The Neosho High School boys tennis team suffered a 7-2 loss at Aurora on Monday.
The Wildcats won the No. 3 doubles match, as Jacob Leibham and Peyton Williams defeated Landon Boatwright and Nathan Gearhart 8-1.
Aurora’s Xane Shirley and Locke Shirley edged Christian Williams and Ryno Lee 8-6 at No. 1 doubles, while James Rogers-Larson Briggs nipped Neosho’s Chandler Weber-Wesley Williams 8-6 at No. 2 doubles.
At No. 6 singles, Neosho’s Wesley Williams beat Gearhart 8-1.
The Wildcats dropped the other five singles matches. Christian Williams suffered a 9-7 setback to Xane Shirley, Rogers beat Lee 8-5, Briggs defeated Weber 8-0, Locke Shirley beat Peyton Williams 8-6 and Boatwright topped Leibham 8-4.
That’s how the Thomas Jefferson Cavaliers have begun the 2022 spring tennis season.
Thomas Jefferson kept its record unblemished with a 9-0 win over Joplin on Monday at the TJ courts.
Last year’s Class 2 runner-up, Thomas Jefferson has not dropped a singles or doubles match in any of the eight dual victories.
“The start to the season has been fantastic,” Cavaliers coach Tom Brumfield said. “You can’t do much better than what we’ve been doing, so it’s been great. Our lineup is solid from top to bottom. I’m very pleased with the whole group right now. At the start of the year I thought we’d be all right. But the younger guys have really done a great job. They’ve vastly improved.”
Thomas Jefferson’s Ian Ding hits a forehand winner against Joplin during Monday’s contest at the TJ courts. Ding and the Cavaliers won the match 9-0 to stay undefeated. All photos by Jason Peake.
The Cavaliers swept all three doubles matches to start the dual.
At No. 1 doubles, Thomas Jefferson’s Ian Ding and Tyler Brouhard defeated Adam Badr and Josiah Hazlewood 8-0, while Prithvi Nagarajan and Lala Qian beat Joplin’s Michael Mancipe and Hunter Merkley 8-1 at No. 2 doubles.
TJ’s Hari Nagarajan and Jack Goodhue defeated Aidan Kester and Chapel Braman 8-3 in the No. 3 doubles match.
At No. 1 singles, Ding defeated Badr 8-2, while Prithvi Nagarajan defeated Mancipe 8-0 at No. 2 singles and Brouhard won the No. 3 singles match 8-2 over Hazlewood.
Joplin’s Adam Badr lines up a backhand during No. 1 singles play against Thomas Jefferson.
In other singles matches, Qian defeated Merkley 8-0, Hari Nagarajan beat Kester 8-0 and Goodhue topped Braman 8-0.
“We were short our No. 1 player again today, Joseph Graham, but we hope to have him return to competition soon,” Joplin coach Aaron Stump said. “Everyone on the team played up a rank, which made for a difficult matchup against Thomas Jefferson.
“Ian Ding is a great player, and I was impressed to see Adam get two games on him in singles today,” Stump added. “Josiah was able to recognize errors in his play and adapt to win two games in his singles match, as well. Our No. 3 doubles team of Aidan Kester and Chapel Braman won the most games for our varsity team, earning three games in their doubles match.”
Joplin (0-5) hosts Ozark on Tuesday, while Thomas Jefferson meets Greenwood in Springfield on Thursday. The Cavaliers will be among the teams competing at Joplin’s invite on Friday.
“We’re going to see some tough teams coming up,” Brumfield said. “It will be interesting to see how we compare to them.”
Thomas Jefferson’s Tyler Brouhard lunges for a volley at the net during No. 1 doubles play against Joplin.
Joplin’s Josiah Hazlewood serves against Thomas Jefferson during the No. 1 doubles match on Monday.
Thomas Jefferson’s Prithvi Nagarajan lines up a forehand during Monday’s match against Joplin.
Thomas Jefferson defeated Joplin 9-0 in a boys tennis dual on Monday at the TJ courts. The Cavaliers are now 8-0 in dual matches. All photos by Jason Peake/SoMo Sports.
Joplin’s Adam Badr serves during the No. 1 singles match against Thomas Jefferson on Monday.
