High School Sports

CHARLESTON, Mo. — Rain covered the field at Hillhouse Park on Tuesday, forcing the Fighting Squirrels game to end prematurely. Despite Mother Nature, Charleston still managed to put up runs in three innings of play, before the contest ended. The Fighting Squirrels defeated Festus 9-0, scoring five runs in the first and four in the third...

Kennett graduate Maddy Nigut has been twirling since she could hold a baton in her hand. “I’ve been twirling since I was two-years-old,” Nigut said. “All of the female members of my family were twirlers so I was put into it at a young age. I’ve always enjoyed it and dreamed of twirling in college.”...

Chris Trimmer’s 38-year tenure as a high school basketball coach came to an abrupt end Wednesday, as the 60-year old coach informed the school he is walking away from the game he loves because of the current pandemic. Trimmer led the Oak Ridge boys program to 53 wins in the past three seasons but he said he’s got to stop now...

KENNETT, Mo. - The Kennett girls tennis program hopes to benefit from putting in more work than normal on the courts this summer. “We are practicing several times a week now,” Kennett longtime tennis coach Janet Hilburn said at an open court session Tuesday. “We got a late start but the weather has cooperated since we started. The girls have been working hard because they were ready to get out of the house and do something.”...

Twins Kaley and Nicole Roper took high school volleyball by storm, and both were key contributors right away at East Central College in Union. With the sisters playing major roles as high school freshmen, Bloomfield made a run to the final four in Class 2...

COOTER, Mo. - Friday evening students from Cooter High School gathered at Elk Chute Lodge in Gobler after months of having to postpone prom due to the COVID-19 pandemic. While the evening was one they all enjoyed, it sadly turned to tragedy after an accident occurred just after the students ended the event and were leaving...

SIKESTON — After a week off, the Southeast Missouri Challenger Tournament concluded Monday at VFW Stadium in Sikeston. Featuring the 18-and-under Charleston Fighting Squirrels and 17-and-under Perfectos, the Squirrels prevailed in six innings — as the game ended due to time limit — 4-3...

The Kennett senior golfers missed an opportunity to claim their third straight district title when their season was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic this spring. But they will have one more opportunity to wear the Kennett uniform next week at SEMO Conference Senior Golf Tournament at Fox Haven Country Club in Sikeston on July 9...

Dexter High School spring sports coaches expect up to 11 athletes to compete in various events the SEMO Conference is holding for recently graduated seniors. Senior-only events in baseball, boys golf, boys tennis and track and field are set for next week. They were scheduled after the spring sports seasons were canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic...

Three Rivers basketball’s recent signing may add versatility to the Raiders’ frontcourt. Simon Akeena, of Stocksund, Sweden, played for Strength ‘N Motion Prep in San Antonio, Texas, last season and recently signed with the Raiders. “He’s a Swiss Army Knife,” said Akeena’s prep school coach Mark Reed. “He’s a gym rat. He loves to be in the gym. He loves to put in the extra work to get better and he is a great young man.”...

Kennett track coach Andrew Webster thought senior Larry Payne was in a position to put together a record-breaking performance in the 400-meter dash when preseason practices got underway in March. “When we started practice in March and everyone was still out of shape he was only about a second off the record,” Webster said. ...

CHARLESTON, Mo. — Scoring came in droves in the Charleston Fighting Squirrels doubleheader sweep of the Mineral Area Orioles on Sunday at Hillhouse Park in Charleston, Mo. In the first game, the Fighting Squirrels defeated the Orioles 15-6 and then turned around and won 13-1 in the second game to improve its perfect resume to 21-0...

Until last week, Jackson High School's Grace Crowden hadn't played a game of competitive soccer in nearly 14 months. In the SEMO Friendlies four-team exhibition tournament played at Jackson Junior High, Crowden performed as if she'd hadn't been away at all...

Delta High School senior guard Isaiah Thomas recently signed to play basketball at NAIA program Crowley's Ridge in Arkansas.

SIKESTON — Basketball season doesn’t start for another four months, but that isn’t stopping multiple area girls players from improving. In June, a summer league started at the Cape Girardeau SportsPlex and continues every Thursday night at the venue until July 9. Sikeston’s Karris Allen and Oran’s Katie Webb and Grace Davis, among others, all play on select teams and have bettered themselves as a result...

JACKSON, Mo. — Emily Nelson and Emily Spencer took to the field with their Poplar Bluff teammates to finally play an opponent 98 days after their soccer season was scheduled to start. The Mules played the first of two games against SEMO Conference opponents in what was billed as friendlies Thursday night...

