Community Sports

Adrian Branch took off his beret, revealing close-cropped gray hair as he spoke Saturday at a Cape Girardeau church.

SIKESTON — Building cultural values while participating in a fun, exhilarating sport is how Nick Slinkard, owner of the Sikeston Missouri Taekwondo Insitute, would describe what he wants from his students. Slinkard has owned the Sikeston studio, located just right off of Interstate 60, for 10 years and enjoys every moment he spends with his students...

Good Sports is a weekly Thursday 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...

Gannon will be inducted into the SEMO University Athletics Hall of Fame Feb. 7. Gannon, 57, is a SEMO alumna and has spent most of her professional life at her alma mater. The Cindy Gannon Walk for Women has raised to-date more than $500,000 in scholarships for Southeast student-athletes.

Mike Litzelfelner, local representative of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, said there is a reason the Fields of Faith event Wednesday at Houck Stadium will be led by students. "No knock on pastors or older people in general, but what we've found is that students connect with students," Litzelfelner said when talking about the event, which starts at 7 p.m...

National Federation Wrestling is set to return to the region on Saturday night. The latest local wrestling event is slated to take place Saturday at 7:30 p.m. at the Leachville Gymnasium. Proceeds from the event will benefit the Leachville Gym Project...

The Heartland Youth Football League latest results and standings following games on Sept. 28-29.

Sarah Bell, a 2017 graduate of Notre Dame Regional High School, claimed medalist at the 12th Annual Johnie Imes Invitational while leading Oral Roberts University to a second-place finish Sunday at The Club at Old Hawthorne in Columbia, Missouri. Bell, a sophomore, had rounds of 72, 68 and 69 to finish at 7-under par on the par-72 layout...

PERRYVILLE, Mo. – It was an overcast Saturday morning in Perryville. The temperature was cooler than it has been of late and there was intermittent spitting rain. However, the less than ideal weather wasn’t enough to dissuade many members of the community who had a vested interest in the Heartland Youth Football League from coming out to watch the elementary-aged kids begin the first chapters of their football careers.

The Jackson Warriors remained unbeaten in Heartland Youth Football League play following a recent 20-0 win over Chaffee Devils in the 5th/6th Grade Division. Also in that division, the Perryville Eagles Gold knocked off the Scott County Youth Football League Warhawks 42-6, while the Perryville Eagles prevailed over the SCYFL Warkawks 20-6 in the 3rd/4th Grade Division...

Several area communities have fielded teams to compete this fall in the Heartland Youth Football League. Here are some results from the recent action.HYFL Week 1 Results WEEK 1 Dexter - 12 Perryville Gold - 6 Jackson Warriors - 44 Perryville Green - 0...

The Cape Catfish fell one game shy of winning the 2019 Prospect League championship earlier this week, as they fell to Chillicothe in the final series 2-1 Tuesday at Capaha Field. However, the first-year club was certainly a dominant winner Friday when the Prospect League handed out its annual postseason awards.

Emotions were riding high following the Cape Catfish falling to Chillicothe in Game 3 of the Prospect League Championship Series Tuesday at Capaha Field including those of manager Steve Larkin. “It’s over for now,” Larkin said. “It hurts right now. But after a week, I’ll be ready to be back in that dugout.”

CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. — Tuesday was a night to remember for former Sikeston Bulldog Trey Smith. Playing for the Chillicothe Paints in the Prospect League, his team squared off with the Cape Catfish at Capaha Field in Game 3 of the Prospect League championship series...

For the thousands of baseball fans that sauntered into Capaha Field this summer to catch a Cape Catfish game (and maybe a foul ball, as well), the specialness of this team existing was in its providing a fun, family-friendly and cost-effective activity for all in southeast Missouri to enjoy without driving a long distance or spending a small fortune.

Case Englehart of Jackson shot a 15-over-par 85 on the second day of the 119th U.S. Amateur on Tuesday in Pinehurst, North Carolina, and fell short of the match-play portion of the tournament. Englehart, a recent graduate of Jackson High School where he helped the Indians to the MSHSAA Class 4 state golf championship in May, had entered the second round in 102nd place among the field of 312 golfers after shooting a 3-over-par 73 on Monday at the more famous Pinehurst No. 2 course...

SIKESTON – With Saturday night bringing a close to this year’s Sikeston Jaycee Bootheel Rodeo the leader board comes into full view and contestants can finally see where they fall on the money list. In bareback riding, Jake Brown 92-point ride Saturday night comfortably paced the field, earning him $5,153 for the top spot...

