The Press-Dispatch
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The Press-Dispatch Wednesday, May 29, 2019 B-1 SPORTS Submit sports items: Call: 812-354-8500 Email: sports@pressdispatch.net or bring in a hard copy: 820 E. Poplar Street, Petersburg Clears 14'4" at regional Pike Central finished 19th out of the 32-team Evansville Central Regional and junior Tyler Kirby was the top Charger in- dividual, finishing second in the pole vault with a height of 14'4". That was the standard to be met for qualification. Kirby entered the competition with a seed height of 13'6" and improved by 10 inches. Eric Wheatley, of Borden, cleared 15"6" to win the event, six inches less than the regional record set in 1997 by Jason Blair, of South Spencer. Charger junior Nate Woolery was the next best finisher, taking eighth place in the 1600 -meter run with a time of 4:41.35, which was nearly four seconds faster than his seed time of 4:45.15. Woolery was about three seconds out of sixth overall. Kirby and Woolery comprised the nine points the Chargers earned for 19th place out of the 32-team event. Woolery also ran the 3200 -meter race, placing 12th with a time of 10 :43.25, which was about nine seconds quicker than his seed time of 10 :52.46. The other Charger regional competitor was classmate Samu- el Theising, taking 16th in the 300 -meter hurdle event. Theising ran a 44.44 and was about three seconds out of fifth place points. Results: New Albany 83, Floyd Central 53, Central 52, Jasper 46, North 44, Bosse 42, Borden 29, South Knox 28, Bigson Southern 26, Mater Dei 25, Princeton 23, Southridge 21, Christian 20, Heritage Hills 18, Tell City 13, South Spencer 13, Castle 11, Crawford 10, Corydon 9, Pike Central 9, Providence 8, Boonville 7, Forest Park 7, Perry Central 6, North Daviess 4, Harrison 3, Reitz 2, South Central 2, North Harrison 1, Washington 1. KIRBY QUALIFIES FOR STATE Tyler Kirby clears the bar and starts his descent to the mat during the pole vault at the Evansville Track Regional. Kirby cleared 14'4' and placed second in the regional, which qualified him for the state finals. Logan Clark photo. Nate Woolery runs on the heels of another runner in the 3200. Woolery placed 12th in the 3200 with a time of 10:43.25 and placed eighth in the 1600 with a time of 4:41.35. Logan Clark photo. Jasper won their softball sectional with two early runs and then four more, following the Lady Chargers evening things up in the fifth. The Lady Chargers tied it up at two runs apiece in the top of the fifth when Alize Padgett hit a line drive homer to left, scoring Aubrie Dawson. The Lady Jasper Wildcats re- sponded with two in the bottom of the fifth and two more in the sixth to secure a four- run advantage. Pike Central's Aubrie Dawson got to first on an error with a pop fly to center in the team's last chance in the seventh, down 6 -2. Dawson then advanced to second when Kenzie Powell bunted out to the pitcher. Dawson scored from third when Padgett grounded out to the third baseman. Hallie Bailey ended the contest, go- ing down swinging on a 0 -2 count. The Lady Chargers finished their season 9 -13. Jasper's Grace Colvin hit a two RBI double in the bottom of the sixth for two more insur- ance runs. Jasper got their offense going ear- ly with two runs in the first. A double by Mia Werner and walk for Emily Heim resulted in See FALL on 2 See CHARGERS on 8 Pike Central second in PAC tennis Audrey Keepes All-Conference The Lady Charger tennis team fin- ished second in the Pocket Athlet- ic Conference with a 7-1 record. Gib- son Southern claimed the champion- ship with an 8 -0 record. Pike Central had a 12-5 season record and the Ti- tans were 13-5. Audrey Keepes was named All-Con- ference, along with Addison Brown (GS), Nina Tewort (NP), Brooke Haug (FP) and Lexi Birch (GS). Hon- orable mention in singles went to Nat Bohnert, Carly Sabelhaus (HH) and Breah Bailey (Tec). All conference doubles went to Morgan Toler and Al- lie Rutherford (SS) and Audra Hochge- sang and Jordan Biehl (SR). Honorable mention doubles went to Molly Lusk and Kaylee Uebelhor (FP) and Alison Kissel and Allie Sensmeier (GS). Jeeps rolled by seventh inning surge Pike Central grabbed an ear- ly 3-1 advantage in the first in- ning at Northeast Dubois last week and then added big time in the seventh with eight runs on of a pair of walks, doubles cour- tesy of Braxton Rice and Joey Church, and a single off the bat of Kyle Williams. Rice scattered eight hits, struck out four and walked two in his seven innings on the mound. Jeep Eli Schott homered and Bryce Merkel had a double, but Jeep pitching suffered at the hands of several Pike Central sluggers, including doubles via the