Mandy Yeck (Rochester Soc) – There weren’t many seniors on this state championship squad in Rochester, just four to be exact. But none had a bigger weekend at the state tournament than Yeck, who scored a goal in both the semifinal and in the title game. The Rockets are primed to defend their title, but replacing Yeck’s production will be a task for Chad Kutscher.
Alex DeVaney (Williamsville SB) – The Bullets are back into the 2A supersectionals and DeVaney’s performance during the sectionals is a huge reason why. The senior hurler allowed just one run in two sectional games. For the second straight season she’s found her groove as the playoff road has gotten deeper and now she’s got the Bullets one win away from a berth in the state tournament.
Cole Hamilton (Pleasant Plains BB) – We’re not afraid to say that we’re going to miss watching this kid play baseball. The Cardinals third baseman could do it all. He led off for the defending 2A state champs, going 3-for-3 with two runs and an RBI in their sectional final loss to Williamsville. In the semifinals, he made a pair of barehanded plays to first on swinging bunts that high school third basemen just don’t make. Plains has had a “wild and free” reputation over the past few seasons, but Hamilton always backed that up by handling his business on the field.
Kelly Graves & Maddie Klintworth (Glenwood Soc) – The Titans scored six goals in their two sectional games and Graves and Klintworth combined to score them all. Graves tied Triad 1-1 in the sectional semifinals before Klintworth netted the game winner. In the finals, it took a hat trick from the VCU bound graves to tie Springfield High at 3, again setting the table for Klintworth’s game winning heroics. We’ve already dubbed Klintworth “The Next Big Thing” and the only reason she isn’t the “Big Thing” now is because she’s got to wait for Graves to move on so that spot can open up.
Luke Bleyer (Williamsville BB) – Bleyer had the ball in his hand for five strong innings of 8K baseball in a rout of Shelbyville in last week’s sectional semifinals. On Monday, he found it in his hand once again, as he entered for 3 1/3 innings of scoreless relief in a 7-6 comeback win against a Plains team that seemed to have the Bullets number in the post season. His availability for the Supersectionals is in doubt because of the timing, but if the Bullets get to state, they’ll hand the ball to Big Game Bleyer with confidence.
Springfield Soccer (Team) – Maybe this is a cop out, picking the whole SHS soccer team rather than trying to single out an individual player or two, but when you consider where they came from and where they ended, the credit deserves to be spread around. The Senators lost an early season CS8 game to Glenwood 4-1. Last Friday they had the Titans on the ropes, down 3-2 in the second half of a sectional final. It took a herculean effort from Kelly Graves and Maddie Klintworth to pull out the win for the Titans, but that sort of growth from Pat Phillips’ squad says all it needs to about his program.
Tyler Johnson (Plains Track) – There are few better distance guys in Class 1A and Johnson reminded everyone of that at the Boys State Track Meet in Charleston last weekend, medaling in both the mile and two mile run. His time of 4:27.80 was good for 9th place in the 1600M run, but his 9:32.15 in the 3200M earned him second place honors. The best part is Johnson is just a junior, so he’ll be back next year to improve on those finishes.
Kahlil Wassel (New Berlin Track) – It’s been a while since New Berlin has had the sort of lightning in a bottle excitement that Wassel provided as a sophomore. In fact, we’re not sure if the Pretzels have ever trotted out a sprinter of his caliber. Wassel medaled in two events at the state track meet as well. He finished 8th in the 100M dash with a time of 11.08 and he posted a 4th place finish in the 200M dash where he ran a 22.22. With two years to grow and improve, there’s no doubt he’ll launch an assault on the top spot on the podium soon.
Peyton Cole (Glenwood SB) – When you’ve got a 9-hole hitter like Peyton Cole, you’ve got a serious weapon in your lineup. The slap hitting speedster had a pair of hits and scored two runs in a 7-0 win over Jacksonville in the regional semifinals. She followed that up by scoring the game-winning run in a 2-1 regional final win over Rochester. She’s having the kind of post season you need from your role playing seniors if you expect to make the kind of run Glenwood did last year when they won a state title.
Ashton Dyche (SHG Softball) – The junior first baseman was a hitting machine in the 3A SHG regional. She started out with a 4 for 4, 4 RBI performance in a semi-final romp over Springfield, and followed it up with big heroics in the title game. She scored a run against Lincoln, and won the game in the 8th inning with sacrifice fly. The Cyclones can hit the ball 1 through 9, but no one is scarier in that lineup than their cleanup hitter.
