Sports

Thursday in Northern Illinois, two double duos from Greenville High School played in the IHSA Class 1A state tennis tournament in northern Illinois. Andrew Martin and Ivan Powell won once. They opened with 6-1, 6-2 loss to Triad, defeated a Morton pair in the consolation bracket, 6-2, 6-2, then lost a close match to a Mattoon duo 7-6, 7-6.

Hannah Brown of Vandalia Community High School returned home from the IHSA State Track Meet with a ninth-place medal around her neck. The VCHS sophomore placed ninth in the shot put at the state meet with her best toss of 36 feet, 9 ¾ inches, which was a personal record for her. She also broke the school record in the shot put, which she had set at the IHSA Sectional Track meet the week prior.

One thing is for sure, the NTC will again be represented in the Super-Sectional. Lion’s Field in Kinmundy is one of the crown jewels of high school baseball in the entire region and the great ball diamond will host a truly great game today as the host South Central Cougars will take on the Altamont Indians.

The South Central Cougars will take on NTC rival Altamont today at Lions Field in Kinmundy in the Sectional championship. Game time scheduled for 11 a.m. SC knocked off Windsor/Stew-Stras in the semifinal while Altamont eliminated Okaw Valley. The winner advances to Monday’s Super Sectional against the winner from Goreville featuring Hardin County and Waltonville. Father McGivney will host Greenfield.

Arlen Parker Student-Athlete Award winners at Greenville High School for May were seniors Kaitlyn Washburn and Nathan Heckman. Kaitlyn played volleyball and softball, and was a manager for girls basketball. Her grade point average was 3.921. Kaitlyn is the daughter of Dot Washburn and Mike Washburn. Nathan played baseball for...

SPOKANE, Wash. - After not seeing action in last weekend’s 3-0 loss, Carlos Merancio made his presence known in Spokane Velocity FC’s third match of the Jägermeister Cup. The 25-year-old goalkeeper recorded seven saves and anchored a robust defense that shut out Greenville Triumph SC through regulation. However, with Velocity also held scoreless – per Cup rules – the match went into a penalty shootout that Greenville won 5-4. Both teams were awarded a draw and a point in group play, with Triumph earning the additional point for winning the shootout.

Vandalia High School Grad, Golfing Standout and soon to be NIU Golfer Conner McCall will play in the 104th CDGA Amateur Championship next month. On Tuesday at The Den at Fox Creek in Bloomington, Conner won the qualifying tournament. Conner shot a -2 (70) on a day with 20 to 30 mile per hour winds and against many other Division 1 and former college golfers in the field.

Vandalia High School’s Tanner Robbins walked across the graduation stage on Saturday marking the end of his time at Vandalia High School, and just a day earlier on Friday, Robbins solidified his future plans, signing his letter of intent to continue his academic and athletic career at William Penn University in Iowa. And Robbins says making everything official felt amazing.

The Greenville University women’s track team ventured to the Quad Cities on May 16 for the Augustana Midwest Final Qualifier event in an attempt to better their standing or even qualify for this week’s NCAA Division III National Outdoor track meet. Two individuals and one relay team had...

For the second year, the Kingsbury Park District is offering youngsters, entering first grade through eighth grade, instructions during what is being called Blue Jay Baseball and Softball Days. Park District Recreation Programmer Kayla Curry said the coaches of the Blue Jays will be partnering with the KPD to offer...

The Altamont Indians used the power of the long ball, blasting four home runs in a 11-2 win over Okaw Valley in the second semifinal game of the South Central 1A Sectional on Wednesday in Kinmundy. The first long ball would come in the top of the first inning. Before that, a one out double from Dillan Elam and an advancement on a passed ball put Elam 90 feet from home. Nate Stuemke would hit a sacrifice fly to left field to score Elam for a 1-0 Indians lead before a solo home run from Keegan Schultz would put Altamont up 2-0. Okaw Valley was able to match the Indians with a pair of runs to tie the game up at 2-2 to end the first inning. That would be all the scoring the Timberwolves would do in the game. The Indians themselves would be held scoreless across the second, third and fourth innings, but started moving things again late in the game. Kade Milleville reached base on an error to lead off the top of the fifth and Kaden Davis laid down a bunt and also reached base on an error to put runners at first and second. Elam would then send a line drive over the left field fence for a 3-run home run that would break the tie and put the Indians up 5-2 with no outs in the inning. After a walk from Stuemke, two strikeouts and a groundout ended the inning. The Indians picked things back up in the top of the sixth inning with Eli Miller drawing a one out walk and Milleville hitting a double to center to put two runners in scoring position. Davis would then clear the bases, with a home run to left field to tack on three more runs and put Altamont up 8-2. After Okaw Valley went three up, three down in the bottom of the sixth inning, Altamont immediately scored to start the top of the seventh with a leadoff solo home run from Schultz, his second homer of the game, to edge the Indian lead to 9-2. Ethan Robbins singled to reach base before being caught out at second on a fielder’s choice that allowed Clayton Arnold to reach base. With two outs in the inning, E. Miller drew a walk before Milleville singled to centerfield to score Arnold and put Altamont up 10-2. E. Miller would then score on a passed ball as the Altamont lead grew to 11-2. That run would wrap up the Altamont scoring as a pop out ended the inning. After Okaw Valley singled to lead off the inning, the Indians would catch the runner stealing and then get a groundout and strikeout to close out the 11-2 win and earn their spot in the South Central 1A Sectional Championship game. Altamont is 28-9 on the season and will take on NTC rival South Central in the title game at 11:00am on Saturday morning at Lions Field in Kinmundy.

