The Bearcats Golf Team qualified three of four sectional golfers for the MSHAA Class 3 State Tournament on Thursday at Dalhousie Golf Club.

Cody Stevens, Brennen Justice and Logan Robey all placed within the top 12 positions to advance.

Cody Stevens led the team with a score of 83 to lead the Bearcats. Bernnen Justice followed with an 85 and Logan Robey ended the day with a score of 89. Alan Flanigan also qualified for sectional play but was unable to make the cut.

To those who have spent a little time at Hidden Trails Country Club, all three of these Bearcats were easy to find somewhere on the course perfecting their game.

Cody has had a tremendous career all sports seasons. Cody's athleticism shows quickly as his 2010-11 sports have produced football quarter final action, state wrestling tournament action and now he will see the State level in golf.

Much the same has been shown by the Bearcat seniors. Brennen has put countless hours on the course and has improved his game over past four seasons as a Bearcat Golfer.


"it's a great honor to be going to state for the second year in a row." says Robey. "I've worked hard at golf for as long as I can remember and this is what it's all about."

A strong member of the Bearcat Basketball Team, Robey has always shown the potential of being a great golfer with a smooth and easy swing. His leadership has been a great asset to the team throughout the season.

"I hope I can be at the top of my game and represent the town of Dexter very well," added Robey.

Cy Moritz of Owensville was medalist with a 77 (+5). He was followed by Bryce Dolan (St. Francis Borgia), Gunnar Knudtson (Notre Dame) and Jake Prince (Hillsboro) all with scores of 7 over par.

At the top of the team results, Notre Dame claimed the title with a total score of 326. St. Francis Borgia finished second with a score of 339, while Dexter finished in 5th place with a Team Score of 359.

The MSHAA State Golf Tournament will take place on May 16-17 at the Silo Ridge Golf Club in Bolivar.

By Annabeth Miller,
ShowMe Times Editor

It’s been a soggy spring – a spring filled with games cancellations and postponements, change of location, calling games because of rain, high winds, lightening, make up games and more.

But none of that dampened the spirits at the annual Spring Sports Banquet at Dexter High School. The annual event recognizing the Bearcat athletes in spring sports was held Thursday evening in the DHS cafeteria.

Athletes, coaches, families and school personnel filled the high school cafeteria for a barbecue meal furnish by the Bearcat Booster Club and to applaud this spring’s successes by the six spring teams – baseball, golf, softball, boys’ track, boys’ tennis and girls’ track.

Softball had ‘fun season’

Lady Bearcats coach Tammy Crowley had a young team this spring, and despite a season cut short due to weather conditions, she said the girls had a good season.

“We had a lot of fun this year. We had a very successful season even though our season was cut short because of the rain and flooding,” Crowley told the crowd.

The team ended the season with 8 wins, 6 losses and 1 tie. The Lady ‘Cats placed third in the Malden Tournament.

“We worked very hard during the season on a variety of drills to improve our batting, throwing and fielding,” the coach reported. “I had two really good pitchers this year – Alec Jackson and Kendra Stephenson. They helped us lot and combined with our good defense.”

Over half of the Lady ‘Cats that took the field this spring were freshmen and just one senior player was on the squad.

“I look for great things from this group for the next several years,” she said.

Softball Awards for Spring 2011 include:

• Provisional Letters: Jerrica Wood and Riley Rickman
• Letters: Mollie Whitehead, Emily Triplett, Kendra Stevenson, Taylor Owen, Ashley Brown, Bethany Christian, Tiffany Watson, Whitney Layton, Lauren Massingill, Alisha Martin, Alec Jackson
• Highest Batting Average Award: Alec Jackson with an average of .589
• Team Dedication Award: Alec Jackson (voted on by team)
• Most Valuable Player (MVP) Award: Alec Jackson

“Like the girls, I recognized that Alec’s skills, leadership and dedication were invaluable to our team this year,” Crowley said of the senior. Jackson has played softball at DHS all four years and has signed a Letter of Intent to play softball next year at Shawnee Community College in Illinois.

