The Neosho High School boys soccer team suffered a 3-1 setback to Republic on Tuesday in Central Ozark Conference action.
Republic took a 1-0 lead in the 13th minute on a goal from Santino Stiglianese.
Neosho’s goal came in the 26th minute and was scored by Byron Gomez.
Republic’s Brayden Tharp and Diego Zuniga scored goals in the second half for the final margin.
Neosho goalkeeper Bailey Motley made two saves.
Neosho fell to 9-3.
The Wildcats host Carl Junction on Tuesday.
CARL JUNCTION, Mo. — In control from the start, Joplin’s boys soccer team earned a dominant 8-0 win over Carl Junction on Tuesday night at Bulldog Stadium.
Adam Montanez, Luis Alvarado Cordova and Azziel Palma scored two goals apiece for the Eagles.
Adam Badr opened the scoring in the fifth minute, with Montanez assisting.
Montanez scored his first goal in the ninth minute, with the assist going to Cordova.
Cordova made it 3-0 with a goal in the 11th minute. Brayden Anderson assisted on the play.
Montanez recorded his second goal of the night in the 32nd minute on a penalty kick.
Palma scored in the 36th minute, with Ben Hedrick getting the assist.
Cordova’s goal in the 43rd minute made it 6-0. Palma assisted on the goal.
Palma’s second goal of the game came in the 51st minute and was assisted by Ely Montanez.
Ely Montanez got into the act with a goal in the 70th minute. The final goal was assisted by Ever Blanco.
Joplin goalie Andrew Jordan made two saves.
The Eagles had 12 shots on-goal in the match. Carl Junction goalkeeper Blake Miller made four saves.
Joplin hosts College Heights (with McAuley Catholic) on Thursday night.
Carl Junction is at Neosho next Tuesday.
SPRINGFIELD, Mo. — With the regular season winding down, the Joplin High School boys swim team gained valuable experience at the Glendale Invitational on Tuesday at the Foster Natatorium.
Eagles senior Zane Newman won the 50-yard freestyle in 23.64 seconds and also placed second in the 100 free with a time of 52.31 seconds.
Joplin sophomore Nathan Wardlow won the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 1:56 and also placed third in the 100 breaststroke in 1:09.
Joplin sophomore Parker Hinman placed third in both the 200 IM (2:16) and the 100 backstroke (1:01).
Eagles junior Jackson Mordica took fifth in the 100 butterfly and also placed sixth in the 100 breaststroke.
Aaron Stump’s Eagles also fared well in the relays.
Joplin’s 200 medley relay team of Hinman, Wardlow, Ian Vermillion and Newman finished third in 1:51.
The 200 freestyle relay team of Wardlow, Isaiah Thom, Vermillion and Newman finished third in 1:39.
Joplin’s 400 freestyle relay team of Hinman, Jordan Goins, Connor Intessimone and Mordica placed fourth with a time of 4:37.
The Eagles will compete at the Kickapoo Invitational on Friday.
SPRINGFIELD, Mo. — Fifth-seeded Joplin ensured its season lasts at least one more game after opening the stacked Class 5 District 5 softball tournament with a 2-1 win over fourth-seeded Neosho on Tuesday before third-seeded Kickapoo scored early and often in an 11-1 win over sixth-seeded Carthage in the nightcap at Central Ballpark.
The Eagles started with the momentum after plating a run in the top of the first inning before adding insurance with a single tally in the third inning. Neosho cut the lead in half after getting on the scoreboard in the fourth inning but stranded the tying run on second base. The Wildcats had a runner reach in the fifth and seventh innings, but Joplin didn’t waver and finished off the quarterfinal win.
Joplin (23-10) advances to take on top-seeded Ozark (26-7) at 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday after the Tigers defeated Springfield Central 17-0 in the opening game of the day.
Jill McDaniel earned the win for Joplin after allowing one unearned run in a complete-game effort. She scattered five hits, walked one and struck out nine.
Olivia Emery took the loss for Neosho after allowing two runs on eight hits and six strikeouts in seven innings.
Bailey Ledford led off the top of the first inning with a triple to left field before Jadyn Pankow came up with a one-out single through the left side two batters later to give the Eagles a 1-0 lead.
Pankow and Riley Kelly had back to back singles with one out in the top of the third inning before Libby Munn put Joplin in front 2-0 with a two-out RBI single to center field.
Beclynn Garrett singled to lead off the last of the fourth for Neosho before stealing second and bunted to third by Carleigh Kinnaird. Garrett scored on a passed ball with two outs shortly after to trim the Wildcats’ deficit in half, 2-1.