The Southland Rebels baseball squad will be under the direction of a new head coach when it returns to the diamond this fall. The Southland Board of Education recently hired Chris McCormick as its varsity baseball coach for the upcoming school year. McCormick takes over for Matt Bailey who is departing to work at another school district...

JACKSON, Mo. — Runs came at a premium to start the first game of the doubleheader for the Southeast Tropics on Wednesday evening. Leading 1-0 after the first inning, the Tropics did not push another run across the plate until the fourth and, from there, managed to score 10 more runs in the final four frames. ...

CHARLESTON, Mo. — Fifteen games into the 2020 summer season and the Charleston Fighting Squirrels have won every one of those games. A loaded group, this season’s Charleston team can beat you in more ways than one. At the plate, on the mound, or running the bases, this team continues to show how cohesive a unit they are...

POPLAR BLUFF — Dexter seniors Peyton Driskill and Andrew Ellinghouse, among other players from Stoddard County, are keeping their basketball skills sharp during the COVID-19 pandemic by playing the sport at the club level. Driskill is playing for the SEMO Select, of Greenville, and Ellinghouse is competing with the Bullets, of Ellington...

SIKESTON — For six innings, the Sikeston Silver Sox gave the Jackson Tribe all it wanted, as Jackson only outscored the hosts 2-1 at VFW Memorial Stadium in summer baseball action Tuesday.

KENNETT, Mo. - The Kennett cheerleading program continues to prepare for its first public routine of the school year after holding tryouts last week. “We’ve gone right into cheer camp this week after having tryouts last week,” Kennett volunteer assistant cheerleading coach Malinda Harris said. “Everybody is here this week working hard to try to get ready to perform at fall activities."...

CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. — There are four games — made up of seniors from all eight SEMO Conference baseball programs — scheduled for July 6 at Capaha Park in Cape Girardeau. Seniors from Cape Central and Sikeston play seniors from Notre Dame and New Madrid County Central at 1 p.m...

Allison Hoffmann has been involved with the Senath-Hornersville Lions volleyball program for close to a decade. “I played for my mom in high school,” said Allison, who is a 2016 graduate of Senath-Hornersville. “I’ve always enjoyed my time at Senath-Hornersville. They are always so good to their students.”...

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...

SIKESTON — For the second-straight year, a belt is up for grabs, as pool play started for the Southeast Missouri Challenger Tournament Thursday afternoon at VFW Stadium. Six teams make up the tournament and after the first night of pool play, Sikeston Silver Sox general manager Craig Templeton is looking forward to the weekend...

DEXTER, Mo. — It was a promising start for the Sikeston Silver Sox on Thursday night against the SEMO Spartans. Sikeston led 1-0 after the first inning after an RBI single by Kadin Wilburn plated Hayden Alcorn, but that would be the only offense that the Silver Sox would muster for the game...

In the infamous 1989 baseball movie “Major League,” Cleveland Indian relief pitcher, Ricky Vaughn, was often mocked because of his ‘Mohawk’ haircut and propensity to be a tad erratic when throwing his blazing fastball.

The Dexter Statesman is counting down the 10 best high school games from the previous school year. We will feature a game each week. The criteria for a game to make the list include competitiveness and meaning of the game. A game must involve a team(s) from Stoddard County and must have been covered first-hand by the Statesman or Semoball...

Kelly cheerleaders Mackenzie Morgan and Brooklyn Holman are continuing their cheerleading careers at Southeast Missouri State University after signing last Friday (June 12).

The controversial basketball coach who led Dora (32-2) over Delta in the Missouri Class 1 playoffs this spring en route to a state basketball title is moving to Viola High in northcentral Arkansas. Rick Luna’s contract at Dora was not renewed after the 2019-20 season despite the Falcons winning a MSHSAA championship. Dora’s school board failed to give a reason for voting 5-1 against extending Luna’s coaching job with the school...

Jeremy Walker has received ample opportunities to work with the players in the Gideon boys basketball program over the last three years. “Our returning seniors are the first group of freshman I coached when I became the junior varsity coach in 2017,” Walker said. ...

ADVANCE — The Advance volleyball team has begun preparation for its quest to win a third straight state championship. The Hornets began lifting weights and holding practices during the first week of June. “Everybody’s pretty motivated,” senior hitter Alyssa Miles said. “We’re all trying our hardest to get along. We’re working a little harder than in previous years.”...

The Charleston Fighting Squirrels and Jackson Tribe are both figuring out how to manage this summer baseball season, which is like no other the players and coaches have ever navigated before.

Jordan McGowan will not have a chance to repeat as Tri-County Conference Boys Basketball Coach of the Year. McGowan, who was named Conference Coach of the Year after Gideon finished 22-6 and won its conference tournament for the first time since 2016 earlier this year, is departing the Tri-County Conference to coach in the Bootheel Conference...

