Sports

Kennett girl's tennis player Anelle Harris entered her sophomore season with big shoes to fill. Harris, who played in the No. 5 spot on varsity as a freshman, was asked to move up to the No. 1 spot entering her sophomore campaign. “I was a little nervous coming into the season,” she said. “I had to take on a bigger leadership role because we graduated our top four varsity players the year before. That added a little more pressure. But I expected a lot from myself and wanted to win every day.”...

Notre Dame coach, educator, and athletic director Jeff Graviett certainly isn’t old, but he has been at this athletic thing for quite awhile and he knows greatness when he sees it.

Scott City High School boy’s basketball coach and athletic director Mark Dannenmueller doesn’t mince words when it comes to describing what it was like to coach former Ram athletic great Joe Panagos.

The Hornets from Advance lost just 14 contests during a shortened school year and defended their MSHSAA championship in volleyball. With a .829 combined winning percentage, better than any other area school, Advance claimed its first Semoball Cup during the 2020 Semoball Awards on Saturday night...

East Prairie cheerleader Chakyrah Jones signed to continue cheering at Southeast Missouri State University, on Friday.

NEW MADRID, Mo. — New Madrid County Central senior Ke’von Williams singed on the dotted line Tuesday afternoon to Lewis and Clark College in Godfrey, Ill. The 6-foot-4 Williams was the second-leading scorer for the Eagles this past season, averaging 11.1 points per game. He also provided 5.9 rebounds per game and led the team with a 60 percent shooting percentage...

There a numerous ways in which you can measure the greatness of former basketball coach Danny Farmer numerically.

Each year the Semoball Awards recognizes outstanding high school athletes from around the region. That tradition continues Saturday albeit in a different format due to the lingering COVID-19 concerns and social distancing requirements.

CAPE GIRARDEAU — Seniors gathered one last time to compete in the Senior Track and Field Meet at Notre Dame Regional High School in Cape Girardeau on Wednesday morning. To have one last competition where seniors from around the Southeast Missouri area got to wear their jerseys and represent their schools one last time was one thing that brought nothing but smiles to everyone’s face...

When Daterraion Richardson was a high school senior, Southeast Missouri State football coach Tom Matukewicz was enraptured with the young athlete’s strength and agility.

SIKESTON — Simplifying Sikeston senior Clark Steward’s baseball career in one word would be unimaginable. An up-and-down four years filled with highs, injuries, recovering and then ultimately coming back for one last go-around with his team all ended when a global pandemic occurred shutting down spring sports nationwide. However, despite all of that, the future Mississippi State Bulldog finally received his much-needed closure on Monday afternoon...

Arjun Sahai got one more chance to wear the royal blue and white of Notre Dame Regional High School Tuesday as he took part in a high school showcase at his home court, Brother David Migliorino Tennis Complex. Sahai, a 2020 Bulldogs graduate, is headed in the fall to St. Louis University where he will pursue medical studies...

Former Southeast Missouri State men’s basketball coach Rick Ray was recently hired as an assistant coach at Colorado.

Daryl Vaughn decided to pass on an opportunity to play college baseball to join the Air Force. He took flight to keep his team from falling behind at the SEMO Conference Senior Baseball Showcase on Monday. The recent Poplar Bluff graduate made a diving catch in the right-field gap leading to a double play in a tie game...

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...

Recently-hired Southeast Missouri State men’s basketball coach Brad Korn sat in a conference room with one of his recently-hired assistants, Sam McMahon, Wednesday and hovering over the two was a dry-erase board covered end-to-end with information on how to build the Redhawks into a formidable Ohio Valley Conference program.

Southeast Missouri State athletic director Brady Barke is figuratively driving a car down a road – at night – and with no headlights as he tries to navigate a sporting world that has never existed.

Brad Korn has been a college basketball coach for 15 years. You can multiply that number by several hundred and tally the number of times his mind has wandered in terms of the tasks he would like to accomplish when – if – he ever received an opportunity to be a head coach.

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...

Kansas State athletic director Gene Taylor was somewhat prophetic when he recently told the Wichita Eagle “I am still confident that we are going to play football, but I am less confident that we are going to play 12 games.”

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...

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. — 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. ...

HOLLISTER, Mo. — Brevin Giebler advanced to the second round of match play at the 113th Missouri Amateur. The Cape Girardeau golfer earned a 2 and 1 victory over Jake Mikesch of St. Joseph on Thursday at the Ozarks National Golf Course. Jackson’s Case Englehart survived a 10-player playoff for the final seven spots to earn the 63rd seed in the 64-player field after climbing from 139th place with a 2-under 68 round Wednesday...

HOLLISTER, Mo. — Brad Thielemier started his round Wednesday with an eagle as the Poplar Bluff golfer clawed his way back at the 113th Missouri Amateur. Thielemier, who started the day tied for 94th, made the cut for match play with an even-par 71 at the Ozarks National Golf Course...

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...

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.

HOLLISTER, Mo. — Area golfers will be need to be on the move Wednesday during the final round of stroke play at the 113th Missouri Amateur. None of the players from Southeast Missouri are in the top 64 following Tuesday’s opening round at the Ozarks National Golf Course...

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...

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.

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

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.

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

New Southeast Missouri State men’s basketball coach Brad Korn and Redhawk assistant Dustin Yoder have roots in the state of Illinois that both hope to tap into as they build their basketball program.

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.

Southeast Missouri State baseball coach Andy Sawyers didn’t have any doubts that fifth-year senior Justin Dirden would be coveted by Major League Baseball teams this spring. It was simply a matter of whether or not the star outfielder would be selected in the abbreviated five-round MLB Draft this week or not.

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...

Halle Smith has a natural curiosity when it comes to solving problems. The Belle High School senior aspires to study psychology in college with the goal of becoming a psychiatrist one day.

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...

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...

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.

SIKESTON — Youth Empowerment 573 is bringing some changes to its 2020 football league this season. Former Sikeston football standout and current assistant coach Treston Pulley calls it the “coronavirus changes,” and said that he is stirring things up amidst the virus that has halted nearly every sport...

The 2020 Southeast Missouri State baseball squad pounded out 21 home runs in its 17 games during this abbreviated spring season, and none were hit by freshman infielder Landon Hahn. However, don’t think for a moment that the Jackson High School graduate didn’t help the Redhawks be successful, as they won 8 of their last 11 games prior to the season ending due to the coronavirus pandemic.

SEMO Conference baseball players will have the opportunity to take the field together one more time this summer. The first annual SEMO Conference Senior Baseball Showcase is slated to take place Monday, July 6, at Capaha Park in Cape Girardeau. “It’s exciting to get the opportunity to get on the field with the boys again,” Poplar Bluff Bluff senior Dawson Hanner said. “It’s going to be a fun day.”...

CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. — To say it was a strong out by Anthony Klein on the mound Sunday would be an understatement. Klein was perfect for the Charleston Fighting Squirrels as they defeated the Southern Illinois Stix 11-0 in the championship game of the COVID-19 Baseball Showcase, at Capaha Park, in Cape Girardeau...

CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. — Through two games this season, the Charleston Fighting Squirrels have either out-pitched or out-hit their opponents. That trend continued on Saturday afternoon after the Fighting Squirrels became advantageous on pitching miscues to defeat the Missouri Outlaws 11-4 in their final game of pool play, in the COVID-19 Baseball Showcase, at Capaha Park...

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...