Pankow led Joplin with three hits, an RBI and a run scored, while Kelly had two hits. Ledford tripled and scored a run, while Munn had a hit and an RBI. McDaniel also registered a hit.
Garrett had two hits and scored a run, while McKaylie Forrest had two hits and drew a walk. Baylie Bowers also had a hit.
Neosho finishes the season with a 24-7 record and graduates seniors Jordyn Baker, Abbie Carpenter, Trinity Drake, Maelynn Garrett, Grace Johnson, Chloe Patterson, Bowers and Forrest.
After Carthage took the initial lead with a run in the top of the first inning, Kickapoo answered with two runs in the bottom half before adding three more runs in the second, a single tally in the third, three runs in the fourth and two more in the fifth to end the contest via run rule.
The Tigers end the season with a 19-16 record, graduating seniors Landry Cochran, Ashlynn Jackson and Avery Smith.
The Chiefs (26-8) advance to take on second seeded Nixa (25-6) at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday.
Allison Scott earned the win after allowing one run on three hits and five strikeouts in five innings.
Jackson took the loss after allowing five runs on seven hits and a walk in 1 1/3 innings.
Cochran had a hit and scored a run, while Jenna Calhoon
Joplin hosted Neosho in a Central Ozark Conference match and walked out with a four-set win over the Wildcats on Tuesday.
The Eagles (15-10-1) earned a 25-22, 25-20, 25-23 and 25-16 win over Neosho (9-15-4).
Bailey Owens led Joplin with 22 kills and a block, while Serafina Auberry added 14 kills and 14 digs. Paisley Parker finished with 10 kills, 19 digs and an assist. Jayla Hunter had 32 digs, while Adalynn Noirfalise added 53 assists and three aces.
Joplin hosts Nixa for Senior Night on Thursday, while Neosho hosts Willard on Thursday.
Ozark, Mo. — In what could be described as a statement victory, Webb City earned a 3-0 win at Ozark on Tuesday in Central Ozark Conference action.
The Cardinals defeated the always-solid Tigers 25-21, 25-22, 25-15.
Webb City hiked its record to 26-4-2. Ozark fell to 19-7-2.
Aubree Lassiter and Jaeli Rutledge recorded nine kills apiece to lead the Cardinals’ attack at the net, while Brenda Lawrence contributed seven kills and Kate Brownfield had six kills.
Kyah Sanborn had a team-high 28 assists to go along with six digs, while Sophia Crane recorded a team-high 16 digs. Lassiter and Lawrence each had six digs.
Jenna Noel had nine digs, while Brownfield, Sanborn and Crane served two aces apiece. Kirra Long and Sanborn had three kills apiece.
Webb City hosts Branson on Thursday.
EXETER, Mo. — McAuley went on the road and snapped a three-match skid with a sweep over Exeter on Tuesday.
The Warriors defeated the Tigers 25-20, 25-9 and 25-10 to improve their record to 19-13-2.
Avery Gardner had seven kills, while Kloee Williamson added six. Lily Black had 26 assists, while Kendall Ramsey added six aces in service.
McAuley hosts Southwest (Washburn) on Monday.
BRONAUGH, Mo. — Thomas Jefferson found little resistance in a 25-4, 25-4 and 25-18 win over Bronaugh on Tuesday.
With the win, the Cavaliers improve to 12-15-1.
Mary Nguyen had 15 assists, three digs, three kills and three aces, while Gabbi Hiebert finished with eight kills, five assists and three digs. Nico Carlson added five kills and two assists, with Lannah Grigg closing with 11 kills, four assists, two digs, two aces and a block. Macie Shifferd had eight aces, three kills and an assists, with Alexis Stamps added three aces, two kills and two assists.
Thomas Jefferson hosts Golden City on Monday.
LAMAR, Mo. — Seneca went on the road and took a five-set loss to Lamar on Tuesday.
The Tigers earned the win over the Indians 21-25, 17-21, 25-22, 25-19 and 15-13. The loss drops Seneca’s record to 14-9-1, 4-1 in the Big 8 West Conference.
Parker Long had 24 kills for Seneca, while Brylee Sage had 49 assists. Jera Jameson added 15 kills, three aces and two blocks. Braxton Raulston had 16 digs, two aces and a block.
Seneca hosts East Newton on Thursday.
ANDERSON, Mo. — In a five-set thriller, McDonald County defeated Cassville 25-15, 25-23, 20-25, 22-25, 16-14 on Tuesday night in Big 8 action.
Savannah Leib had nine kills to lead the Mustangs, while Megan Elwood, Carlie Martin and Layla Wallain added six kills apiece.
Jayden Forcum contributed 30 assists from the setter position, while Hay Nay Way had a team-high 42 digs.
