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Find your own neighbors at N2Marshfield.com marshfieldmail.com SPORTS May 23, 2012 | The Marshfield Mail | 1B Sports 1-4B | Leisure 5B | Faith 6-8B | Community 9-10B | Education 11-13B | Neighbors 14B Rogersville runners qualify for state Page 3B Contributed photo by Leslie Wallace The Blue Jays pose with the Class 4, District 10 second-place trophy after a tough 10-0 loss to Helias Catholic in the title game last week in Waynesville. By Clint Mitchell clintm@marshfieldmail.com Marshfield’s dream run to a Class 4, District 10 cham- pionship came to a close last Wednesday, as the Jays were unable to close out the Cin- derella story, falling 10-0 to He- lias Catholic in five innings at Waynesville. The No. 7-seeded Blue Jays sent their ace, senior Lee Wag- ner, back to the mound in hopes of capturing the school’s first-ever Class 4 district cham- pionship, but the No.1-seeded Crusaders’ offense was too much. Wagner, as he has done all season, managed to keep He- lias off balance the first time through the lineup, scattering a handful of hits and holding the Crusaders to just three runs af- ter four innings. But the highly-touted Helias offense found life in the fifth. Joined with a few mental mis- takes by the Blue Jays, the Cru- saders pulled away, scoring sev- en runs, ending the Jays’ party a little soon. Marshfield’s big bats that helped the Jays to an 11-2 win over Jeff City last Monday nev- er found traction against the Crusaders, putting pressure on Wagner and the defense. Un- able to find any offense, the early deficit proved too much as the Jays’ season came to its finale. Head coach James MacA- narney was disappointed in the loss, but reiterated the fact that his squad was not expected to be in the championship game. The Blue Jays’ skipper had been preaching to his team through- out the district tournament that they were playing “on house money.” Last week’s matchup also marked the first time in school history that the Blue Jays made it to the district championship game as a Class 4 program. Regardless, the loss hit hard for some of the seniors. “It’s tough,” said senior catcher Sean Wallace. “But I had a great time here. I learned a lot. We had a good run this year, so it was a good way to go out.” Wallace — who signed last week to play baseball next year at Fontbonne University in St. Louis — is one of six seniors that played their final game for the Blue Jays last week. Wallace joins Will Pate — who has signed to play at Cen- tral Methodist University in Fayette — Jonny Casey, Wagner, Tanner Christoph and Baxter Noel as the crop of seniors Ma- cAnarney will have to replace next season. Despite the loss of senior- heavy talent, the Blue Jays will return a wealth of skilled let- termen next season, including: Brendan Maxwell, Cody and Mitch Freeman, Lawfton Sum- mers, Blayne Armstrong, Logan McAnarney and Bradey Welsh, among others. Pair of runners chasing school records Contributed photo by Carol Burchfield Freshman Ashley Runyan pushes herself to a third-place finish in the 3200-meter run at the Class 3, Sectional 3 meet in Marshfield last Saturday. By Clint Mitchell clintm@marshfieldmail.com A pair of Marshfield run- ners will compete for med- als at the state meet in Jef- ferson City this weekend. Junior Cole Burchfield and freshman Ashley Run- yan qualified for the state track meet with clutch per- formances in the Class 3, Sectional 3 event in Marsh- field last Saturday. Burchfield, as he has done all season long, won the 800-meter run with a 1:59.79, nearly 50 meters ahead of second place. The junior topped his qualify- ing time from the district meet by two seconds, and finished ahead of Helias’s Michael McCoy, who best- ed Burchfield at the district meet. “He dominated,” said head coach David Gray. “That was good for him, he needed that. He made a statement, made his mark and that’s going to be a good thing going into state. He’s going to be running in the prelims Friday after- noon, and he just needs to get into the top eight.” Getting into the top eight has weighed heavily on the junior distance runner, his coach said. “We were running (on Monday) and Cole said, ‘Top eight, isn’t that all- state?’” Gray said. “And I said, ‘Yes it is. But let’s not even worry about that. Let’s just get top eight and race another day.’” Beating McCoy, who won the district meet, will pro- vide a big confidence boost for Burchfield, who now sits just two seconds off the school record. “It’s a huge boost,” Gray said. “Considering the guy that beat him at districts dropped out of