By Andrew Cato, ShowMe Times Sports Editor

Sawyer Smith’s got a great outlook on his upcoming sophomore baseball season at Palm Beach Atlantic University following a great campaign in a collegiate wood bat league.


Smith, a 2010 graduate of DHS, spent the summer playing for the Tradewater Pirates in Dawson Springs, Ky., in the Ohio Valley League.

“All in all, it was a good season. It wasn’t the best season that Tradewater has ever had,” he noted, “but we played hard and scratched out some good games.”


The summer league was particularly beneficial for Smith, who had been recovering from a partial tear in his right posterior ulnar collateral ligament. The UCL, most commonly associated with pitchers and the infamous ‘Tommy John’ procedure, is the main ligament in the elbow, and is crucial in the baseball throwing motion. Smith was sidelined with the injury in the spring, and caused him to miss most of his freshman season at PBAU.

“It was good for me, coming off my injury, to get out there and play some games,” Smith said. “I caught 30 games this summer, and I think I did well. I struggled at times, but it was part of finding myself again - I hadn’t played many games in over a year until this summer, and it helped me prepare for the fall and leading up to the spring.”

“My bat was the worst part of my game,” Smith added. “I got some good hits, strung together double-digit hits; it’s tough not seeing a live pitcher for six months.”


Smith lived and breathed baseball all June and July, squeezing close to 50 games in two months.

“I was a freshman this year and only got to play three or four full games. I’d never really played until this summer. We played fifty games of college baseball in less than two months. There were kids from all over the states and all levels of baseball. It was great to see consistent college-level pitching,” Smith said.


 Smith’s college team, the Sailfish, ended the season with a 27-22 record, despite being dealt a crippling blow: their coach, MLB Hall-of-Famer Gary Carter, was diagnosed with aggressive, inoperable brain cancer late in the season.


Smith said he understood the gravity of the situation early in the summer, but noted that Carter has received some great news is August.


 “Coach went to Duke University Medical on August 1st and got a great report on his MRI,” he said. “80% of the cancer is gone. When everything was first brought to light, they weren’t sure if this would be a year long battle before it turned fatal. It was great with all the support and prayers he got - God’s awesome. He answered it a few months later, and he’s 80% cured.”


“He had the most aggressive form of malignant tumors in the brain. When they first diagnosed it, his tumors doubled in size in less than a week, and he started loosing his memory,” Smith added. “It was a tough time for him and his family, but the treatments helped, and again, God’s awesome.”


 “We hope he’ll be able to coach next season,” Smith said. “The school wasn’t sure, so they took some precautionary measures - they hired former Cardinals All-Star Ken Bottenfield as our assistant head coach/pitching coach. He’ll be head coach when Coach Carter has be gone, but when Skip’s back, they'll work together and make our coaching staff that much better.”

Bottenfield, who pitched for the Cardinals during the 1998-1999, posted a 17-8 record with a 3.97 ERA in his only All-Star year, but was traded to the Angels in the Jim Edmonds deal at the end of the ’99 season.

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Make sure to check back with the ShowMe Times for updates on Sawyer as he continues his baseball career with the Sailfish!

From the Missouri Department of Conservation

With the area’s extreme heat set to continue over the weekend and thunderstorms in the forecast until Sunday, opportunities to catch fish will be limited. If you do get the opportunity to go, catfish and bass seem to be the best bet right now, with Castor River (above Zalma) having the best overall report.

SOUTHEAST REGION (573) 290-5858

PLEASE CHECK REGULATIONS CAREFULLY: Special regulations may apply to designated portions of water bodies; some baits and lures may not be legal for all portions.