Martin added 19 digs and Elwood had 14 digs.
McDonald County hosts the Mustang Classic on Saturday.
CARTHAGE, Mo. — The Carl Junction Bulldogs earned a straight-set victory (25-14, 25-17, 25-21) Tuesday over their Central Ozark Conference rival Carthage Tigers.
Carl Junction scored nine of the last 11 points in the first set after Carthage made it 16-12, led for the vast majority of the second after breaking a 4-all score, and finished off the sweep by erasing a 21-20 deficit with the match’s final five points.
“I really liked us in the first two sets,” Carl Junction coach Cheryl Sharples said. “I thought we were really focused on the process of the match, were passing and executing well, and I thought in the third set we got a little unfocused. They made a couple things happen, but we found a way to win.
“I thought our servers did a really nice job from the serving line. They went back and hit spots well and served pretty aggressive most of the night. We got them out of system, and we defended them well.”
Carl Junction trailed by a small margin for the majority of the third set and Sharples called a timeout after Carl Junction lost a 20-17 lead and Carthage went back ahead 21-20 with four straight points. The Bulldogs had scored six straight to earn their three-point lead.
“You always like that when you come out of a timeout and get on a run like that,” Sharples said. “Kylie (Scott) had a real nice serving run right there to finish it off for us.”
Destiny Buerge finished the evening with 15 kills and 14 digs, Scott contributed 10 kills and 12 digs with two blocks, Karissa Chase had 10 kills as well as three blocks and two aces, Lo Jones distributed 30 assists and also tallied nine digs and three blocks, and Jocelyn Brown added 13 digs.
Carl Junction improved to 19-9-2 overall and 5-2 COC, and the Bulldogs take their first shot at reaching 20 wins overall this season with a match Thursday at home against Ozark. Ozark defeated Carl Junction in two sets in tournament play back in September.
“I feel like we’re playing solid right now,” Sharples said. “I just want to keep trudging along and keep grinding it out, just keep getting better day in and day out and be where we want to be at the end of the season.”
Carthage dropped to 8-18-2 overall and 2-5 COC, and the Tigers return home Thursday and welcome a 22-win Republic and fellow Tiger squad for their penultimate conference match.
Over the weekend, Carl Junction took third palce in the Lebanon Pinkfest volleyball tounament.
The Bulldogs earned a pool-play over West Plains (25-19, 25-11), before splitting with Marshfield (17-26, 25-16) and falling to Helias Catholic (25-20, 25-16). In bracket play, Carl Junction defeated Lebanon 25-19 and 25-12 before falling to Hermann 23-25, 25-20 and 25-23. In the third-palce game, the Bulldogs defeated Marshfield 25-20 and 25-18 to secure the win.
Buerge had 43 kills, 25 digs and three blocks in the tournament. Scott finished with 40 kills, 27 digs and four aces, while Chase added 31 kills and three blocks. Brown had 39 digs and six aces, while Jones had 113 assists, 20 digs, 10 aces, four blocks and 12 kills.
Jones’ 10 aces in the tournament helped her become the all-time leader in service aces with 154 by the end of the day. Jones passed Jessa Hylton (2018-21) on the all-time list, who held the previous record of 148. Jones entered the day with 144 career aces.
WEBB CITY, Mo. — After meeting in a district championship game the past two seasons, familiar foes Webb City and McDonald County will clash in the semifinals this year.
Led by a pair of stellar pitching performances, third-seeded Webb City defeated sixth-seeded Bolivar 7-0 and second-seeded McDonald County upended seventh-seeded Monett 2-0 on Tuesday in quarterfinal contests of the Class 4 District 7 softball tournament at the Webb City athletic complex.
The Cardinals (17-19) and Mustangs (21-9) will meet at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday in the district semifinals.
The two programs are no strangers in the postseason, as Webb City knocked off Mac County in district title games in both 2021 and ’20.
In this year’s regular season meeting, the Mustangs edged the Cardinals 3-1.
The season is on the line in Wednesday’s rematch.
“We’ve become postseason rivals and we definitely feel like we can compete with them,” Cardinals coach Shauna Friend said. “We just played them last week and it was a hard-fought game. I think the girls are going to be ready to go tomorrow. I think it’s going to come down to whoever comes out ready to play.”
Webb City’s Laney Taylor had a night to remember in the circle, as the sophomore right-hander tossed a one-hit shutout, striking out eight in a complete-game gem.
Taylor had a perfect game with one out in the seventh before Bolivar’s Carly Cribbs drew a walk and Kacee Jenkins blooped a single into right. Taylor then retired the side to secure the victory.