the mile (at sectionals). Cole was ner- vous about that, but I told him all he needed to do was go out and get top four. With the 800, Cole likes to get out and just run and hang on to it. He went out and nobody caught him. He won it decisively.” Burchfield won’t be going to Jeff City alone, though. And he won’t be the only one chasing a school record. Runyan took third place in the 3200-meter run at the sectional meet last Sat- urday, slightly more than a tenth of a second ahead of the fourth- and fifth-place finishers. “Several coaches I knew were saying, ‘I’ve never seen a 3200-meter run that close and that tight,’” Gray said. “All three girls were right there together. They were all clumped up. It was amazing.” See TRACK, Page 3B Wildcats take district, four wins away from title By Clint Mitchell clintm@marshfieldmail.com Logan-Rogersville’s junior shortstop Dayton Karr has had some big at-bats in his career. But perhaps none were as big as his first-inning plate appearance in the Class 3, District 11 championship game against Springfield Catholic last Tuesday in Hollister. After falling behind early in the count, Karr found himself battling just to stay alive. The junior spoiled a series of good fastballs before lining a two-strike, two- out, two-RBI double down the left field line, plating Zach Herman and Justin King. “I’d say that’s my biggest at-bat for sure,” Karr said. “I was just choking up, trying to make sure I put it in play. I got two good pitches in a row, and I managed to foul one of them off. I made an adjust- ment and got a little more on time and was able to pull one down the line.” The two-out double, combined with Joe Young’s sacrifice fly to deep left that scored Evan Gruener, gave the Wildcats a 3-0 lead after the first inning. It’d be the only offense Rogersville could muster over the final six innings. But it’d be the only offense the Wildcats would need, as they’d go on to topple the Irish, 3-1, claiming the Class 3, District 11 crown. Junior ace Justus Boever got the nod for the Wildcats on the bump and took ad- vantage of his time in the spotlight. Boever tossed a complete game, allow- ing just one earned run on three hits while striking out three in the win. A gutsy per- formance, said head coach Brad Lotz. The junior’s ability to keep the Irish hit- ters off balance allowed the Wildcats’ de- fense to recoup from a six-error game last Monday night against Bolivar. The all-star caliber performance also gave the Wildcats their second district crown in three years and put the team back where Lotz said it belongs: the playoffs. “It wasn’t easy. It never is though, to win a district championship,” Lotz said after the win. “What an admirable team in Springfield Catholic, and the fight they put up. We were fortunate enough to get those three runs early, and then we just got to watch Justus Boever do what he’s done all year. “That’s our ace, and we knew we were going to ride him. He did a fantastic job, and I like the way our defense played be- hind him. We overcame some things, and that just shows their character.” Boever — who took a no-hitter into the fourth inning — did face some pressure- filled situations, however. Though Catholic scored its only run in the fourth inning off Colin Shaughnessy’s RBI double to deep right field, the Irish’s best scoring chance came in the fifth. With runners at the corners and no outs, it looked as if Catholic’s vaunted of- fense would finally cash in. But Boever jammed Brayton Ballenger with an inside fastball, forcing Catholic’s leadoff man to fist a line drive to Herman at third base. Herman made the catch easily and caught Danny Richardson leaning towards home on the play. The senior swiftly doubled him up by stepping on third, quelling the Irish uprising. From there, Boever managed to pitch around another single, not allowing a run to cross the plate. “It was a fun game,” Boever said. “I’m just glad we played as a team and glad we won.” Boever said he never lost confidence in himself, despite being in a few tricky situations. “I just knew I had to go throw strikes and throw as little as pitches as possible,” he said. “That’s what I was aiming for.” See CHAMPS, Page 3B Mail photo by Clint Mitchell Ethan Schlesener (27) watches as his throw arrives perfectly in time for Baily Jenkins (10) to tag out Catholic’s attempted stolen base in the Wildcats’ 3-1 district championship win last Tuesday. Blue Jays’ district championship run ends with shutout and the show goes on ...
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Find your own neighbors at N2Marsh� eld.com