    LAKES

Clearwater Lake: 89 degrees, normal, clear; all species slow. (Report made on 8/3/2011)

Council Bluff: 89 degrees, normal, clear; all species slow. (Report made on 8/3/2011)

Cypress Lake: 89 degrees, normal, dingy; channel catfish good in 2'-3' depths using worms and stinkbait; crappie slow using minnows and jigs; bluegill and redear sunfish fair in 1'-3' depths using crickets, small jigs, and small pieces of worms; largemouth bass slow on spinnerbaits, jigs and plastic worms;  all other species slow. (Report made on 8/3/2011)

Duck Creek: 87 degrees, normal, clear; largemouth bass good on topwater lures and plastic lizards; all other species slow; vegetation is very abundant. (Report made on 8/3/2011)

Lake Girardeau: normal, clear; channel catfish fair on worms; all other species slow. (Report made on 8/3/2011)

Perry County Lake: 91 degrees, dingy; all species slow. (Report made on 8/3/2011)

Robert DeLaney Lake: 88 degrees, normal, channel catfish fair on worms, liver, stinkbait, and live sunfish; all other species slow. (Report made on 8/4/2011)

Wappapello: normal, black bass good on plastic worms and crankbaits early and late in the day; bluegill good on crickets and worms; crappie fair on minnows and jigs in the lake in the river channel; channel catfish fair on trotlines and jug lines at night using live bait and nightcrawlers.  Anglers should note the 9" minimum length regulation for crappie on Wappapello Lake. All areas around the lake are now open since the lake water level has dropped.  Call the Wappapello Lake Recreation Hotline for updates at 573-222-8139. (Report made on 8/3/2011)

    RIVERS

Black River (near Annapolis): 80 degrees, low, clear; all species slow. (Report made on 8/3/2011)

Castor River (above Zalma): low, clear; black bass good on crankbaits and Beetle Spins; sunfish good on jigs and small spinners; all others species fair. (Report made on 8/3/2011)

Lower Black River (Clearwater Dam):normal, dingy; crappie fair on minnows; bluegill fair on worms; black bass fair on worms and topwater lures; all other species slow. (Report made on 8/3/2011)

Mississippi (below Charleston): normal, dingy; channel catfish fair on live frogs and worms; all other species slow. (Report made on 8/3/2011)

Mississippi River (Cape Girardeau): high, muddy; channel and blue catfish good on cut bait; all other species slow. (Report made on 8/3/2011)

St. Francis (above Wappapello): low, clear; all species slow. (Report made on 8/3/2011)

St. Francis (below Wappapello): 90 degrees, normal, dingy; channel catfish good on stinkbait, worms and liver; flathead catfish good on live bait, small bluegill, and goldfish; bluegill fair on waxworms; black bass fair on plastic worms; all other species slow. (Report made on 8/3/2011)

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Anglers are invited to send photos of their fishing trips to the ShowMe Times. Just email acato@showmetimes.com. Be sure to include the name of the fisherman, the date of the catch, where it was caught, weight and - if you care to share - what type of bait you were using!

By Andrew Cato, ShowMe Times Sports Editor

Summer for the typical high school student is spent teetering on a fine line between relaxation and laziness. Some will get jobs, and some will have camps for their sport in the upcoming school year.

For one incoming DHS junior, his summers are anything but typical. He spends days on the road, traveling from showcase to camp to tournament, and then home for a day or two. He’s been home for one weekend this summer. His name is Chase Young.

Chase is the 16 year old son of Marty and Christine Young. He was an everyday starter for the ‘Cats on the baseball field during his sophomore season, and started several games during his freshman season. He has a career .496 batting average, .573 slugging percentage, .560 on-base percentage, and 17 stolen bases.

Impressed so far?

That’s just one sport - Young is a three-sport athlete for the ‘Cats.

He was a big part of the most successful Bearcat football season in recent memory, and made several crucial plays at wideout during the post-season run. He also led the JV basketball team to a very successful season, and received respectable playing time at the varsity level, but Young still notes baseball as his favorite.

”Baseball is my favorite sport; it’s what I’m best at it,” he said. “I’ve always liked playing basketball, and I’m pretty good at football, but I like baseball the best. I’ve played since I was a little kid.”