“Laney had a great night,” Friend said. “She was hitting her spots all game. She came out ready to compete and she did a great job. I wish she could have made it all the way through the seventh (without giving up a hit or a walk)… but she did a great job. And our defense was outstanding behind her.”
The hosts got the bats going early in this one.
The Cardinals pushed across a single tally in the first on Lily Hall’s RBI double.
Webb City added two runs in the second. Makenzie Wynn’s squeeze bunt allowed Sydney Strickland to score from third before Kyley Senter came home on a throwing error.
The hosts extended their lead to 5-0 in the third after run-scoring base hits from Alex Maturino and Jensyn Pickett.
“It definitely helps your pitcher when she gets some early run support,” Friend said. “Getting some runs early builds confidence. Our girls just came out and did a great job tonight.”
Liz Rhuems hit an RBI single in the fourth and Kylee Sargent blasted a solo home run in the sixth for the final margin.
Webb City, which featured six freshmen in the starting lineup, recorded 10 hits. Rhuems went 3-for-3, while Sargent had two hits and scored three runs. The Cardinals did not make an error in the field.
Bolivar’s Makayla Methvin took the loss after surrendering six earned runs on 10 hits and a walk in six frames.
A pitcher’s duel went Mac County’s way.
McDonald County’s Nevaeh Dodson was dominant in the circle. Dodson struck out 13 and gave up just two hits and walked none in a masterful performance.
Helping her own cause, Dodson homered in the bottom of the first inning.
Mac County added a run in the third when Maggie Pratt scored from third base on a wild pitch. Those were the lone runs of the game.
Dodson and Pratt had McDonald County’s lone hits.
Kilee Wilson was charged with the loss, but she threw well in defeat. Wilson allowed two runs on two hits and a walk while striking out 11 in six innings.
Recording Monett’s hits were Madeline Mettlach and Natalie Rivera.
The Cubs end the season with a record of 8-23.
NOTES: Fourth-seeded Willard beat fifth-seeded Carl Junction 14-3 in the first quarterfinal (See a related story).
Top-seeded Nevada meets Willard in Wednesday’s first semifinal at 5 p.m.
FULL STATS: Webb City HS (webbcitycardinals.com)
RELATED STORY: DISTRICT SOFTBALL: Willard rolls past Carl Junction in district quarters – SoMo Sports (somo-sports.com)
WEBB CITY, Mo. — The Carl Junction Bulldogs ran into a buzzsaw in the Class 4 District 7 quarterfinals on Tuesday as their season ended with a 14-3 run-rule loss in five innings against the four-seeded Willard Tigers.
Willard exploded for four runs in the first inning and five each in the second and third, while Carl Junction plated a run in the first and two in the fourth.
In their prior meeting this season, just a week before they played in districts, Willard defeated Carl Junction 7-2.
“We came out flat and we never got settled,” Carl Junction coach Zak Petty said. “We’re young, and our inexperience showed today. Willard, they did a great job and hit the heck out of the ball. They didn’t give up an at-bat all day it seemed like. Even if we would have played our best game, it would have been a good game. It just didn’t go our way.”
The Bulldogs finish their best season since 2015 with an 10-16 overall record and their 10 wins surpass their combined nine wins from the previous two seasons. They graduate senior shortstop Sammie Sams and have the opportunity to return eight starters next season.
“I just told them that this is one of the successful seasons we’ve had in seven years,” Petty said. “They need to keep their heads up and take a lot of positives from it. It was a fun group. I had a blast coaching them this year.
“We lose one starter next year. Sammie is going to be a tough starter to replace not only on the field but off it. We’ll build from it and these young girls got a chance to taste a little bit of playoff action. We’ll be ready to go next year.”
Nearly a week after defeating the district’s top seed Nevada in the final game of the regular season, Carl Junction jumped out to a quick 1-0 lead on sophomore catcher Madi Olds’ RBI double bringing home Sims.
Carl Junction committed two errors in the first four Willard batters and the Tigers made the Bulldogs pay when Harley Durr hit a RBI double and Jazlyn Rennison a two-run double.
Willard retired Carl Junction in order in the second and third, while the Tigers sent eight to the plate in the first, nine in the second and eight more in the third.
Durr hit a two-run double in the second and Alyson Miller and Hannah Burks homered back-to-back in the third with Miller hitting a towering two-run shot over the scoreboard.
Sims and Olds both doubled to start off the Carl Junction fourth with Olds picking up her second RBI double of the contest.
The Bulldogs would go on to score two in the fourth, but it would not be enough runs to extend the game past five innings.
Willard, 20-16 overall, faces top seed Nevada (23-11) in the first district semifinal game on Wednesday, followed by No. 2 McDonald County (21-9) and No. 3 Webb City (17-19) in the other semifinal.
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