BOYS
Benton 59 (18-6, 6-1 MEC)
Bishop LeBlond 45 (9-16, 2-5 MEC)
Lafayette 74 (22-2, 7-0 MEC)
Smithville 63
Park Hill 65
Central 44 (14-9, 4-4 Suburban)
Author: Dave Riggert
Klosterman, Smith lead No. 16 Western softball to win over Minnesota State
ST. CLOUD, Minn. (AP) – The 16th-ranked Missouri Western softball team opened the 2016 Kelly Laas Invitational with a 3-1 victory over Minnesota State Friday night.
Katie Klosterman was involved in all the Griffons’ three runs, driving in two with her first home run of the season and scoring the third on Morgan Rathmann’s first triple of 2016. Janie Smith limited Minnesota State to just four hits and one run, coming on a solo shot in the fifth inning. The win improved the 16th-ranked Griffons to 5-3 on the season.
Sydney Washington opened the second with a single then stole second base before Klosterman sent a ball over the left center field wall, putting the Griffons up 2-0. Smith held Minnesota State hitless until the fourth when she surrendered a leadoff single. Klosterman picked up her second extra-base hit of the game in the bottom of the fourth when she led off with a double. She was moved to third on a sacrifice bunt from Megan Korgie then scored on Rathmann’s triple. Klosterman went 2-3 with two RBIs and two runs scored. Shelbie Atwell also went 2-3. Rathmann, Taylor Hamilton and Washington had the other Griffon hits.
Dana Mogren picked up the third hit of the day off Smith with a leadoff homer to center in the fifth. Smith committed an error to allow the next batter to reach, but retired the next two and allowed just one more hit, a Mogren single in the seventh, the rest of the way. The win moved Smith to 4-1 on the year. She yielded just the one unearned run on four hits with one strikeout and no walks.
Action continues, Saturday, for Missouri Western at the Kelly Laas Invitational. Missouri Western is set to take on Southwest Minnesota State at 5 p.m. and Concordia-St. Paul at 9:30 p.m.
— MWSU Athletics —
Northwest baseball drops series opener at Oklahoma Christian
The Northwest Missouri State University baseball team fell to Oklahoma Christian, 3-1, on Friday afternoon at Dobson Field in Oklahoma City, Okla.
The Bearcats are now 3-4 on the year while the Eagles improved to 5-4 on the year.
Nikko Pablo pitched 4.0 innings of relief, allowing just one hit and one walk with a strikeout.
Nick Gotta was 2-for-5 with a double and a stolen base, Kevin Handzlik was 1-for-3 with an RBI,
Anthony Caenepeel started for Northwest, going 4.0 innings. He allowed two earned runs on six hits with three strikeouts. He began the game by retiring the first seven batters.
James Holler and Handzlik came up with big two-out singles to put Northwest on the board in the second inning. Hrdlicka led off the inning with a walk but OCU got the next two batters out. Holler singled to right, advancing Hrdlicka to second. Handzlik came up with the RBI single to center, scoring Hrdlicka to give the Bearcats a 1-0 lead.
Northwest continues its three-game series at Oklahoma Christian on Saturday with first pitch scheduled for 1 p.m.
— Northwest Athletics —
No. 15 Missouri opens baseball season with 7-0 win over Seton Hall
FORT MYERS, Fla. – No. 15 Mizzou Baseball got a sensational start from senior righty Reggie McClain (Duluth, Ga.) and scored its most runs in a season-opener since 2011 as it defeated Seton Hall, 7-0, on opening day at City of Palms Park in Fort Myers, Fla. McClain went 8.0 innings and allowed just four hits with zero walks and four strikeouts. In neutral site outings in his career, McClain is now 4-0 with a 0.00 ERA in 32.0 innings with just 17 hits and zero walks in four outings in his Mizzou career.
The offense was led by five players with multiple hits as Mizzou scored its most runs in a season-opener since 2011. Sophomore catcher Brett Bond (St. Louis, Mo.) led the way with three RBI, including a big two-out, full count, bases-loaded single to score two in the fifth inning, giving McClain some much-needed run support. Sophomore third baseman Shane Benes (Town & Country, Mo.) tallied the first Mizzou run on a solo homer in his first at-bat of the season in the second inning. He finished the day with two hits and two RBI. Juniors Ryan Howard (St. Charles, Mo.) and Jake Ring (Ingleside, Ill.) each tallied two-hit games as well.
McClain had a tremendous first inning, throwing just 10 pitches to retire the side. After Mizzou then went 1-2-3 in the first, McClain then worked around a two-out double and a wild pitch to strand a runner on third.
Mizzou got on the board in the second on the solo shot to left field by Benes, his first of the season in his first at-bat of 2016. It was the third of his career. It came off of Preseason All- Big-East pick Shane McCarthy.