marshfi eldmail.comSPORTSMay 23, 2012 | The Marsh� eld Mail | 1B

Sports 1-4B | Leisure 5B | Faith 6-8B | Community 9-10B | Education 11-13B | Neighbors 14B

Rogersville runners qualify for state

Page 3B

Contributed photo by Leslie WallaceThe Blue Jays pose with the Class 4, District 10 second-place trophy after a tough 10-0 loss to Helias Catholic in the title game last week in Waynesville.

By Clint Mitchellclintm@marshfi eldmail.com

Marshfi eld’s dream run to a Class 4, District 10 cham-pionship came to a close last Wednesday, as the Jays were unable to close out the Cin-derella story, falling 10-0 to He-lias Catholic in fi ve innings at Waynesville.

The No. 7-seeded Blue Jays sent their ace, senior Lee Wag-ner, back to the mound in hopes of capturing the school’s fi rst-ever Class 4 district cham-pionship, but the No.1-seeded Crusaders’ offense was too much.

Wagner, as he has done all season, managed to keep He-lias off balance the fi rst time

through the lineup, scattering a handful of hits and holding the Crusaders to just three runs af-ter four innings.

But the highly-touted Helias offense found life in the fi fth. Joined with a few mental mis-takes by the Blue Jays, the Cru-saders pulled away, scoring sev-en runs, ending the Jays’ party a little soon.

Marshfi eld’s big bats that helped the Jays to an 11-2 win over Jeff City last Monday nev-er found traction against the Crusaders, putting pressure on Wagner and the defense. Un-able to fi nd any offense, the early defi cit proved too much as the Jays’ season came to its fi nale.

Head coach James MacA-

narney was disappointed in the loss, but reiterated the fact that his squad was not expected to be in the championship game. The Blue Jays’ skipper had been preaching to his team through-out the district tournament that they were playing “on house money.”

Last week’s matchup also marked the fi rst time in school history that the Blue Jays made it to the district championship game as a Class 4 program.

Regardless, the loss hit hard for some of the seniors.

“It’s tough,” said senior catcher Sean Wallace. “But I had a great time here. I learned a lot. We had a good run this year, so it was a good way to go out.”

Wallace — who signed last

week to play baseball next year at Fontbonne University in St. Louis — is one of six seniors that played their fi nal game for the Blue Jays last week.

Wallace joins Will Pate — who has signed to play at Cen-tral Methodist University in Fayette — Jonny Casey, Wagner, Tanner Christoph and Baxter Noel as the crop of seniors Ma-cAnarney will have to replace next season.

Despite the loss of senior-heavy talent, the Blue Jays will return a wealth of skilled let-termen next season, including: Brendan Maxwell, Cody and Mitch Freeman, Lawfton Sum-mers, Blayne Armstrong, Logan McAnarney and Bradey Welsh, among others.

Pair of runners chasing school records

Contributed photo by Carol Burchfi eld

Freshman Ashley Runyan pushes herself to a third-place fi nish in the 3200-meter run at the Class 3, Sectional 3 meet in Marshfi eld last Saturday.

By Clint Mitchellclintm@marshfi eldmail.com

A pair of Marshfi eld run-ners will compete for med-als at the state meet in Jef-ferson City this weekend.

Junior Cole Burchfi eld and freshman Ashley Run-yan qualifi ed for the state track meet with clutch per-formances in the Class 3, Sectional 3 event in Marsh-fi eld last Saturday.

Burchfi eld, as he has done all season long, won the 800-meter run with a 1:59.79, nearly 50 meters ahead of second place. The junior topped his qualify-ing time from the district meet by two seconds, and fi nished ahead of Helias’s Michael McCoy, who best-ed Burchfi eld at the district meet.

“He dominated,” said head coach David Gray. “That was good for him, he needed that. He made a statement, made his mark and that’s going to be a good thing going into state. He’s going to be running in the prelims Friday after-noon, and he just needs to get into the top eight.”

Getting into the top eight has weighed heavily on the junior distance runner, his coach said.

“We were running (on Monday) and Cole said, ‘Top eight, isn’t that all-state?’” Gray said. “And I said, ‘Yes it is. But let’s not even worry about that. Let’s just get top eight and race another day.’”

Beating McCoy, who won the district meet, will pro-vide a big confi dence boost for Burchfi eld, who now sits just two seconds off the school record.