Track: An outstanding year

“Overall, this was just an outstanding year for us,” said track coach Jill King said. King she had a small boys’ track team, but the young men all worked hard and a good group to work with.

“The girls this year were conference champs. They won the Notre Dame Open, the Malden Invitational, The Dexter Open; at the Notre Dame Relays they won the Field and Sprint divisions; tied for third at the Ste. Genevieve Meet. They just really had a great season,” King said.

King recognized the seniors on the two squads – Dan McCoy, Dylan Sandlin, and Alex Allston, Raezheem Miller, and Madison Pixley.

• Letters: Dylan Sandlin, Alex Rybolt, Austin Richardson, Dan McCoy, Zach Comstock, Alex Allstun, Brittney Twomey, Madison Pixley, Hannah Now, Sarah Mouser, Raezheem Miller, Samantha Midgett, Melisa Mayo, Sarah Langley, Katie Justice, Christina Harris, Taylor Martin, Lindsey Hindman, Selana Flannigan, Chandler Crowley, Beth Crone, Morgan Cliff, Jennifer Blattman, Brooke Baker
• Girl’s Point Winner: Taylor Martin
• Boy’s Point Winner: Austin Richardson

Tennis guys worked hard

Coach Leanne Dooley, who is also the DHS girls tennis’s coach and returned to coaching the guys this season, introduced the varsity players in the order they play: Tyler Miller, Sam Ward, Brauck Burge, Kyle Willis, Hunter Mathis, and Cedrick Bernier.

“I’m very proud of the boys. It was really fun to come back to coaching boys’ tennis again,” Dooley said. “We had great participation and they really worked hard.”

Dooley also explained that she could only give out two of her three end-of-season awards at the banquet. The team’s double’s players are locked in tie, and she will wait awarding the recognition until after Friday’s match against Poplar Bluff.

• MVP: Tyler Miller
• Most Singles Award: Brauck Burge
• Letters: Tyler Miller, Sam Ward, Brauck Burge, Kyle Willis, Hunter Mathis, Cedrick Bernier.

Golfers “hung in” for season

With three players that just qualified in sectional play for the state tournament, Coach Eric Sitze recognized the success of this spring’s DHS Golf Team.

“I wouldn’t say we were rebuilding this year – we had to fill two big spots,” Sitze said “These guys have done a good job this year. We’ve hung in there; they’ve worked hard.”

Winning at sectionals on Thursday were Cody Stevens, Brennen Justice and Logan Robey. The team has one match and one tournament left for the season.

• Letters: Corbin Matthews, Brennen Justice, Ryan Joyner, Tyler Jones, Logan Robey, Cody Stevens.
•
Season Medalist: Cody Stevens

Baseball Road Warriors

With only four home games this season, Coach Brian Becker says the baseball parents have become “road warriors” – travelling to games throughout the region.

“The parents have had to travel quite a bit this spring, and they’re not giving gas away,” Becker. “We’ve had good crowd support this year and that means a lot.”

This year’s baseball squad had only two senior players, and Becker has had to use young players, thus giving many of the younger players a lot of good experience.

“I hope that they will continue getting better so that next year we’ll be even stronger as a team,” Becker said.

Becker paid special tribute to two seniors who played baseball throughout their high school careers – Bryn Hester and Josh Sifford.

“These two guys have given me their heart and soul the last four years. I’m so proud of Sifford and how far he’s come. I’m so proud of you, and it’s been a pleasure coaching you, buddy,” Becker said to the senior. “Bryn is going to play next season at College of the Ozarks and I know as smart as Bryn is and as hard as he works, and as good of a baseball player as he is, he’s going to represent Dexter High School very well over there.”

