Kaner Butler swept both the 110-meter and the 300-meter hurdles at the Metro Buckeye Conference track and field meet on Saturday, May 16, at Troy Christian, where the Bulldogs finished third and the YSHS girls team took second place. (Photo by Lauren Heaton)
May 21, 2015 Bulldog sports round-up
- Published: May 21, 2015
SOFTBALL
Season ends in sectional loss
Danny Horton and Kadie Lafferty got base hits, Hannah Morrison pitched a complete game, allowing only five hits and four earned runs, and Jesi Worsham and Chelsea Horton played sparkling defense, but it wasn’t enough and the YSHS Bulldog softball team lost to perennial softball power Southeastern in a sectional tournament game by a score of 10–0.
In spite of the loss, the game was a dramatic improvement from last season’s match up which was won by Southeastern 26–0.
“After last season’s lopsided loss, our team really surprised the Southeastern team and the fans with our competiveness this year,” Coach Jimmy DeLong said.
The game had its moments. Senior first baseman Chelsea Horton showed off her defensive skills when she sprinted to the Southeastern foul territory dugout fence to snare a pop up on the run. Senior shortstop Jesi Worsham was flawless on defense with several ground-ball and pop-up fielding chances and showed off her rocket arm when she ended a fourth inning rally with a charging off balance strike to first base to get the out and save a run.
It was the last game of the season, and with 10 freshman and sophomores on the team, the anticipation for next season has already begun.
“lt be a fun team to watch next year,” DeLong said.
Four players all-MBC
Last week four YSHS players were named to the All-MBC Conference Team. Seniors Jesi Worsham and Chelsea Horton and sophomore Hannah Morrison were named to the First Team All-Conference and freshman Kadie Lafferty was named to the Second Team All-Conference.
Horton led the MBC in hitting with a .667 batting average, while Worsham and Morrison tied for sixth in the MBC with a .500 average. Worsham also was second overall in the MBC with 31 stolen bases for the year. Lafferty, just a freshman, had a .476 on base percentage and had 25 stolen bases for the year.
Also receiving awards at the MBC meeting were sophomore Amelia Gray, who received the MBC Sportsmanship Award, and Chelsea Horton, who received the MBC Coaches Award. Freshman Elly Kumbusky, who hit .353 in MBC play, was nominated and just missed receiving Second Team MBC Conference Honors.
TRACK AND FIELD
YSHS girls 2nd, boys 3rd
For the second year in a row the young YSHS girls squad, which only has one senior, achieved a runner-up finish at the Metro Buckeye Conference meet. The boys team earned a well-deserved third-place league finish. Performances and efforts were the rule of the day as the squads continued their attitude of “team first.”
Winning their events were ninth-grader Jasmine Davidson, who sent the shot put 32’3.25’’, 10th-grader Julian Roberts, who finished the 300-meter hurdles in 48.15, a personal best, 11th-grader Dymeisha Banks, who reached a season high of 4’6’’ in the high jump and the 1600-meter relay team of Roberts, Banks, Charlotte Walkey and Olivia Brintlinger-Conn, which finished in 4:32.45.
In the boys meet, Kaner Butler brought home two golds, winning the 110-meter hurdles in 15.86 seconds and the 300-meter hurdles in 40.53 seconds. Joe Plumer was victorious in the long jump, leaping to 18’3.75’’. And the 400-meter relay squad of Aaron Sherwood, Bryce White, Cameron Miles and Ed Johnson won its event in 46.10 seconds.
McKinney girls runners up
The McKinney girls track team finished as runners up at this year’s MBC conference meet. The boys placed third.
Once more the throws were in Yellow Springs’ hands. Kayden McCoy won the discus with a toss of 55’4’’ and Freddie Collins won the shot put with a hurl of 29’3.5’’. Collins also placed second over 100 meters in 13.96 seconds and over 200 meters in 29.71 seconds. Zach Lugo won the boys pole vault competition with a jump of 8’ and placed second in the high jump with 4’8’’. Dharma Crocker won the boys 200-meter competition in 27.31 seconds and placed third in the long jump with a leap of 13’7.75’’.
Stacia Strodes placed second in the girls 200-meter race in 30.23 seconds as well as in the long jump with a leap of 13’0.75’’. Jude Meekin placed second in the pole vault with 5’6’’ after a dramatic jump out for first place. The girls 4×200-meter team (Ranard, Bryan, Baxter, Strodes) missed the win by only one-tenth of a second in a head-to-head race. Their second place time was 2:06.57.
Hurdler Raven Campbell placed third in both boys hurdle races (110-meter hurdles, 19.45 and 200-meter hurdles, 31.61). The girls 4×400-meter squad (Bryan, Brown, Meekin, Hall) placed third with a time of 5:18.13 and the girls 4×100-meter team (Ranard, Bryan, Baxter, McCoy) also placed third with 1:03.32.
BASEBALL
Baseball wins sectional opener
The 2015 YSHS baseball season came to a close last week in a season marked by 10 poor weather games and 10 rainouts. The Bulldogs earned their way to the Division IV sectionals for the second year in a row. But this year would be different for Coach Ben Cooper’s young team as they came into the game seeded 12th and matched against their Metro Buckeye Conference rival, the Xenia Christian Ambassadors. Last year’s quick exit against top-seeded Arcanum was but a distant memory as the confident Bulldogs took the field at Athletes In Action’s Grady Field.
The Bulldogs got off to an uncharacteristically slow start by going down in order in the first. Undeterred, senior Jared Scarfpin toed the rubber for his third start of the year. The Ambassadors came away with one run that could have been more, if not for a fine defensive play by outfielder Zack Brintlinger-Conn. The Bulldogs put two of their own on the board in the top of the second with hits by Aakeem Truss, Donnie “Baseball” Isenbarger, and Brintlinger-Conn. The Ambassadors battled hard to also plate two in the second frame.
The next two innings saw the Bulldogs get two and three runs as Scarfpin settled in and kept the Ambassadors at bay. Another hit by Truss as well as hits by Ethan DeWine, a great sacrifice by Isenbarger, followed by hits from Tony Marinelli, Liam Weigand and Scarfpin, moved the Bulldogs ahead of the home team for a 7–5 lead.
JT Clark came in to relieve Scarfpin for the remainder of the contest. The Bulldogs scored another run in the top of the final frame with hits from Clark and Isenbarger. Clark took the mound for the final inning with a three-run cushion. The seventh started well for the Bulldogs with Clark shutting down the first two hitters. Down to their last out, the Ambassadors made a valiant effort and were trailing by one run with a runner on second base. The number three batter for the Ambassadors worked a 2–2 count when Clark reached back and fired it past him for strike three. The Bulldogs had won in the bottom of the seventh and sealed the first tournament victory since 2008!
The celebration and the number-one seeded Newton Indians were too much to overcome the next evening at the Indian’s home field. The Bulldogs struggled in the field and at the plate to support a superb pitching performance by Truss. The Bulldogs gave it all they had but, in the end came away with a loss but the knowledge that they now know what it takes to win in the tournament and exactly what they need to work on for next year.
The team will graduate senior players Andy Soriano-Garcia, Scarfpin, Liam Weigand, and Blaze Wright.
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