Vandalia High School girls track sophomore thrower Hannah Brown tossed a personal best and for the second time in ten days broke the school record in the Shot Put on the way to a 9th place finish at the IHSA Girls 1A State Track Finals on Saturday at Eastern Illinois University. Sitting in 10th place after Thursday’s Preliminary Round with a best throw of 36’ 1.25”, Brown would have a throw of 36’ 9.75” with her second throw of Saturday’s Finals and fifth throw at State overall to reach a new personal best, to break her own school record by 6.25” that she had just set ten days ago at the 1A Altamont Sectional Meet and to move herself up a spot into 9th place into medal contention. That throw and placing would hold through the sixth and Final round of throws to solidify Brown as a state medalist. Brown becomes the first girls state medalist since 2016, is just the fourth individual event medalist in Vandalia girls track and field history and is the first ever medalist in the throws events for Vandalia girls track and field.

After a 2-2 tie stood for four and a half innings, a seventh inning run by South Central gave the Cougars a 3-2 win over Windsor/Stew-Stras in the first semifinal of the South Central 1A Sectional on Wednesday. The Hatchets were able to get out to an early lead with two runs in the bottom of the first inning but the Cougars matched that in the top of the second inning. A one out single by Coen West followed by two more singles from Brody Markley and Zane Montes loaded the bases up and Evan Hoover came through with a fourth consecutive single to drive in a run and cut the WSS lead to 2-1. With the bases still loaded, Max Magnus kept the single train going with a hit to right field to bring another run in and tie the game up at 2-2. The run would come to an end though on a fielder’s choice out and a fly out to end the South Central scoring threat. Pitching would take center stage over the next several innings as hits would be held to a minimum with a majority of the baserunners over that time coming on walks or hit by pitches. After a pitching change by the Hatchets in the top of the seventh inning, South Central drew a leadoff walk as Trevan Sidwell reached base and Colton Smith was hit by a pitch to put runners at first and second. A bunt single from Maddox Robb would move Sidwell to third and Smith to second and load the bases up with no outs. After a strikeout put one out on the board, Markley would hit a ground ball to third and reach base on an error and courtesy runner Luke Shumate would score on the play as the Cougars took the lead, 3-2. With bases still loaded, South Central was again threatening, but a strikeout and a fly out would end the threat and the half inning. Working in his seventh inning on the mound West was able to strike out the first two batters of the inning and induce a ground out for the final out as South Central closed out the 3-2 win and earned themselves a spot in their own South Central 1A Sectional Championship game. The Cougars, now 18-13-1 on the season, will face a familiar NTC rival in the Altamont Indians as they beat Okaw Valley to advance as well. South Central and Altamont will square off in the title game on Saturday morning at 11:00am at Lions Field in Kinmundy.

The Greenville University softball women posted a school first by winning their opening NCAA Division III national tournament game at the Washington University Regional last week. That was a 7-5 decision over the host school. The Panthers lost the next two games in the double elimination tournament. They were defeated...

The Illinois State High School boys tennis state tournament opens Thursday in Northern Illinois, and Greenville High School has two doubles pairs in Class 1A action. By virtue of their performances at the sectional, the duos of Carter Manhart and Aidan Andris, and Andrew Martin and Ivan Powell qualified for state.

Two Greenville Jr. High athletes finished in the top five of their events last weekend at the IESA Class 3A state track meet at the EastSide Centre in Peoria. Payton White brought home a runner-up finish in the long jump competition. She marked at 5.04 meters or 16’ 6 ½”. Taylor Freyermuth of Taylor Ridge (Rockridge) won the event at 5.16 meters or 16’ 11 ¼”.

Tonight’s the night! The Greenville Yard Gnomes open their inaugural home season at Guy Smith Stadium!. Join the Gnomes for all the fun and excitement of their premiere season, including the Gnome Opener with post-game kids run the bases on Friday, May 24, as well as Family Sunday, featuring post-game catch on the field on Sunday, May 26, and Marg Monday on Monday, May 27!

Vandalia sophomore thrower has advanced to the Finals in the Shot Put at the IHSA 1A Girls State Track Meet at Eastern Illinois University in Charleston. Heading into the day ranked 11th out of the 34 state qualifiers, Brown had a best throw of 11.00 meters or 36’ 1.25” in Thursday’s Prelims to advance to the Finals as the Top 12 go to Saturday’s Finals where the top 9 will place. Saturday’s 1A Shot Put Finals will be held at 10:00am.

GREENVILLE -- Effingham St. Anthony and Teutopolis will meet for the Class 2A Greenville Baseball Sectional championship after both picked up victories in opening round play Wednesday in games heard on KJ Country 102.3. The Bulldogs led off with a 2-0 first inning lead on Roxana. Beau Adams started the...