It was not the way coach Brian Dour or Beardstown wanted to end the regular season as the Tigers dropped three straight games last week by ten plus runs each to end the regular season on a four-game losing streak. The losses, against three quality teams, dropped the Tigers to 9-14 on the season. They will look to rebound in regional play where they were scheduled to open at QND on Monday, May 13.
It was a busy and productive last week of the season for the Beardstown softball team as they matched their total wins from the rest of the year by winning four straight games. Improved defense was the key as the Tigers committed just twelve errors in five games, a number they have come close to matching in single games several times this year. They would drop their final game of the week last Saturday to finish the regular season at 8-20. The Lady Tigers were scheduled to begin regional play on Monday, May 13 at Macomb.
Two Beardstown Lady Tiger high school tracksters have qualified for the IHSA State Track and Field Championships to be held starting Friday, May 17 at Eastern Illinois University.
The Lady Tigers traveled to Metamora last Wednesday for the Class 2A sectional and finally lucked out with some good weather. Against some very tough competition, the Lady Tigers did a great job of representing Beardstown in their first appearance in Class 2A track.
Four Beardstown Junior High track and field athletes have qualified for the IESA State Track and Field Finals May 17 and 18 at East Side Center in East Peoria.
Seventh graders Wade Gaffney, Ashten Guzman, and Ola Quigley and eighth grader Kellen Brown qualified by virtue of their performance at the Class 3A Sectional in Maroa last Saturday. Gaffney placed second and met the qualifying height in the high jump, Guzman placed third in the pole vault and met the qualifying height, Quigley placed third in the long jump, meeting the qualifying distance and Brown won the pole vault to advance.
The Beardstown girls’ soccer team won their final game of the regular season to move to 10-8-2 on the season and guarantee a winning record for the third straight year. After the program started its existence with eight consecutive losing seasons, the Tigers will finish above .500 for the third straight time. New coach Francisco Hernandez will lead the Lady Tigers into post season play at 10:00 a.m. May 11, this Saturday, at Monmouth-Roseville against the Depue Coop.
The Beardstown baseball team opened last week with a convincing win over West Prairie before dropping decisions to PORTA-AC Central and New Berlin. With the two wins and one loss the Tigers’ record now sits at 9-11.
At home last Tuesday, BHS pounded out sixteen hits in a 20 to 10, six-inning win over West Prairie. It was just 1-0 in favor of the Tigers heading to the bottom of the third inning when the hometown offense exploded for twelve runs to run the score to 13-0. The Cyclones struck right back though, getting six of their own in the top of the fourth. A three-run bottom by the Tigers made it 16-6 after four. West Prairie scored one in the fifth and three in the sixth to cut the margin to 16-10, but Beardstown ended it early with four in the bottom of the sixth.
The Beardstown Tiger Track team had a nice showing in their first adventure in the West Central Conference Championships including conference champions in Marcos Laurencio, Georgia Brown and Laetitia Kanda. As a team the girls finished fourth and the boys finished fifth out of seven teams.
The Beardstown Lady Tigers lost twice last week, including a heartbreaker to New Berlin on Wednesday, when the Pretzels scored to win in walk-off fashion in the bottom of the seventh. On Tuesday, Beardstown fell by the ten-run rule to Augusta Southeastern.
It was a good week for the Beardstown Softball Team as they played better ball and picked up a win over Brown County and lost in close games to Camp Point and Quincy Notre Dame. The Lady Tigers now sit at 4-17 on the year.
Two trips to the Gem City were on the schedule for Tiger Baseball last week as Beardstown traveled to Quincy to take on the Quincy High Blue Devils on Monday and the Raiders of Quincy Notre Dame on Wednesday. The Tigers surprised the Devils, getting a dramatic 7 to 6 come from behind victory. A late charge was not enough against the Raiders as Beardstown fell 5 to 3 to fall to 8-9 on the year.