13, 25-13) in the quarterfinals of the Woodland Invitational Tournament...

BENTON, Mo. — In a rematch from the Class 2 Sectionals one year ago, the Kelly softball team held its home-opener against East Carter at Kelly High School. Kelly Ivy allowed two earned run, on seven hits. She walked one batter and struck out one, and was the loser in the decision...

BROSELEY — Twin Rivers softball rallied from down 3-0 in the bottom of the fifth inning to win 6-3 Friday in Broseley. The Royals cut Naylor’s lead to one run after five innings, and then scored four runs in the sixth for holding the Eagles in the seventh...

UNION, Mo. — Poplar Bluff overcame a three-goal deficit but a penalty kick sank the Mules 4-3 in their season opener at Union. The Wildcats led 3-1 at halftime but Poplar Bluff tied it on a penalty kick by Alex Ketcherside for the junior's second goal...

It remains to be seen just how much success the Jackson softball program will have throughout its 2019 season. The Indians open the year with a tough test today at Notre Dame (4:30 p.m.). However, there is no questioning how popular the Jackson athletes are.

A few hours before preseason jamborees got underway Friday night some schools in the Missouri Bootheel learned they will be battling new opponents when the state playoffs begin later this fall. The Missouri High School Activities Association released 2019 class and district assignments for most fall sports Friday...

ELLSINORE — East Carter opened last season’s Ozark Foothills Conference Tournament championship on a great note. The Redbirds took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning against undefeated Clearwater after Alex Kearbey stole home. The Tigers tied it up in the bottom frame, and both teams scored a second run in the fourth. It was still tied at 2-all in the sixth, but East Carter committed three errors and lost 7-2 to finish the fall season 17-6...

ELLSINORE — Last year, the softball team talked about having a two-year plan with the goal of reaching state. The talk was reasonable, with a strong junior class and only one senior, the Lady Redbirds had a window that was getting more open by the day...

What I learned from living the initial 52 years of my life in the state of Indiana was that Hoosiers are passionate about three things: religion, farming, and sports. And depending on the time of year and whether the Indiana University men’s basketball team is underachieving or not, the order of those things could fluctuate.

The list of Semoball Awards finalists is complete. In Tuesday's selection show streamed exclusively on Facebook, the 45 spring sport finalists were revealed, along with the Lifetime Achievement Award winner, 13 nominees in Coach of the Year, Comeback Player of the Year and Best of Sportsmanship...

The annual Kennett High School Boys Basketball Shootout is slated for Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. Junior varsity squads square off Thursday with varsity teams battling it out Friday and Saturday. Games will last approximately 40 minutes. Each game will have two 16-minute halves with a running clock. The clock will stop the final two minutes of the game on dead balls unless a team is leading by 10 points or more in the final two minutes. Overtime is sudden death...

The all-region softball team has been released. Kennett freshman Kyra Jaco, Oran junior Kaylee Payne, Campbell senior Elizabeth Steward, Puxico senior Bailey Burns, Holcomb sophomore Bailey Cupples, and Malden sophomore Hailey Rojas were selected first-team all-region infielders...

Poplar Bluff wanted to win every inning. It did, and only needed to play five innings to get the win. The Mules scored in each of the first four innings, and put six runs on the board in the fourth before committing an out, to beat East Carter 12-2 in five innings on Wednesday at Strenfel Memorial Field...

SIKESTON — Scoring runs has not been a problem for the Sikeston baseball team during its current three-game winning streak. Defeating New Madrid County Central 15-5, and Poplar Bluff 8-7 in each of its last two games, the Bulldogs have been giving their pitching staff a ton of help...

DEXTER, Mo. — Carson Aycock and the East Prairie baseball team spoiled the Dexter Bearcats’ senior day Monday at East Park. Aycock pitched a no-hitter, striking out 12 and walking one in seven innings. Senior Caleb Hoggard was charged with the loss, allowing two runs on three hits with no strikeouts or walks in one inning. Hoggard was one of seven pitchers used by the Bearcats...

NEW MADRID, Mo. — New Madrid County Central held on to a 2-1 lead through four innings of play. The late innings, though, came to back to bite the Eagles as Scott city scored 11 unanswered runs to run away with a 12-3 win over NMCC. John Michael Stanley and Caden Howell each had impressive days for the Eagles. Stanley went 2-for-3, while Howell went 2-for-4...

BENTON, Mo. — Sophomore Jordi James scored the first two goals of her varsity career on Wednesday, as the Sikeston girls soccer team upended Kelly 3-2. Emily Boyd also scored on a penalty kick goal, while Audrey Vogel and Jade Davis finished with assists...

CHARLESTON, Mo. — Cruising to a win over Neelyville, the East Prairie baseball team opened up the 2019 season with a 13-1 victory, at Hillhouse Park, in Charleston, Mo. Five Eagles recorded two hits or more. Derez Tipler, Jase Aycock, Lane Moody, and Trea Cade each had two, while Evan Howell led the team with four hits...

In a few days, basketball postseason begins for teams across Missouri, but for an hour Wednesday afternoon, the focus was back on fall sports. In a live one-hour radio show on SEMO ESPN, 55 student-athletes were announced as fall sports finalists for the 2019 Semoball Awards...

Blake Bollinger scored 23 points to push Meadow Heights past Zalma 63-53 despite a strong fourth quarter comeback effort. Bollinger was outdueled by Mayson Casey, who hit six 3-pointers on his way to 24 points in the loss. Zalma outscored Meadow Heights 27-20 in the final quarter but was unable to pull within 10 before the final buzzer...

Nobody held a double-digit lead. For all but two minutes in the second half, nobody held a three-possession lead. For the first six minutes of the second half, nobody even held a two-possession lead. The No.4-No. 5 game of the Ozark Foothills Conference tournament lived up to its billing as fourth-seeded Greenville and fifth-seeded East Carter went back and forth from start to finish...

Down three as the clock passed the minute mark, the Royals got a stop, chased down the long rebound and called a timeout with 48 seconds left. Watson came off a screen and tried for a 3 from the top of the key, but missed and Bangert was fouled on the rebound...

The schedules are set for three December basketball tournaments. The six-team Senath-Hornersville varsity boys basketball tournament takes place Dec. 10-13 at Senath-Hornersville High School. Pool play is Dec. 10-12 with championship round action Dec. 13...