Sikeston senior Kylie Lossing is continuing her academic and cheerleading career at Southeast Missouri State University, in Cape Girardeau, Mo.

The top four spots in the Southeast Tropics’ batting order hammered SEMO 19-and-under Spartans pitching Monday night at East Park. Noah Amelung, Hayden Nazarenus, Hayden Barnes and Jack Duenne went a combined 7 for 13 with three doubles, a home run, seven RBIs and 10 runs scored in the Tropics’ 17-6 victory...

The coronavirus pandemic has altered the 2020 Semoball Awards into a production like never before, as the event will be conducted as a “virtual” event on Facebook Live on July 11 at 7 p.m. instead of a live show that the sports fans throughout Southeast Missouri have grown accustomed to through the years.

Ellington High School SPORTS: Baseball. PARENTS: Thomas and Molly Heady. SIBLINGS: Johnathan Heady. PETS: Hugo (Yellow Lab) PLANS AFTER HIGH SCHOOL: Attending SLU — Mechanical Engineering Major WHAT DO YOU MISS ABOUT SCHOOL: I miss my great group of friends who made high school so memorable, and I miss my teachers and Coach (Jake0 Hime who helped me so much...

Garrett Henson pitched a no-hitter, and the SEMO Spartans 19-and-under baseball team secured its first win of the season, beating East Prairie 10-0 Thursday night at East Park. The 2020 Dexter High School graduate struck out 11 and walked two in five innings when the game was called because of the mercy rule. He faced only two batters over the minimum and no East Prairie player reached second base...

CHARLESTON, Mo. — He never appears in boxscores, never gets a hit, or never strikes out a batter, but Izaac Pursley is just as important to any baseball team he helps as any of the players. A Jackson, Mo., native, Izaac has helped with the Indians baseball team, the Bell City Cubs, multiple college teams and during the summer, you can see him at Hillhouse Park, in Charleston, as a member of the Charleston Fighting Squirrels...

The Dexter Statesman is counting down the 10 best high school games from the previous school year. We will feature a game each week. The criteria for a game to make the list include competitiveness and meaning of the game. A game must involve a team(s) from Stoddard County and must have been covered first-hand by the Statesman or Semoball...

The Rib City Shootout will begin next week at the Libla Family Sports Complex on the campus of Three Rivers College in Poplar Bluff. A girls basketball shootout will be on June 17-18 and the boys basketball shootout will be on June 18-19. The event was scheduled to start May 29-30 with a boys basketball shootout at Libla and a girls basketball shootout at the Black River Coliseum in Poplar Bluff. However, the first few shootouts were canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic...

When high school sports stopped in March due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it left some very big questions to determine a winner of the Semoball Cup for the best overall sports program in the area. Notre Dame’s basketball teams had their seasons end before playing in the state semifinals while Oran teams were unable to play for third place...

Bernie High School SPORTS: Baseball. PARENTS: John and Michelle Harvey SIBLINGS: none. PETS: Great Pyrenees (Yeti) PLANS AFTER HIGH SCHOOL: Attend College of the Ozarks and further my career in Orthopedic Sports Medicine Surgery. WHAT DO YOU MISS ABOUT SCHOOL: I miss baseball and FFA most...

KENNETT, Mo. - FCC Behavioral Health, local businesses, and local golfers teamed up to raise money for the Kennett D.A.R.E. Program Thursday afternoon. The money was raised at the sixth annual FCC Behavioral Health “Fore Wellness” Golf Tournament at Kennett Country Club...

Bernie High School SPORTS: Softball, volleyball, cheerleading. PARENTS: Jon Anthony and Kelli Anthony. SIBLINGS: Tucker and Tatum Anthony. PETS: Three dogs. PLANS AFTER HIGH SCHOOL: Attend Three Rivers and use a cheerleading scholarship as well as the A+ program to help me achieve my degree in Nursing...

JACKSON, Mo. — Pitching had its share of struggles for the Sikeston Silver Sox on Wednesday against Jackson. Two hurlers had an appearance on the mound for the guests, with both wanting to have the game back. Sikeston pitchers gave up 10 earned runs, 14 hits, and threw three wild pitches in its 10-0 loss in five innings to the Tribe, at Saxony Lutheran High School...

Fans of the Bernie Mules’ teams from 2014-19 would have loved MSHSAA’s recent decision to divide spring softball into two classes. Since the spring softball season featuring only one class was introduced in 2014, Bernie’s season ended against larger schools. They will be considered Class 2 schools in the realignment that is set to be used during the 2020-21 school year...

If you drive around the cities and towns dotting the Southeast Missouri landscape, one thing is undeniable: Kids are playing sports again in wake of the coronavirus pandemic.