Thomas Jefferson southpaw Ian Ding smacks a forehand winner during the No. 1 singles match against Joplin on Monday.
College Heights (with McAuley) broke a 2-2 tie with a run in the fifth inning before plating two more runs in the sixth en route to the 5-3 win over Lockwood on Monday at the Joplin Athletic Complex.
The Cougars (12-2) took the momentum with two runs in the bottom of the first inning before Lockwood (5-10) used the long ball in the fourth inning to knot things up at 2s. College Heights manufactured the go-ahead run in the bottom of the fifth inning before bringing home insurance in the sixth thanks to a timely home run.
“Every game isn’t going to be a blowout,” College Heights coach Mike Howard said about the offensive output in the win. “We are going to have close games, and I am proud of the way they responded in the situation of a close game. (CHC assistant coach John Blankenship) likened it to basketball, which is funny because both of us are basketball coaches. Sometimes you are going to have off-shooting nights, but you win games with defense and making plays in pressure situations.”
College Heights’ Maddy Colin winds up to deliver a pitch in the Cougars’ win over Lockwood. Colin struck out 19 Tigers in the complete-game win. Photo by Israel Perez.
IN THE CIRCLE
Maddy Colin started and earned the complete-game win for College Heights after allowing three runs, two earned, on three hits, a walk and 19 strikeouts in seven innings. Colin struck out the side in the second, third, fourth, fifth and sixth innings, with the Tigers going down in order via the punchout in the third, fifth and sixth frames.
“We have to shore up our defense a little bit, but our pitching was really good,” Howard said. “Other than one pitch she didn’t get up enough, Maddy did a phenomenal job. Our defense made a few mistakes tonight, but overall they played pretty well.”
Adrien Neill took the loss after allowing five runs, three earned, on seven hits, a walk and seven strikeouts in six innings of work.
GAME ACTION
College Heights wasted little time taking the lead, plating two runs in the first inning for the initial momentum swing. The Cougars got on the scoreboard on a sacrifice fly by Addie Lawrence that scored Jayli Johnson, who reached on an error to lead off the frame, from third base. Colin helped her own cause in the next at-bat, ripping a ball to the left-center field gap for an RBI double to push the lead to 2-0.
“Looking back at it now, those runs were really important,” Howard said of the first-inning run support. “The top of our lineup is usually very consistent. If we can get them on base, they’re full of speed and that allows us to steal some bases and manufacture some runs, sometimes by playing some small ball. To get those two runs early and give Maddy some confidence early was huge.”
Lockwood tied things up in the fourth inning when Breckyn Brummett smacked a two-run home run to center field with one out to tie the game at 2-2.
Johnson reached on a dropped third strike to start the bottom of the fifth for CHC before stealing second to get into scoring position and third on a wild pitch. Kloee Williamson followed with a groundout to second base to score Johnson for an RBI to give CHC a 3-2 lead.
College Heights’ Jayli Johnson (21) steals second base to get into scoring position before later coming around to score in the Cougars’ win over Lockwood on Monday. Photo by Israel Perez.
“Those are hustle plays,” Howard said of his team’s ability to push a run across without recording a hit. “Knowing to run on a dropped third strike and hustling all the way through it. Getting one of our fastest girls on base was huge because she can steal bases and read balls in the first so well. … She was able to take advantage of the mistake there. Then, it was just a routine ball in play to the pull side of the field to get the run home. It was good, timely fundamental softball.”
The Cougars added insurance in the sixth inning when Kaitlyn Bates, who wore No. 9 against Lockwood for the first time this season after a mishap with her regular No. 16 jersey, launched her first-career home run to left field—with Aaliyah Perez, who singled to lead off the frame—on second for a two-run shot to push the lead to 5-3.
“She really hit the ball hard and it kept on carrying,” Howard said. “I didn’t know if it had enough to get out, but it just kept on carrying. I joked with her after she hit it that that is her new jersey now. She is now No. 9 and we are going to go with it for the rest of the year because I am superstitious.”
IN THE BOX
Bates had two hits, including a homer, two RBI and a run scored to lead CHC at the plate, while Perez had two hits, and scored a run. Williamson had one hit, one RBI and a run scored. Johnson scored twice to go along with one hit, while Colin had a hit and drove in one.
Brummett had a double and a homer, two RBI and scored twice to lead Lockwood.
