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.
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.
Despite the weather playing havoc with the schedule, the Beardstown Lady Tiger Soccer Team is off to a strong start to the 2024 season.
It did not take long for the Beardstown girls’ soccer team to get to know their new head coach and vice versa as long-time assistant Francisco Hernandez slides into the top spot this year. Hernandez takes over for Adam Hamilton just as he did in the fall for the boys’ program. Hamilton was the head coach from the program’s inception in 2013 and he and Hernandez had slowly built the Tigers into a winner. Beardstown went 11-4-5 last year, their second consecutive winning season after eight straight losing seasons for the fledgling program. The Tigers will have to replace several key contributors from last year but have plenty of talented players ready.
Third year Head Softball Coach Kaitlyn Dodson expects the Beardstown Lady Tiger defense to be a strong point of this year’s squad. Coming off a nice 19-12 season last year, following an un-Lady Tiger-like 12-15 season in 2021-2022, Dodson will have to replace several key pieces from last year’s team. She will have an oddly constructed roster at her disposal to do so, as the Tigers are comprised of only juniors and sophomores with no seniors or freshman.
A youth movement is at hand for the Beardstown baseball program. The Tigers have to replace seven departed seniors from last year’s somewhat disappointing 12-16 squad in Head Coach Brian Dour’s debut season. Beardstown is not used to having losing seasons in baseball so expect Coach Dour, his staff and the boys to put in the work required to make sure it does not happen again. He will do so with just two seniors at his disposal and a host of sophomores and freshmen expected to play significant roles.
With numbers up, Beardstown Girl’s Track Coach Jacki Kelly is looking forward to being able to fill out full relay teams and to having girls competing in most events this year. Four girls return from last year, several girls are coming up from middle school and a few new faces have joined the squad to fill out the roster. The team will be young but talented. Coach Kelly commented, “we are looking for Diana Huerta to have another great season after being a state qualifier as a freshman in the long jump and triple jump and we are planning to see great things from Freshman Laetitia Kanda, who was a state qualifier in middle school in the high jump.” Freshmen Rosalba Quintana and Ayelen Gabriel along with Junior Mia Playan should make the girls competitive in the distance races. Freshman Stella Petersen will join Sophomore
A Beardstown woman was injured and the driver sped away Sunday night at 3rd and State Street, near the Beardstown Lincoln Museum.Ruth Illias, 53, Beardstown, was struck by a white, newer-model Grand Jeep Cherokee at 5:49 p.m. Sunday, March 24. When officers arrived Illias was experiencing pain and was transported to an area hospital by Beardstown Ambulance.
The Beardstown Tiger baseball team opened the 2024 season with a 6 to 2 home loss to Canton.
Each team could manage just three hits, but two walks and two hit-batters in the Little Giant’s second inning let them push across five runs while Beardstown did not get on the board until single tallies in the fifth and seventh. Canton added an insurance run in the sixth.