Soccer, track, baseball, softball spice sports scene

GIRLS SOCCER

WEST PLAINS -- A gut-wrenching overtime loss to Jonesboro (Ark.) knocked the Sikeston Lady Bulldogs out of the final of the West Plains Lady Zizzers Soccer Classic on Saturday.

Sikeston and Jonesboro, the second-ranked team in the state of Arkansas, battled to a scoreless tie through regulation and two 10-minute overtime periods before the contest was decided on a shootout.

The Lady Bulldogs and Jonesboro were tied 3-3 after the initial five-player shootout. Jordi Ferrell, Paige Silverthorn and Jennifer Millington scored the Sikeston goals.

In the second tiebreaker (a one-player shootout with a kicker who did not participate in the first), Jonesboro netted its attempt and Sikeston missed for an official 1-0 loss.

The loss relegated the Bulldogs to the third-place game against Moberly.

Tied at 2-2 in regulation, Ferrell's 30-yard free kick four minutes into the first overtime period was the gamewinner.

With the 3-2 victory, the Lady Bulldogs' program reached an all-time high for wins in a season with seven, against eight losses.

Sikeston's Allison Blurton scored the opening goal on an assist from Abbi Keefer for a 1-0 halftime lead.

After Moberly tied it at 1, Ferrell netted a goal on an assist from Ariel Reynolds for a 2-1 edge at the 76-minute mark.

Moberly knotted the score at 2 with 40 seconds remaining in regulation, leading to Ferrell's game-winning overtime shot.

Ferrell's goal also lifted her into a tie with Blurton for the team leadership with seven apiece.

Silverthorn, in goal, recorded 13 saves against Jonesboro, nine against Moberly.

A full slate of games awaits Sikeston this week, with matches scheduled today, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, completing a seven-games-in-

seven-days run.

SEMO Conference foe Jackson is today's opponent with a junior varsity start time of 5 p.m.

TRACK AND FIELD

CAPE GIRARDEAU -- Sikeston boys and girls track and field teams participated in the Cape Relays on Saturday.

"On the boys side, we had a good day on the track, not as good a team performance in the field events as we would like," said Sikeston coach Jerry Dement. "We're getting there but we've got a lot of improvement to make overall."

Three third-place individual finishes highlighted Sikeston's day in the field events: Dominic Fondon in the long jump, Salamar Cox in the shot put and Trey Stone in the pole vault.

Top running performances were turned in by Stephon Turner with a second in the high hurdles and a second, also, by the 4 x 200 relay team of David Stovall, Brandon Wright, Brandon Washington and Tommie Strong.

The 4 x 100 team of B.J. Green, Wright, Washington and Strong captured third and the 4 x 400 team of Wright, Stovall, Gavilan Bland and Strong finished fourth.

The girls claimed the lone first-place medal for the Bulldogs with a winning effort by the sprint medley team of Jackie Nance, Jewellian Dixon, Chasmon Herrion and Tracy Jackson.

"Our sprint relays continue to run well, as does Chasmon Herrion in her individual events," said Dement. "All the girls ran hard and performed decently, but we're still in a building process."

Herrion ran a season-best 12.5 seconds in the 100 meters for a second-place finish.

The team of Nance, Herrion, LaShawna Turner and Michel 'Le Flye placed second in both the 4 x 100 and 4 x 200 relays.

The 4 x 400 team of Teah Atkinson, Jackson, Turner and Alonda Harris was third.

Atkinson also scored a third in the triple jump, on a personal-best effort of 32 feet-10 inches.

Sikeston has a busy week upcoming with two big meets on tap.

On Tuesday, the Bulldogs compete at the Perryville Invitational, then, on Friday, at the Poplar Bluff Invitational.

"We'll see a lot of our district opponents at the Perryville meet," said Dement.

BASEBALL

Mississippi County Wood Bat Tournament

CHARLESTON -- Dyersburg (Tenn.) walked away with the championship trophy of the inaugural Mississippi County Wood Bat Tournament on Saturday.

Dyersburg defeated the East Prairie Eagles 18-1 in the title game.

