It was a very impressive performance from the PORTA-AC Central boys’ track team last Friday afternoon on the campus of Western Illinois University for the Lee Calhoun Invitational. The Jays won First Place in the very competitive, eighteen team event, outscoring second place Monmouth-Roseville by 21.5 points, 97 to 75.5. The Lady Bluejays finished in fourteenth place out of seventeen teams.
It was an exciting last week of baseball for the PORTA-AC Central Bluejays with a nine-inning loss, an eighth inning win, and a two-hit shut out win. The 2-1 week moves the Jays record to 7-6 on the season.
Mother Nature wiped out the beginning of the week, but the Jays got back in action on Friday when they traveled to Riverton and battled the Hawks on another cool and misty afternoon. Riverton took the early lead with three runs in the bottom of the first, but the Jays tied it up in the top of the second on three consecutive singles by Hunter Roberts, Brody Landon and Jett Kerrick, and a sacrifice fly by Barrett Morse. Kendall Davis, who got the start on the mound, settled in, and kept Riverton scoreless over the next five innings, striking out eight. On offense, the Jays had multiple chances, outhitting Riverton 11 to 6
The PORTA-AC Central Lady Bluejay softball team and senior pitcher Gabbie Branson certainly made the most of their only opportunity to play last week.
Branson tossed her first career perfect game as the Lady Jays destroyed the Riverton Hawks 18 to 0 at Riverton. Branson struck out ten batters in her four-inning perfecto, while also going 1 for 2 with two RBIs and two runs scored. PORTA-AC had just seven hits but took advantage of fifteen free passes from the Hawk pitching staff.
The Virginia-Meredosia-Triopia high school girls’ track team won a four-team meet in Jacksonville last week while the boys’ team finished fifth out of five teams.
The girls’ team dominated the sprints with Mylee Tracy, Faith Wingert, and Ta’Shia Allen going 1, 2, 3 in the 100-meters and Ava Petefish getting sixth. In the 200 meters, Wingert placed first, Tracy was second, Payten Petefish was fourth, Allen was fifth and Sophya Ogden was sixth. The 4x100 relay team of Wingert, Ava Petefish, Stanberry and Allen placed first and the team of Adelea Anderson, Olivia Hughes, Payten Petefish, and Shariya Randall placed third.
The Beardstown Middle School Track team hosted a meet last week with good team finishes on the 7th and 8th grade level for both the boys and the girls. The Tigers had a handful of meet champions and numerous medal winners. The 7th grade and 8th grade boys each finished in fifth place and in fifth place combined. The 8th grade girls placed third, the 7th grade girls placed fourth and the girls finished in fifth place combined.
Following a five-game gauntlet in four days last week, the PORTA-AC baseball team has fought their way back to the .500 mark at 5-5 for the season. Outstanding offense has been the key so far with the team batting .362 and averaging eleven hits and six runs per game. The week did not start out very well, with winnable games turning into losses at both North Mac and Springfield Southeast. The Jays bounced back by winning at Canton on Friday and then winning twice on Saturday in the Jacksonville High School Jamboree.
The boys and girls track teams for PORTA-AC Central both dashed to first place finishes in a six-team meet last week in Havana.
Bryson Schachtsiek brought home first place in the 110- and 300-meter hurdles and the long jump. Isaac Rennecker won both the high jump and the triple jump. Kade Parker won the 1600-meter run and Justin Zimmerman was second. Daxton Trueblood won the 800-meter run and Quincy Stuhmer was second. Jacob Vogel finished second in the 100 and third in the 200 and Noah Hardy placed third in the 400 meters.
With the typically unpredictable spring weather in Illinois causing cancellations left and right, the Triopia-Meredosia-Virginia varsity ball teams have not been spared, but they did get some action in last week. Both teams traveled to Carrollton last Thursday and lost to the Hawks. The boys hosted the Athens Warriors on Friday and dropped that one also to fall to 2-6 on the season. The Lady Trojans record sits at 2-3.
The Beardstown Lady Tigers softball team sandwiched a couple of great games around a real stinker last week, winning one and losing two to fall to 2-6 on the season.
Beardstown won in exciting fashion at home on Wednesday with a walk off victory in the bottom of the seventh over West Central. They were shut out on Thursday at home by Pleasant Plains then lost a heartbreaker in eight innings on Saturday at Jacksonville.
The Beardstown Tiger baseball team won twice last week to even their record at 2-2 for the season. They started the week with an 8-1 road loss at Mendon Unity then won a thriller at home, 7 to 5 in nine innings over Augusta Southeastern, before trouncing South Fulton 16 to zip on the road.