If the Cape Catfish don’t win the 2019 Prospect League championship, they will have no one to blame but themselves. That is because the first-year club has a lot going for it in tonight’s winner-take-all title game.

Case Englehart never let playing for an MSHSAA state championship unnerve him. Nor did he allow playing in a sudden-death playoff with a pair of college athletes to qualify for the U.S. Amateur get to him either. So for the recent Jackson High School graduate to have opened the U.S. Amateur on Monday at Pinehurst Resort and Country Club in North Carolina with a strong front nine wasn't surprising to those that have watched Englehart develop his game...

SIKESTON – Only one contestant made it the full eight-seconds in bull riding at Friday night’s Sikeston Jaycee Bootheel Rodeo. Cole Melancon’s ride of 84 not only won the night but also left him firmly in the standings for money. Being the only rider to post a score, Melancon stood in third place with only one night left in this year’s rodeo...

The Cape Catfish made a trip to Ohio trip a sweet homecoming for manager Steve Larkin. Curtis Washington Jr. and Ellison Hanna II each homered while Austin Williams' solid outing on the mound helped propel the Catfish Saturday to a 6-3 victory over Chillicothe in the opening game of the Prospect League Championship Series at V.A. Memorial Stadium in Chillicothe, Ohio.

Coming into the season, the Cape Catfish were looking to get their fins wet as one of three new teams in the Prospect League. Fast forward two and a half months, and they're a whisker away from a championship. Having posted the best record among the 12 teams in the league, the Catfish head into the best-of-three Prospect League Championship Series against a team they are not too familiar...

Cape Catfish manager Steve Larkin has been around baseball practically his entire life. He twice (1992, 1993) played in the NCAA College World Series as a member of the Texas Longhorns. He was drafted in the 10th round by the Texas Rangers in 1994. His brother is none other than former Cincinnati Reds shortstop Barry Larkin, a Hall of Fame inductee...

Curtis Washington Jr. and his teammates all were breathing a sigh of relief when his eighth-inning home run cleared the left-field wall Thursday at Capaha Field. With his family present, Washington's spark, as well as a great pitching performance from Bryan McNeely, helped the Catfish to a 5-2 win over DuPage in the West Division Championship Game...

Two Cape Catfish players received honors from Prospect League media Thursday for their performances on the field. The Catfish, who won the West Division and have compiled a Prospect League-record 44 wins in their inaugural season, had pitcher Bryan McNeely and outfielder Andrew Stone named the 2019 Prospect(US) Pitcher and Player of the Year, respectively. ...

SIKESTON – Bullfighting once again closed out the Thursday edition of the Sikeston Jaycee Bootheel Rodeo. In a close competition, Dekevis Jordan bested four other competitors with a score of 83 to win the night. Jordan earned that score off of a 60-second round where both the fighter and the bull are worth a possible 50 points based on their performance...

Three Rivers College assistant baseball coach Tyler Smith encouraged his second baseman, Zane Wallace, to consider playing in the Prospect League this summer if he wanted an experience similar to the daily grind of playing professional baseball.

After a season of accolades, record-tying wins and many firsts, it's win or go home for the Cape Catfish. The league's best team during the regular season hopes the winning trend continues today when it hosts DuPage in a winner-take-all Prospect League West Division Playoff Game at Capaha Field. The first pitch is at 6:30 p.m...

KENNETT, Mo. - The final numbers are in and the money raised has reached five figures for a second straight year at the Kennett Athletics Booster Club Four-Person Golf Scramble. The final net proceeds raised at the 2019 event that took place July 26 at Kennett Country Club are $11,800. The amount is a few thousand shy of the all-time high $15,016 that was collected last year...

With the opportunity to make history, the Cape Catfish stumbled a bit but left no doubt in the end as they split a doubleheader 2-5 and 12-3 at Normal, Illinois, on Monday in front of 708 fans at The Crib. Cape entered the night needing one win to tie the Prospect League record for most wins in a season (43), which was set by Terre Haute in 2008. With the split, the Catfish (43-17) matched that total and can surpass it with a win in Thursday's Divisional Playoff game...

No one knew exactly what to expect when the Cape Catfish leadership organized a team to field for the 2019 Prospect League season.

The Cape Catfish led by as many as four runs early against the Terre Haute REX Sunday at Capaha Field. However, the visitors with four unanswered runs to hand Cape a 7-6 defeat in front of 898 fans to close out its home portion of the regular season.

The Cape Catfish rank second in the Prospect League this season in home runs behind the most prolific power-hitting team in league history (the Quincy Gems), which have amassed 100 home runs this season. However, the Catfish also rank second in total bases in hits, so they are just as capable of beating a team methodically, as opposed to just one swing.