“Church, classes, and sports...that’s all he really has time for,” Young’s father, Marty - who was a collegiate athlete at Freed-Hardman and coached at UT Martin - said. The time Young spends in athletics has never impeded his studies - he’s in the top 10 percent of his class with a 3.8 GPA, and has already posted a 26 on the ACT.

If you think that all the time he spends on the road during the summer would eventually begin to wear on him, you’re dead wrong.

“I don’t ever get tired of it,” Young said, smiling. “It’s what I love to do; it’s what I know.”

For the last several summers, Young has been a member of the Rawlings Prospects - Harper, a nationwide club baseball team. So far this summer, the ‘Spects have posted an impressive 37-6 record, most recently competing in the Premier World Series in Lubbock, Texas. Young noted some well-known names - such as Rafel Palmero and Roger Clemens - as fathers of players on an opposing team.

“There were 48 teams there, probably the best 48 teams in the country at this level,” Young recalled. “Most of the teams from Texas, but some were from as far as Wisconsin.”

“We played three full games and then we got seeded - we went 2-1 in that pool. The top 24 teams were sent to the championship bracket, the bottom 24 went to the consolation bracket. We played three more pool games, and then the winner of each pool would go to the final eight. We went 3-0 in the championship pool and were seeded fourth. We beat the D-Bat Mustangs, who beat us in pool play, and came back to win 10-0.”

Young wasn’t the only Bearcat to compete for the Prospects - teammate Jordan Miller is also a member of the team.

“Jordan did well; he won a game for us when he pitched,” Young said of his teammate. “When you play eight games in five days, you go through a lot of pitchers. He stepped in at second some and did well there too; he played really well during the entire tournament.”

Young also had a solid going over at the plate and making several great defensive plays.

The ‘Spects would go on to finish third in the tournament.

“Looking through the alumni lists on some of these teams, it’ll make your head spin,” Marty said. The Mustangs, for example, had 27 players selected in the MLB Draft, and 58 players signed collegiate letters of intent in 2011.

Despite typically finding Chase in a middle-infield position during games for DHS, he plays centerfield for the ‘Spects.

“With his speed, center is a better fit for him at the collegiate level,” Marty said.

Chase definitely has speed - and plenty of it. He’s been clocked at a 4.45 in the 40-yard dash, a 6.8 in the 60, and a 3.75 home to first.

“I like playing centerfield more,” Young said, “it feels more natural to me than second does.”

Young has also been selected to play in the Midwest Future Games, sponsored by Under Armour and the Prep Baseball Report.

“The No. 26 ranked Class of 2013 player, Young recently put himself on the map at Prep Baseball Report’s Top Prospect Showcase in Cape Girardeau. The 5-foot-10, 165-pound utility player ran an event-best 6.83 60, showed off a strong arm (78 mph) from the outfield, and proved to be one of the better overall athletes in attendance. At the plate, the left-handed hitting Young uses a short, level swing to drive the ball gap-to-gap and is an extra-base threat,” Young’s profile on the event’s website said.


The Midwest Future Games will feature the best players from Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, and Missouri.


“This weekend we’re going to the Midwest Futures game in Chicago,” Young said. “The Prep Baseball Report did a showcase that I went to at Notre Dame. Me, Tanner Murphy from Malden and Drew Harper from Sikeston were invited to it. You represent your state and play at Benedictine University. One day we do a showcase and play a few games. The next day we play a few more games and then head home.”

Despite all the accolades and constantly being surrounded by major college scouts - LSU, TCU, Mizzou, Nebraska, Arkansas, Texas, and Baylor, to name a few, all had scouts at Young’s last tournament - Marty has always tried to keep his sons grounded.


“Something that I’ve always instilled Chase and Chandler is our ‘family motto’: play hard, pray hard, work hard, and love your family,” Marty said. “I think that’s taken them a long way, and will continue to. I’ve also tried to instill a sense of humility and ‘coachability’ into them.”