McClain continued to baffle Seton Hall hitters, needing just 52 pitches to get through five innings, allowing just one Pirate hit. Mizzou finally got McClain some more offense in the fifth inning, sparked by a one-out hit from freshman Ian Nelson (Lake St. Louis, Mo.). With two outs then, the rally began as Howard and Jake Ring each tallied a pair of two-out hits to load the bases. Bond then bounced a roller up the middle on a full count to extend Mizzou’s lead to 3-0.
McClain then retired the side in order in the sixth inning, needing just 63 pitches to get through six innings. He had a streak of 14 consecutive batters snapped in the seventh, but he got a double-play to send it to the bottom half of the frame. Mizzou then tacked on four runs in the seventh to break the game open, coming on RBI singles from Bond, Benes and Harris and an RBI triple from Ring.
Mizzou and Seton Hall will resume the four-game series with a doubleheader Saturday (Feb. 20) as Tanner Houck (Collinsville, Mo.) and Michael Plassmeyer (St. Louis, Mo.) will make the starts.
— Mizzou Athletics —
Griffon tennis remains unbeaten with 5-4 victory over Rockhurst
KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The Missouri Western women’s tennis team move to 3-0 on the season after picking up a 5-4 victory over Rockhurst on Friday night.
The Griffons earned victories in the No. 1 and No. 2 doubles matches. Joanna Abreu Roman and Sarah Giraldo earned an 8-2 win over their opponents. In No. 2 doubles, Sofia Aguilera and Yasmine El Ghazi came out with an 8-5 victory.
In singles matches, the Griffons fell behind 4-3 but got wins from the No. 2 and No. 3 singles to earn the victory. All three of the Griffons wins in singles matches went into a third set. Sarah Giraldo defeated Janine Koleta 7-5, 3-6, 6-4 in the No. 2 spot. Freshman Joanna Abreu Roman fell behind, dropping the first set 3-6 but rebounded with 6-2, 6-2 wins. El Ghazi recovered from a 4-6 set one loss, claiming 7-5, 6-2 victories in the second and third set.
Singles competition
1. Emma Schelble (RU) def. Aguilera, Sofia (MWSU) 6-0, 6-3
2. Giraldo, Sarah (MWSU) def. Janine Koleta (RU) 7-5, 3-6, 6-4
3. El Ghazi, Yasmine (MWSU) def. Emma Persson (RU) 4-6, 7-5, 6-2
4. Abreu Roman, Joanna (MWSU) def. Tamara Santos (RU) 3-6, 6-2, 6-2
5. Octavia Malin (RU) def. Smith, Meara (MWSU) 6-3, 6-1
6. Justine Berezintsev (RU) def. Chiao, Denise (MWSU) 6-4, 6-4
Doubles competition
1. Abreu Roman, Joanna/Giraldo, Sarah (MWSU) def. Tamara Santos/Octavia Malin (RU) 8-2
2. Aguilera, Sofia/El Ghazi, Yasmine (MWSU) def. Emma Schelble/Justine Berezintsev (RU) 8-4
3. Emma Persson/Janine Koleta (RU) def. Beger, Lindsay/Chiao, Denise (MWSU) 8-1
Missouri Western will have its first home match of the season on Friday, February 26th at the Genesis Health Club starting at 12 p.m.
— MWSU Athletics —
Bearcat softball splits two games at NSIC/MIAA Crossover
The Northwest Missouri State softball team split a pair of contests on day one of the NSIC/MIAA Crossover Friday.
The Crossover, hosted by Winona State University, is being played inside the RCTC Dome on the campus of Rochester Community and Technical College in Rochester, Minn.
Northwest dropped an extra inning pitchers’ duel to Northern State in the first game of the day, 2-1.
A pair of home runs helped the Bearcats take the nightcap from Upper Iowa, 6-4.
The Bearcats are now 5-1 on the season, while the Wolves improved to 1-0 and the Peacocks fell to 3-3.
Northwest Missouri State will continue play in the NSIC/MIAA Crossover with a rematch against Upper Iowa at 5 p.m. before a 7 p.m. contest against No. 10 Winona State Saturday in Rochester.
— Northwest Athletics —
City High School Basketball Scores – Thursday, February 18
GIRLS
Benton 53 (24-0, 7-0 MEC)
Bishop LeBlond 37 (13-12, 4-3 MEC)
Smithville 48
Lafayette 39 (16-7, 3-4 MEC)
Park Hill 43
Central 41 (18-5, 6-2 Suburban)
Royals extend contracts of GM Dayton Moore, manager Ned Yost
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Several times over the past year, Ned Yost floated the possibility of retirement when his contract to manage the Kansas City Royals expires after the upcoming season.
Then he realized he was having too much fun winning.