• Letters: Alex Cliff, DJ Dowdy, Daniel Fitts, Owen Flowers, Bryn Hester, Jordan Miller, Cody Neldon, Logan Northern, Josh Overall, Bradley Potts, Dalton Putnam, Josh Sifford, Chase Young, Nick Noble.
• Highest Batting Average: Alex Cliff with a .389 batting average (he also leads the team in RBIs)
• Team MVP: (voted on by players): Bradley Potts

Student-athletes receiving their first “D” letter at the banquet include: Cedric Bernier, Ashley Brown, Beth Crone, Chandler Crowley, DJ Dowdy, Selana Flannigan, Owen Flowers, Christina Harris, Sarah Mouser, Cody Neldon, Nick Noble, Logan Northern, Bradley Potts, Emily Triplett.

Photo bove: The DHS student-athletes recognized in Thursday evening's banquet include: (front row, from left) Alec Jackson, softball; Cody Stevens, golf; Austin Richardson, track; Taylor Martin, track; (back row, from left) Brauck Burge, tennis; Tyler Miller, tennis; Alex Cliff, baseball; Bradley Potts, baseball.(SMT photo by Annabeth Miller)[

BREAKING SPORTS NEWS

By Andrew Cato, ShowMe Times Sports

In a spring season full of rainouts, rain delays and soggy fields, there will be baseball Thursday afternoon!

The DHS Baseball Bearcats will be in action this afternoon (May 5) in a makeup game against Twin Rivers High School.

The game was originally scheduled for Friday, April 23, but was postponed due to flooding in the region.

The game will be held in Brosley, Mo. and is set for a 2:45 p.m. first pitch. There will be just varsity action; the JV will not play.

All of the spring Bearcat athletes will gather Thursday night for the annual Spring Sports Banquet at DHS. The banquet will begin at 6:00 p.m., and spring sports awards will be presented during the evening.

BREAKING SPORTS NEWS

By Andrew Cato, ShowMe Times Sports

The DHS Softball season ended with a rainout on Tuesday (May 3) afternoon, typical of a very soggy spring sports season.

"Yesterday was the last scheduled softball game of the season," DHS Athletic Director Chuck Powers said in an email. "We didn't suspend the season - it ended with yesterday's rainout."

According to Powers, the school doesn't schedule any games after the Spring Sports Banquet, which is scheduled for Thursday (May 5) night.

"We have not scheduled softball games after the Spring Sports Banquet," Powers continued. "Coach Crowley gives out her awards at the banquet, and to continue the season after the banquet would keep that from happening."

In the program's last season under the helm of coach Tammy Crowley (she announced her resignation of the position in an April School Board Meeting), the Lady 'Cats posted a 8-6-1 record, including a Third place finish in the Malden Tournament.

Alec Jackson, who signed a letter of intent to play softball at Shawnee Community College in Ulin, Ill. was the lone senior on the squad this season.

By Andrew Cato, ShowMe Times Sports

After nearly two weeks without a match due to torrential rainfall in the region, the DHS Tennis team returned to the courts on Tuesday (May 3) afternoon in dominating fashion, defeating the Sikeston Bulldogs 9-0.

“Today is only the second or third time in two weeks that we’ve been able to be on the courts,” coach Leanne Dooley said during the match.




Singles

Tyler Miller def. Josh Bill (6-0, 6-0)
Sam Ward def. Brandon Goodwin (6-3, 6-2)

Brauck Burge def. Giovanni Walker (6-0, 6-0)

Hunter Mathis def. Alexander Hahn (6-1, 6-0)

Cedric Bernier def. Wade Gadberry (6-3, 6-3)

Ryan Bagby def. Devon Martin (6-0, 6-1)




Doubles

Ward/Burge def. Bill/ Goodwin (6-1, 6-2)

Miller/Mathis def. Walker/Hahn (6-0, 6-0)
Bernier/Bagby def. Gadberry/Martin (6-1, 6-0)

The 'Cats are scheduled to be in action again on Friday (May 6) when they take on the Poplar Bluff Mules at PBHS. The match is set for a 4:00 p.m. start.