“It’s a huge boost,” Gray said. “Considering the guy that beat him at districts dropped out of the mile (at sectionals). Cole was ner-vous about that, but I told him all he needed to do was go out and get top four. With the 800, Cole likes to get out and just run and hang on to it. He went out and nobody caught him. He won it decisively.”

Burchfi eld won’t be going to Jeff City alone, though. And he won’t be the only one chasing a school record.

Runyan took third place in the 3200-meter run at the sectional meet last Sat-urday, slightly more than a tenth of a second ahead of the fourth- and fi fth-place fi nishers.

“Several coaches I knew were saying, ‘I’ve never seen a 3200-meter run that close and that tight,’” Gray said. “All three girls were right there together. They were all clumped up. It was amazing.”

See TRACK, Page 3B

Wildcats take district, four wins away from titleBy Clint Mitchellclintm@marshfi eldmail.com

Logan-Rogersville’s junior shortstop Dayton Karr has had some big at-bats in his career. But perhaps none were as big as his fi rst-inning plate appearance in the Class 3, District 11 championship game against Springfi eld Catholic last Tuesday in Hollister.

After falling behind early in the count, Karr found himself battling just to stay alive. The junior spoiled a series of good fastballs before lining a two-strike, two-out, two-RBI double down the left fi eld line, plating Zach Herman and Justin King.

“I’d say that’s my biggest at-bat for sure,” Karr said. “I was just choking up, trying to make sure I put it in play. I got two good pitches in a row, and I managed to foul one of them off. I made an adjust-ment and got a little more on time and was able to pull one down the line.”

The two-out double, combined with Joe Young’s sacrifi ce fl y to deep left that scored Evan Gruener, gave the Wildcats a 3-0 lead after the fi rst inning.

It’d be the only offense Rogersville could muster over the fi nal six innings. But it’d be the only offense the Wildcats would need, as they’d go on to topple the

Irish, 3-1, claiming the Class 3, District 11 crown.

Junior ace Justus Boever got the nod for the Wildcats on the bump and took ad-vantage of his time in the spotlight.

Boever tossed a complete game, allow-ing just one earned run on three hits while striking out three in the win. A gutsy per-formance, said head coach Brad Lotz.

The junior’s ability to keep the Irish hit-ters off balance allowed the Wildcats’ de-fense to recoup from a six-error game last Monday night against Bolivar.

The all-star caliber performance also gave the Wildcats their second district crown in three years and put the team back where Lotz said it belongs: the playoffs.

“It wasn’t easy. It never is though, to win a district championship,” Lotz said after the win. “What an admirable team in Springfi eld Catholic, and the fi ght they put up. We were fortunate enough to get those three runs early, and then we just got to watch Justus Boever do what he’s done all year.

“That’s our ace, and we knew we were going to ride him. He did a fantastic job, and I like the way our defense played be-hind him. We overcame some things, and that just shows their character.”

Boever — who took a no-hitter into the fourth inning — did face some pressure-fi lled situations, however.

Though Catholic scored its only run in the fourth inning off Colin Shaughnessy’s RBI double to deep right fi eld, the Irish’s best scoring chance came in the fi fth.

With runners at the corners and no outs, it looked as if Catholic’s vaunted of-fense would fi nally cash in. But Boever jammed Brayton Ballenger with an inside fastball, forcing Catholic’s leadoff man to fi st a line drive to Herman at third base. Herman made the catch easily and caught Danny Richardson leaning towards home on the play. The senior swiftly doubled him up by stepping on third, quelling the Irish uprising.

From there, Boever managed to pitch around another single, not allowing a run to cross the plate.

“It was a fun game,” Boever said. “I’m just glad we played as a team and glad we won.”

Boever said he never lost confi dence in himself, despite being in a few tricky situations.

“I just knew I had to go throw strikes and throw as little as pitches as possible,” he said. “That’s what I was aiming for.”

See CHAMPS, Page 3B

Mail photo by Clint MitchellEthan Schlesener (27) watches as his throw arrives perfectly in time for Baily Jenkins (10) to tag out Catholic’s attempted stolen base in the Wildcats’ 3-1 district championship win last Tuesday.

Blue Jays’ district championship run ends with shutout

and the show goes on ...