So after general manager Dayton Moore signed his own contract extension to remain in charge of the World Series champions, Yost decided to sign on for two more years. That means the 61-year-old Yost is committed to running the Royals’ dugout through at least the 2018 season.
“Once we won), Dayton and I, we didn’t really start talking contracts until the last couple of weeks,” Yost said Thursday at the club’s spring training home in Surprise, Arizona.
“I’ll have to get to the point in ’18 when I’ll have to evaluate it,” he said. “But you work so hard as a group to develop a winner and it’s hard to leave when they still have the ability to win. We think we have that opportunity through the next few years.”
Most of the Royals’ cornerstone players, including first baseman Eric Hosmer, third baseman Mike Moustakas and shortstop Alcides Escobar, are signed through the 2017 season. The Royals also re-signed outfielder Alex Gordon to a four-year deal this past offseason.
“We’ve basically got the same crew,” Yost said. “They’re motivated, excited to get going, but we want to win world championships for Kansas City and this organization.”
The terms of Moore’s contract were not disclosed. The general manager since 2006, he had signed an extension in November 2013 that would have expired after this year.
“This was in the works for a while,” Moore said as pitchers and catchers reported to spring training. “Everybody understands there’s a business side to what we do. It’s just part of it. But Ned and I really felt it was important to make sure all the players were signed and taken care of, and once that’s done, you focus on the stability of the leadership.”
Moore, who grew up a Royals fan, took over a downtrodden franchise in 2006 that hadn’t had a winning season in a dozen years. The team’s farm system was in shambles, fan apathy was at a nadir, and the only thing Kansas City had going for it was a ballpark considered one of the jewels of baseball.
Slowly, Moore began to rebuild the organization through the draft and with a newfound emphasis on international scouting. And over the years, he stockpiled homegrown players that have become the basis of three consecutive winning seasons and back-to-back trips to the World Series.
Kansas City won its first championship since 1985 when it beat the New York Mets last fall.
“You can’t find an individual with a stronger work ethic or dedication to his craft,” Royals president Dan Glass said in a statement. “He possesses all of the qualities you look for starting with his leadership, organizational vision and tireless dedication to the position.”
A longtime Atlanta Braves executive, Moore has been in lockstep with Yost — himself a former Braves bench coach — since promoting him to manager of the Royals during the 2010 season.
After getting off to a slow start, Yost has become one of the most popular managers in franchise history. Whereas he once used an alias to order coffee at Starbucks because he didn’t want anybody to give him grief, these days Yost can’t go anywhere in public without fans asking for a picture.
Last year, he passed Whitey Herzog to become the winningest manager in Royals history. He got his 900th career victory on Aug. 15 and could reach 1,000 at some point this season.
The Royals lost starter Johnny Cueto and second baseman Ben Zobrist to free agency but otherwise return the almost their entire roster from last season. And with the signing of Ian Kennedy to bolster their starting rotation, they believe they have a chance to make another deep playoff run.
“You know, we’re in a really peak period in Kansas City,” Yost said. “We’ve got an outstanding organization with a great leader in Dayton, and we’ve got great players. They’re fun to be around. It’s something I looked at and wanted to be part of for a couple more years.”
— Associaed Press —
KU’s Ellis named finalist for Senior CLASS Award
OVERLAND PARK, Kan. – Kansas forward Perry Ellis has been selected as one of 10 finalists for the 2015-16 Senior CLASS Award® in collegiate basketball, the award announced Thursday.
To be eligible for the award, student-athletes must be classified as NCAA Division I seniors and have notable achievements in four areas of excellence: community, classroom, character and competition. The complete list of finalists follows this release.
An acronym for Celebrating Loyalty and Achievement for Staying in School®, the Senior CLASS Award focuses on the total student-athlete and encourages students to use their athletic platforms to make a positive impact as leaders in their communities.
The finalists were chosen by national media from the list of 30 men’s candidates announced in January. Nationwide fan voting begins immediately to help select the winner, and fans are encouraged to submit votes online at the Senior CLASS Award website through March 21. Fan votes will be combined with those of the media and Division I head coaches to determine the winners. The Senior CLASS Award recipients will be announced during the 2016 NCAA Men’s Final Four®.
Historically, Kansas’ Wayne Simien won the Senior CLASS Award in 2005. The award also recognizes five-member first and second teams. In 2002-03, Kansas’ Nick Collison and Kirk Hinrich were first-team honorees. In 2011, Jayhawk Tyrel Reed was a first-team selection.
Ellis is a sport management major and business minor who will graduate from Kansas in May 2016. The 2014-15 Big 12 Men’s Basketball Scholar-Athlete of the Year started his college career with Academic All-Big 12 Rookie Team honors in 2013. Ellis has graced the Athletic Director’s and Big 12 Commissioner’s Honor Roll seven times and has continued his academic success by being named as an Academic All-Big 12 selection in both his sophomore and junior seasons (note: the 2016 Academic All-Big 12 Team has yet to be announced). The 2015 All-America Honorable Mention honoree’s work in the classroom is no surprise as he was valedictorian at Wichita Heights High School where he carried a 4.0 grade point average.