“It’s been kinda hard to be humble with all the attention that I’ve gotten because of showcases,” Young said, “but my Dad has pushed that sense of humility into me since I was a little kid. It’s definitely something that’s a challenge, but I try hard every day to remember it.”

With hard work and keeping with his ‘family motto’, this young man will continue to do great things, not only on the baseball field, but in life. Chase plans to major in pre-medicine when he gets to college, but hopefully he’ll be able to get paid doing what he loves: playing baseball.

By Andrew Cato, ShowMe Times Sports Editor

The schedule for the 2011 Football Jamboree has just been announced!

The jamboree will be held at Charles Bland Stadium at 6:00 p.m. on August 19.


The Bearcats will face the Kennett Indians, NMCC Eagles, and East Prairie Eagles in preseason action - this can be a great ‘scouting’ tool for the ‘Cats, as they face both Kennett and NMCC later in the season during districts.

This wil be the first time Bearcat Nation will be able to see the team since having their best season under head coach Aaron Pixley, and look to returning starters Cody Stephens, Josh Overall, Jake Lee, and Nick Summers to lead the team to another successful season. The 'Cats are also showcasing a revamped offensive line, with seniors Zach Lacy and Theo Gaul anchoring the tackle slots.

The scrimmages will follow the traditional jamboree format, with a coin toss to determine offense or defense and the ball placed at the 40 yd. line. If a team scores, the ball will be placed back at the 40 yd. line. Each team will play 12 plays on offense and defense, respectively. No score will be kept. There will be no kicking game.

Admission will be $1, with a concession stand available on the east end of the field. The Bearcat Booster club will be providing food and drinks for all players and coaches at the conclusion of the evening’s scrimmages.


For more information, contact DHS Athletic Director Chuck Powers at cpowers@dexter.k12.mo.us or 614-1030.

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Make sure to check back with the ShowMe Times for updates on the team's progress during preseason practices, which are set to begin on August 8.

By Mike Buhler, RaidersAthletics.com

Poplar Bluff, Mo. - The future was on display Saturday evening as several area seniors – including several future Lady Raiders – made their way to Three Rivers College for its 2nd Annual Senior All-Star Softball Game.

Both squads – sponsored by Skeeter Kell Sporting Goods and First Missouri State Bank – played a pair of five-inning games. However, Skeeter Kell needed seven innings to defeat First Missouri 4-2 in the opener before First Missouri won the nightcap 4-3.

Three Rivers’ entire 2011 recruiting class, with the exception of Rachel George, participated in the game and as a group, they impressed.

“I’m pretty excited about it,” Three Rivers coach Jack Childress said. “I thought Katelyn Hughey had a pretty good doubleheader. I thought all of them played pretty well. … (Kelsey) Snider had the winning hit off of (New Madrid Country Central standout) Kelly Robey in the first game, which was pretty big. (Cindy) Nippe played well – she had a couple of hits.

“I thought that Chelsea Crain played well,” added Childress. “She had a couple of hits and she pitched the last couple of innings. (Mariah) Randazzo had a nice couple of hits and played a nice third base.”

Another signee who stood out was Oran alumna Abbey Anderson.

“She’s going to give us a little speed,” Childress said. “She hasn’t been playing this summer but she has been practicing.”

Several walk-ons for Three Rivers also participated in the game.

“We had some others who played in it that are walking on,” said Childress. “Alex Green made good contact off of Robey.”

Notes: Snider, Nippe and Crain are from Twin Rivers High School, while Hughey is from Naylor and Randazzo is from East Carter. George hails from Corning, Ark. … Kelly Robey’s sister, Heather, pitched at Three Rivers in 2004 and 2005 and had her No. 9 jersey retired. Kelly Robey has signed with Union University in Jackson, Tenn. 

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For more information on everything regarding Three Rivers College athletics, visit www.raidersathletics.com!