Blytheville (Ark.) got by Stoutland 8-4 in the third-place game, while host Charleston fell to Twin Rivers 10-3 in the fifth-place game.

West County finished seventh with a 14-0 blanking of Century (Ill.).

In the fifth-place contest, Twin Rivers' Jimmy Cornell limited the Bluejays to just three hits, one each by Paul Johnson, Brink Naile and Billy Butler.

"He's one of the top two pitchers we've seen all year," said Charleston coach Chris Stanfield.

Charleston (4-10), with Butler on the mound, gave up eight unearned runs to the Royals, ranked fourth in Class 2.

"Billy threw the ball pretty well, we just didn't play defense behind him," said Stanfield.

To reach the fifth-place game, the Bluejays defeated West County 4-3 with the deciding run coming across on a suicide squeeze in the fifth inning. Naile led off with a single, reached third on John Robert Goodin's double, then scored on Chase McClendon's squeeze bunt.

Johnson, charged with three runs on four hits in four innings, picked up the win and Naile, with three innings of scoreless relief recorded the save.

The Bluejays escaped a ticklish situation in the seventh when West County put the potential tying and winning runs on second and third with no outs.

Naile and Goodin had two hits and Tommy Starr one to account for the Bluejays' offensive production.

Charleston hosts Delta today at 4 p.m.

CHAFFEE -- Chaffee hammered 26 hits in two games to win the consolation title.

The Red Devils (7-8) defeated Egyptian, Ill., 9-5 in the semifinal, then eased by New Madrid County Central 11-4 in the consolation final.

Against Egyptian, Chris Hanback, Josh Steger and Steven Dooley each had two of Chaffee's 12 hits. Adam Crowe earned the pitching win, striking out eight batters in seven innings.

In the consolation title game, Chaffee allowed four runs in the first inning but shut out NMCC the rest of the way.

Dooley struck out 10 in a complete game. Jerrod Steger went 4-for-5 to lead Chaffee's 14-hit assault, and Hanback, Dooley and Korey Chapman each added two hits.

Landon Lingel led the NMCC offense with three hits, while Dylan Harris and Trey Sullenger added two hits apiece.

ORAN -- Advance and Dexter won semifinal games to set up a Stoddard County matchup in the Scott County Baseball Tournament.

The Hornets squeaked by Cooter 5-4 in eight innings. Trenton Moses hit a walkoff home run for Advance. Moses and Jeremy Limbaugh each had two RBIs for the Hornets, and Kevin Adkins had three hits.

Limbaugh relieved Moses in the seventh inning and picked up the win.

The finals were scheduled for Saturday, but prom conflicts forced the game to be moved to today at a time and location to be determined.

Dexter reached the final in a hitfest with a 19-10 win over Oran.

The teams combined for 30 hits.

Moore and Rigazzio paced the Bearcats with four hits each. Espey had three; Hessling, Cox and Matthews two each.

Moore was the winning pitcher and Oran's Paul Bucher took the loss. The Eagles (13-4) committed 12 errors and gave up 13 unearned runs in the semifinal.

Kody Campbell, Chase Seyer and Tyler Beardslee had two hits apiece for the Eagles.

Oran bounced back with a 13-2 win over Cooter in the third-place game. Seyer needed just 55 pitches to get the five-inning complete-game victory.

Campbell led Oran with five RBIs including a grand slam among his three hits. Caleb Seyer and Austin Dumey added two hits apiece, and Beardslee had a home run.

SOFTBALL

ORAN -- The Scott City softball team grabbed a 6-0 lead after four innings and held on to capture the Oran Tournament title Saturday with a 6-2 win over the host Eagles.

The Rams (14-3) had 12 hits to support starting pitcher Emily Essner. Essner struck out 14 and allowed just one hit in a complete-game victory.

Oran (11-2) dropped just its second game of the season with the loss.

"It was a nice win," Scott City coach Sally O'Brien said. "Emily really pitched well."

Callie Kielhofner took the loss for Oran.

Lauren Schaefer, Becky Holder, Kim Klipfel, Chelsi Bradley and Lindsey Amick had two hits apiece for the Rams.