A year ago, the Kokomo (Ind.) Jackrabbits battled their way to the Prospect League Championship Series before falling in two games to The REX out of Terre Haute (Ind.).

SIKESTON — A top-heavy list of professional bull riding’s biggest names comes to the 67th Jaycee Bootheel Rodeo in Sikeston, starting Wednesday evening. Headlined by world champion Sage Kimzey, General Co-Chairman Travis Deere said that he is looking forward to what this lineup has to offer...

The Cape Catfish clinched the Prospect League West Division title Thursday night in emphatic fashion, posting a pair of shutouts in a sweep of Hannibal at Capaha Field. Catfish pitcher Bryan McNeely threw a five-hit shutout in the opener, which Cape won 3-0. Cam Stewart and Julian Pedrouzo then combined for a one-hitter in a 10-0 win in the nightcap...

After clinching a playoff birth in their last game, the Cape Catfish were hoping to inch closer to a division title. However, a six-run inning for Quincy on Thursday prevented any advancement on that front as Cape fell 12-8 at Capaha Field. The loss snapped a five-game win streak...

In their inaugural season, the Cape Catfish became the first team in the Prospect League to clinch a playoff spot. A dual effort by Julian Pedrouza coupled with a vital two-run fifth inning was enough to turn Tuesday's slow start into a 2-0 win over the Hannibal Hoots in the first game of a doubleheader at Capaha Field...

CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. - The Kennett Swim Team took home second place at the Southeast Missouri Swim Conference Championships Saturday at Cape Central Municipal Pool in Cape Girardeau. Kennett recorded a second-place team score of 5,079. Defending champion River City Aquatics of Cape Giradeau repeated as conference champs with a first-place team score of 6,419. ...

SIKESTON — Athletic programs are never alone when it comes to supporting. For Sikeston High School, the Booster Club helps in a variety of different ways to make sure that each program has the necessities they need once their season comes around. “The booster club provides for high school sports programs, in addition to the clubs and activities on the high school campus,” Sikeston athletic director Andy McGill said. ...

The Cape Catfish hadn’t been back to Capaha Field in 16 days. If Sunday’s rout of Quincy was any indication, the club will never want to leave home again.

After losing for the first time in almost two weeks Friday, the Cape Catfish needed just a day to rebound. Brady Cottom had four hits to lead the way as Cape defeated Springfield 11-9 in seven innings on Saturday at Robin Roberts field.

STE. GENEVIEVE, Mo. – Tyler Martin spent a lot of time Friday night staring off into the nighttime sky and beating himself up. The Jackson Legion Post 158 pitcher would saunter into the bullpen while his teammates hit and try to compose himself and get ready for the next inning.

Sarah Bell of Jackson won The Prairie Invitational at The National Golf Club of Kansas City in Parkville, Missouri, shooting a 1-under-par 71 in the final round Wednesday to win by two shots over Sera Tadokoro. Bell, who will be a junior at Oral Roberts University in Tulsa, Oklahoma, had back-to-back two birdies on the back nine to move ahead of Tadokoro, the second-round leader, to finish with a 7-over, three-day total of 223...

The Cape Catfish were on the wrong end of a game for the first time in two weeks. A two-run DuPage seventh inning broke a tie and sent Cape to a 4-2 loss Friday in Lisle, Illinois. The loss snapped an eight-game winning streak for the Catfish (33-14) as they were stymied by on offense, mustering only two hits in the game...

The Tokyo Olympics are a little over a year away. Three local siblings are hoping to provide "shock value" as junior olympians for future games in the next 10 to 15 years. Cape Girardeau's JaShawn Sterling and his younger sisters Emilei and McKinlei of club team Cleats of Fire have qualified for the 2019 AAU Junior Olympic Games In Greensboro, North Carolina, and have their sights set on winning gold...

Ste. Genevieve, Mo. – Jackson American Legion Post 158 baseball coach Mark Lewis has two decades of coaching summer baseball under his belt and six more springs of working with the Saxony Lutheran program. All of that experience has helped him develop an intuition on how to handle his pitchers.

The Cape Catfish started the last one-third its season the same way it ended the first two-thirds: winning. Andrew Stone led off the game with a home run, and a combined solid pitching effort helped the Catfish blank the Normal CornBelters 6-0 Thursday at the Corn Crib in Normal, Illinois...

The Cape Catfish boast a league-leading 32-13 record as they begin the last one-third of their inaugural season today against the Normal CornBelters in Normal, Illinois. Some of the Cape players already have familiarized themselves with Corn Crib baseball field in the first half of the season and by competing in the Prospect League all-star festivities...