Baseball Post Season Results

The school year is drawing to an end and the post season for baseball and fastpitch is upon us.  South’s boys team lost a close game 3-1 against NorthEastern.  TCN boys lost a close game against Troy Christian 2-0. Dixie’s fastpitch team lost their first round game 10-0 in a rain delayed game against Miami East.

Dixie’s baseball team lost a heartbreaker in their opening round game. 

Dixie went up 1-0  in the top of the fifth inning and Blanchester tied the game in the bottom of the sixth.  Dixie scored a run in their half of the last running to go up again.  But in the last at bat for home team Blanchester, a muffed play by Dixie at first got a runner on base, then a batter reached on a walk.  Finally a deep fly ball scored both baserunners to seal the win for Blanchester.  This gave the Greyhounds a 12-14 overall record. Coach Johnson noted that the team is only losing one senior, “so expectations will be high for the 2013 season. The only question to be answered is how much work they do in the summer and the rest of the offseason to get better to be prepared to win league and go deeper in the tournament next season.”

Luke Bowling was 2-2; Josh VanBuhren was 2-4; while Travis Wright and Seth Angel each had a hit. Seth Angel was the starting pitcher and had 6 strikeouts. 

TVS fastpitch ended their regular season on  a down note being on the receiving end of back to back shutouts.   But in the three games the team played this week the offense erupted.  TVS blanked Franklin Monroe in their first round state tournament game 9-0.  Emily Froment was 2-4 with a triple that hit the fence. Katie Strazheim was 2-2 as was Kayla Hartley.  Shelby Spaeth has been unable to play catcher, so it is up to Leanne Johnson to finish the season behind the plate. “ I am so pleased with the job that LeAnne Johnson is doing behind the plate.  Since taking over for Shelby Spaeth, she's looking like she's been back there her whole career.  Having Shelby out in right field now, gives us some increased speed and experience in the outfield.  Shelby is a good leader, no matter where she's playing on the field.” Stated coach Robinson.

She continued, “Good solid win to start tournament play.  Emily was one walk away from a perfect game.  I think she's come close 4 times now this year.  Still it was a no-hit, no-error game, so I was really pleased with our defense.  Offensively, I was happy to see both Emily and Katie Straszheim hit so well.  They've both been in a bit of a slump here lately.” Froment ended the game with 15 strikeouts.

 

Catholic Central was the second round game for TVS.  Again it was a shutout win for the Panthers 11-0 as they continued to dominate in the early rounds of the state tournament.  And it was a memorable game for Emily Froment who recorded her 1000^th career strikeout on the next to the last batter.  Shelby Spaeth was 4-4 with 2 singles, 2 doubles and 2 RBI’s – one of her best days of the season.  Katie Strazheim was 3-4 with 2 RBI’s. 

Coach Robinson on the game, “We hit the ball really well tonight, finally adjusting to the slower pitcher.  This was probably the slowest pitcher we've seen all season, so I was pleased that we were able to score in every inning.  Shelby Spaeth had a really good night at the plate.  She's been struggling for consistency lately, so I was glad to see her have a break-out game.  Katie Straszheim has hit well all season, hovering around the .500 mark all year long.”

Finally TVS had a makeup  game against Arcanum.  They won this game 7-1 to avenge a loss to Arcanum earlier in the season and completed a perfect week.  Coach Robinson was positive after the win, “Tonight was a test to see how much we've improved from the beginning of the season.  Arcanum beat us 3-0 in the first week of the season, and we only managed 3 hits off of their pitcher, while committing 3 errors.  Today, we had 12 hits and no errors.  Our bunt defense has improved tremendously over the course of the season, and we've got a much more balanced hitting attack.  Six of our 9 starters are hitting above .300.  Emily is throwing as hard as she has all year, and LeAnne Johnson is doing an amazing job behind the plate.  It just seems like all of the pieces are coming together just at the right time.  We're building confidence with every game too.”

South will play in the sectional finals on Tuesday against Southeastern at Brookville highschool at 5pm. Preble Shawnee fastpitch has also advanced in the state tournament with wins against familiar foes National Trail (6-3) and TCN (3-0).  They play Miami East in their sectional final. 

Dixie Track Hungry for District Meet

Both Dixie Track teams have been successful this season and are hoping to finish

 strong in the league and district meets.  Coach Via is in charge of the girls team

 which is young, but athletic. Case in point is pole vaulter Jesselyn Shade who

 is a freshman but has regularly been vaulting over 9’ this season and won league.

 And despite this being only the second time that she ran 400 meters, freshman

 Chelsea Evans won the league in this event. Kristin Hauser is just coming back

 from injury but still managed to be league champ in the 100m hurdles. 

“The freshmen being athletic has really helped us a lot,” stated coach Via,

 “Evans is close to a school record in the 400m dash and last Friday was the

 first time she ran that race. She is real competitive and hates to lose. Junior

 Kristin Hauser is close to record, but then she got injured. And sophomore 

Kylie Hundley has had some success in the long jump, hopefully she can finish 

strong for us. And they pull together as a team, we lost our senior high jumper 

and we had a couple of girls step up to become high jumpers - Sheri Myers has 

done well for us.”  The Dixie girls track would make a good showing in the SWBL 

league meet finishing third.

The Dixie boys track team has been hauling in the hardware this season, winning 

several invitationals this spring. TVS’s Fred Durkle, Preble Shawnee Invitational,

Northridge Invitational, and Dean Schultz Invitational to name a few. “We have won

 every major invitational that we have been in this spring,” stated coach Hughes,

”the team has been real strong this year. Mike Smiley has been our main thrower. 

He threw 45’ today which won the shotput, and that is his best this year. And in 

the disc he is throwing over 140’. 

He continued, “John Isaacs has gone over 6’5” this year. Our long jumper, Ryan 

Jordan, has been over 21’ this year. John Noonan in the pole vault broke the 

school record this year. He went 12’ 10.5” at the Northridge Invitational to 

get the school record, then went 12’11” at the next meet. He’s a junior so 

he has another year to keep breaking it. Ryan Jordan in the 100m got the 

school record, he ran 11.12 at Shawnee; at Northridge he beat it again with 

a 11:07. So he’s been moving.”

Also, “Doogie Hauser, Andrew Barnet, Ryan Jordan, and John Isaacs have 

been getting real close to our school record in the 4X100m relay. That 

team has not been beat all year long. Our 2 miler, William Stapleton, is 

looking real strong. His personal best this year is better than his regional 

time from last year. Dustin Funkhauser,a freshman, has ran in the 53’s this year 

in the 400m, so we are real happy with that. One of the fastest times I have 

ever seen for a freshman. The 4X200m team beat the school record. We were 

district runners up last year, so our goal this year is to win districts and 

to win league. Then you never know what is going to happen at regionals.”

The Dixie boys would be runners up at the league meet. Losing to Milton Union by just one point. Next week the team will be participating in the district meet at Welcome stadium on May 17^th and 19^th. 

South's Emily Froment gets 1000th career strikeout this week.