bats of Joey Church, Bren- non Benton and Braxton Rice. Church, Rice, Eli Coleman and Troy Rickard each had two RBIs, and Williams, Draven Huff and Connor O'Neal each had one. A fter scoring in four innings, the Chargers held onto the 13-4 win, with Rice blanking them in the bottom of the seventh. Two Jeeps stepped in for starter Lo- gan Mehringer, who went six and a third innings. He gave up five hits, four earned runs and walked four. Jeep Aden Thew- es exited the game after three runs, two walks and one hit. Eli Schuott followed for the last two outs, allowing one run and one hit. Church had the only fielding error, but also had the only sto- len base and scored two runs, as did Benton and Rickard. Race Britton, O'Neal, Coleman, Wil- liams and Huff all crossed the plate in the 13-4 win. Benton and Coleman got on base twice af- ter being hit, and Rickard got to first on three walks. Pike Central: 3 1 1 0 0 0 8: 13 7 1 NE Dubois: 1 0 1 0 0 2 0 : 4 8 3 Jenkins places seventh at regional Charger senior Alyssa Jenkins placed seventh in the discus, just four feet out of fifth, with a throw of 100 feet even. She bettered her seed distance of 98'11" in the event. Jenkins was one of eight girls who qualified for the Evansville Central regional this past Tuesday. Jen- kins scored Pike Central's only points with the seventh place finish. Charger freshman Kya Leighty demonstrated diverse talent at the Cen- tral regional, coursing the 1600 -meter run in 5:40.24 and competing in the high jump at the 4'8" level. Leighty's 1600 netted 11th place and the high jump put her in a four-way tie for 13th with junior teammate Jaylin Nelson. Leighty met her seed height and Nel- son exceeded her 4'6" seed. Pike Central's 4x400 meter relay team clocked 4:22.46 for 10th place, ahead of Jasper, Tell City, Southridge, Corydon Central, South Knox and Washington. Three sophomores and a freshman teamed up to cut their seed time by nearly three seconds. The team was comprised of sophomores Lauren Young, Libby Stone, Jenna Meyer and freshman Kya Leighty. Results: New Albany 84, Memorial 78.5, Floyd Central 71.5, Southridge 42.5, Mater Dei 40, Jasper 38, Bosse 36, Gibson Southern 30, Heritage Hills 26, Princeton 17, North Knox 16, For- est Park 15, Crawford County 13, South Spencer 10, South Knox 9, North 9, Barr Reeve 9, Boonville 7, Loogootee 5, Castle 5, Tell City 5, Washington 5, Re- itz 5, Day 4, Central 4, Vincennes Lin- coln 4, Corydon Central 4, Providence 4, Pike Central 2, Borden 2, Mt. Vernon 2, North Posey 1. MS splits final games The Pike Central Middle School soft- ball Chargers A team snagged a late lead and defeated Forest Park 4-2 last Tuesday. In the bottom of the third in- ning, the Lady Chargers tied things up at two when Chloe Willis singled, scoring one run. Pike Central took the lead in the fourth inning when Delaney Welch singled on a 3-2 count, scoring two runs. Chloe Williams got the win for Pike Central. She pitched all five innings, allowing two runs on five hits, strik- ing out ten and walking only one. The A team finished the season with a re- cord of 12 wins and one loss. The Pike Central B team watched the game slip away early and couldn't recover in a 9 - 3 loss to Forest Park. The Lady Char- gers struggled to put runs on the board and had a tough tie defensively, giving up nine runs. Karley Kavanaugh led things off in the pitcher's circle for the B team. She surrendered one run on one hit over one inning, striking out one and walk- ing one. Lexie Onyett and Myra Hens- ler entered the game from the bullpen, throwing one and two-thirds innings, and one and one-third innings respec- tively. Macey Stillwell, Onyett, Hailey Ful- cher and Lauren Hummer all had one hit to lead the B team. The team fin- ished the season with 10 wins, two loss- es and one tie. Lady Chargers fall to Jasper Wildcats 6-3 Aubrie Dawson makes contact with the ball and finished two of three with two runs against Jasper. Chargers fall to Vincennes Lincoln 6-2 The club fell to Vincennes Lincoln on May 10 by a score of 5 -0 before meet- ing Lincoln again in the finals of the sectional. Vincennes recorded a 6 -2 win over the Chargers to advance to the fi- nals, where they mastered the Prince- ton Tigers 11-0 for the championship. Pike Central got the bye and Washing- ton nipped Gibson Southern 3-2 in the lower bracket to advance. Princeton got by Washington 3-1 before Lincoln had their way in the finals. Following the 6 -2 loss to Vincennes on Memorial Day, Charger first-year coach Joe Cummings commented, "If we could have eliminated just one in- ning, I truly believe we would be sec- tional champions right now. The boys have come so far, it's hard to believe it's