The 2015 Danny Manning “Mr. Jayhawk” Award recipient and All-Big 12 First Team performer exudes all the qualities and characteristics expected of leader. Ellis was selected as an Honorary Hero by the Real Men Real Heroes Organization for his extraordinary contributions to the community. He has spent countless hours visiting local schools and youth centers, such as the Boys and Girls Club, to mentor and offer encouragement to young kids. He spends time volunteering at the Wichita Children’s Home, where both of his parents work. A previous NABC Good Works Team nominee, Ellis also devotes one-on-one time with Special Olympics basketball player Tony Parker and is a regular visitor of cancer patients at Via Christi Saint Francis Hospital in Wichita.
Additionally, Ellis contributes to the community as a member of the Kansas men’s basketball team. Each year the Jayhawks host the Wilt Chamberlain Special Olympics Clinic during the heart of conference play. The team also gives approximately 450 women a taste of being a Jayhawk at the annual “Ladies Night Out” event in Allen Fieldhouse, an occasion that creates awareness for breast cancer and benefits Jayhawks for a Cure, the Lawrence Memorial Hospital (LMH) and the KU Cancer Center. Every year, the KU team participates in a holiday shopping trip to Walmart in order to provide items from a wish list for area families through the Salvation Army. Finally, Ellis and his teammates sign more than 1,500 basketballs annually with proceeds going to local charities.
Ellis will go down as one of the most decorated players in Kansas men’s basketball history. He is only the eighth player in KU lore to rank in the top 15 in both the career scoring and rebounding joining the likes of Manning, Lovellete, LaFrentz, Collison, Robisch, Randall and Simien.
This season Ellis is one of only two players in the Big 12 to rank in the top seven in both scoring and rebounding. In November, he earned all-tournament honors in leading Kansas to the Maui Jim Maui Invitational title. He is on numerous national awards top lists including the Naismith Trophy Midseason 30, the Wooden Award Late Season Top 20 and the Karl Malone Power Forward of the Year top 10.
One of five finalists for the 2015 Karl Malone Power Forward Award, Ellis was an All-Big 12 First Team honoree as a junior and third-team all-league selection as a sophomore. A four-time Big 12 Player of the Week honoree, in Nov. 2014, Ellis was named the CBSSports.com National Player of the Week after being named the Orlando Classic Most Valuable Player. Additionally, Ellis was a 2015 NABC Division I All-District 8 First Team selection and a Lute Olson All-America Team honoree his junior year.
In the summer of 2015 Ellis started all eight games for team USA at the 2015 World University Games in winning the gold medal. Following the competition he was named to the World University Games second team.
As a freshman Ellis was named to the 2013 Big 12 All-Tournament Team in leading Kansas to the tourney title. As a sophomore in 2013-14, he was named to the all-tournament team at the Battle 4 Atlantis in addition to later being named All-Big 12 Third Team.
Senior CLASS Award Finalist:
Ryan Arcidiacono, Villanova
Malcolm Brogdon, Virginia
Perry Ellis, KANSAS
Buddy Hield, Oklahoma
Georges Niang, Iowa State
Marcus Paige, North Carolina
Justin Sears, Yale
Denzel Valentine, Michigan State
Fred VanVleet, Wichita State
Kyle Wiltjer, Gonzaga
— KU Athletics —
Missouri Western sits at No. 1 in first Central Regional poll
ST. JOSEPH – The Missouri Western women’s basketball team sits atop the first edition of the 2016 NCAA Division II Women’s Basketball Central Region Poll.
The regional poll determines which teams advance to the postseason past the conference tournaments. The top-eight ranked teams will be invited to play in the central regional set to take place March 11-14. A bid process will ultimately determine the host, but preference is given to the top seed.
Missouri Western is in the midst of its best season in more than a decade. The team’s 23 wins are one shy of the program record for regular season victories and its 17 MIAA wins are already the most in the program’s storied history.
With three games remaining, the Griffons have a game and a half lead for first place over Fort Hays State in the MIAA standings. Fort Hays State appears at No. 3 in the regional poll. On Missouri Western’s heels is Pittsburg State at No. 2. Emporia State is the other MIAA team listed in this week’s poll, coming in at No. 6. Also in the top-10 are No. 4 Winona State, No. 5 Arkansas Tech, No. 7 Minnesota State-Moorhead, No. 8 Sioux Falls, No. 9 Northern State and No. 10 Augustana.
Click here to view all regional polls.
— MWSU Athletics —