ON DECK
College Heights hosts Liberal (with Bronaugh) on Thursday before taking part in the Jasper Invitational softball tournament over the weekend.
CARTHAGE, Mo. — With the pressure on, Carl Junction freshman Jack Spencer birdied a sudden death playoff hole to earn medalist honors at Monday’s Abbiatti’s BBQ Carthage Invitational.
After 18 holes were complete at the Carthage Golf Course, CJ’s Spencer, Carthage’s Max Templeman and Republic’s Cason Bekemeier found themselves tied on top of the leaderboard, as all carded even-par 71.
A playoff on hole No. 10 determined who would be the medalist and who would finish second and third.
When all was said and done, Spencer was the invite’s champion, while Bekemeier was the runner-up after making par on the playoff hole and Templeman settled for third.
“It was one of the best things I’ve seen in a long time,” Carl Junction coach Ryan Jones told SoMo Sports. “Hole No. 10 is a par-5. All three kids hit their shot onto the fairway. Jack stuck an iron from about 200 out to five feet. Jack had an eagle putt from five feet that he barely missed and then he tapped in for birdie to win it.”
Jones noted Spencer came through in the clutch.
“He puts a lot of expectations on himself,” Jones said. “He’s a great golfer with a great golfing disposition. He’s certainly got the talent and he’s off to a good start to his high school career. I’m sure he’s on cloud nine right now. But I know he has bigger goals moving forward.”
Spencer recorded four birdies on the day. Templeman had three birdies and an eagle on hole No. 10.
One stroke was all that separated Joplin and the host Tigers in the team standings. Joplin turned in a four-person score of 308, just one stroke better than runner-up Carthage.
The Eagles have now won five events this spring.
Carl Junction (321), Republic (323) and Webb City (330) rounded out the top five teams.
“As a team, we weren’t as sharp as we were last week,” Jones said. “But we were solid. We were right there. If you don’t play great, the local teams in this area will beat you. Carthage is great and Joplin is great. We played okay, but that’s a testament to how good the golf is in our area. It’s been a long time since all four local teams (Joplin, Carthage, Carl Junction, Webb City) have been this good. If you don’t play great, you’re going to get beat.”
After the top three individuals, Carthage’s Britt Coy, Joplin’s Hobbs Campbell and Monett’s Jaxon Bailey all carded 1-over-par 72 to tie for fourth place.
Joplin’s Harry Satterlee shot a 73 and finished seventh overall, while Nevada’s Owen Swearingen and Webb City’s Keegon Dill both carded 75 to tie for eighth.
Joplin’s Wyatt Satterlee finished 10th overall with a 77.
Neosho’s Kytn Francisco and Republic’s Griffin Frey tied for 11th place after shooting 80.
Webb City’s Josh Howard and Carthage’s Owen Derryberry tied for 13th with scores of 81.
In addition to Campbell and the Satterlees, Joplin’s Ian Surbrugg shot an 86 and Gabe De Leon carded 88.
Carthage’s Ben Nicholas carded 85 and Colson Brust finished with a 100.
Also competing for the Bulldogs were Zach Wrensch (82), Noah Williams (84), Tommy Walker (84) and Jacob Teeter (90). Wrensch tied for 15th place.
Also contributing for Webb City Braxten Cahoon (84), Cooper Forth (89) and Levi Lassiter (90).
Neosho’s Xander Woodward and Seneca’s Jace Wilson both carded 84, tying for 18th place with CJ’s Walker and Williams and Webb City’s Cahoon.
Seneca’s Eli Olson shot an 85. McAuley was led by Rocco Bazzano-Joseph (87) and Evan D’Amour (89).
Local golf squads will return to action at next Monday’s Bird-Dog Invitational at Briarbrook Golf Course.
“It’s been a busy two weeks,” Jones said. “I think we’ve only had a few practices because we’ve been playing so much. Now we’ve got a week before we play again. We’re excited to get back to practice so we can work on some things.”
Abbiatti’s BBQ Carthage Invitational
Team standings: Joplin 308, Carthage 309, Carl Junction 321, Republic 323, Webb City 329, Monett 333, Neosho 363, Seneca 363, McAuley Catholic 382, Sarcoxie 407, Lockwood 408, McDonald County 511.
