By Andrew Cato, ShowMe Times Sports Editor

CAPE GIRARDEAU - Early errors cost the Dexter Bearcats in an extra-innings contest against Class 3, District 1 foe Ste. Genevive on Saturday afternoon.

Three errors in the first three innings allowed the Dragons to take a 2-0 lead early in the game; the 'Cats uncharacteristically committed five errors in the contest. Starting pitcher Owen Flowers went the distance for the Bearcats, throwing 94 pitches in eight innings of work.

"Their pitchers did a good job against us, but on the flip side I thought Owen Flowers threw a heck of a game," head coach Brian Becker said. "He deserved a better fate than what he got; we had five errors, and that cost us."

"We've been fielding the ball well all year long, but today with the different surface we were on, I don't know if that was the difference or if it was just one of those days," he continued. "We'll be all right; I know we're a much better defensive team than what we showed today."

Despite their early struggles on the grass infield, the Bearcats worked out the kinks and turned three double plays in the last five innings of play.

"We struggled defensively early, and that spelled trouble for us in the early innings," Becker noted. "I thought after we regrouped, we played some really solid defense, but you have to give Ste. Gen. credit; they're a really good ball club and they played a good game today."

The Bearcats were held scoreless until the top of the fifth inning; after a leadoff single by Josh Overall and a hit-by-pitch to Cody Neldon, Daniel Fitts smacked a line drive into left-center to drive in Overall and advance Neldon to third. Neldon crossed home plate midway through Brad Potts' at-bat on a wild pitch to tie the game at 2-all.

The Dragons were three up, three down in the bottom of the fifth thanks to Flowers' outstanding command of his two-seam fastball; both teams were retired with three batters in the sixth, and the 'Cats were short-lived in the top of the seventh, where they faced lefty reliever Derek Brown.

The Dragons were unable to score in the bottom of the seventh, forcing extra innings. Fitts and Potts both recorded outs, and Chase Young took a pitch to the head to reach first base. First baseman Alex Cliff stepped to the plate and forced a 2-2 count, but ultimately popped out to third to end the inning.

Al Gunter led off for the Dragons in the bottom of the eighth, and hit a hard shot to left field for a single. Tyler Greminger stepped to the plate and worked into a full count before firing a deep line drive to left-center to plate the game winning run and seal a 3-2 victory.

Fitts had a solid effort at the plate after being moved into the leadoff slot; the senior only recorded one hit in four at-bats, but made great contact on the ball all day long.

"He's down on himself because he only had one hit," Becker said of his left fielder, "but he knocked the cover off the ball all day long. That's the way it is in baseball; you can hit rocket shots and them be right at somebody, and the next time up, you'll hit a 45-foot dribbler and wind up on first base. I moved him into the leadoff spot today, and he did a good job for me."

The Bearcats stand at 4-2 (1-2 in District play) on the season after the tough loss, and will be back in action on Monday (April 2) afternoon when they host Campbell. Logan Northern (1-0) is expected to be the starter in the 4:00 p.m. contest.

Photos Above:
Top: Owen Flowers pitched a complete game in Saturday afternoon's 3-2, extra-innings loss. The senior struck out one batter in the 94 pitch outing.
Bottom: Josh Overall lays down the tag and fires the ball to first base to complete a 6-4-3 double play in the fourth inning. Overall was 1-3 at the plate with one run in the loss.

By Andrew Cato, ShowMe Times Sports Editor

The first annual 'Swing Pink' softball tournament kicked off on Saturday morning with perfect weather and plenty of fans in the stands to cheer on all eight teams.

The Lady Bearcats opened the day against the East Prairie Lady Eagles; despite sloppy fielding - the Lady 'Cats committed six errors in the game - trailing the Eagles 10-4 heading into the bottom of the fifth, and playing the last two innings with just eight players on the field, the Lady Bearcats were able to put together a wild finish in the come-from-behind, 13-12 victory.

Catcher Whitney Layton was forced to leave the game in the top of the fifth inning with concussion-like symptoms, but the Lady 'Cats didn't have any reserve players on the bench. The Bearcats were able to play with eight ladies on the field, but had to take an automatic out when Layton's spot in the batting order came up.

With two on, two outs, and a 3-1 count, Diana Gilliam - the #9 batter in the lineup, and the Lady Bearcats' last chance to take the lead - stepped into the batters box and waited for a pitch. The next pitch sailed over the catchers head, and Madison Christian stole home on the wild pitch to give the Lady 'Cats a 13-12 victory.

"I don't even know how you'd describe it," head coach Leonard Morse said of the whacky finish. "We had an automatic out looming right behind it, and I gave the wrong signal to her a couple times. Our girls wanted it; they came back from being way down, with all the odds stacked against them after losing Whitney to that injury. I've never see anything like it. It shows that our girls have it if they want it, and they wanted it."



The next contest pitted the Lady Bearcats against the formidable Neelyville Lady Tigers. Due to Layton's injury, the Lady 'Cats had to do some shifting in the field; Kendra Stevenson went to catcher, while Becky Anderson, who was ineligible in the first game, came in to pitch.

The Lady 'Cats were held scoreless until the fourth inning; Stevenson hit a leadoff single, and was able to steal second and third bases. Emily Triplett's single down the third base line drove in Stevenson, but the 'Cats trailed 5-1 heading into the fifth inning.

The Tigers took the field with hot bats in the top of the fifth inning; Jessica Crosby grounded out to second to lead off the inning, followed by a hot shot to left-center from Kenna Shepherd for a single. The Tigers put together a six run rally in the fifth to take a commanding 11-1 lead. The Lady Bearcats were only able to put one run on the board in the bottom half of the fifth, before the Tigers strung together another five run rally in the sixth to seal the final score at 16-2.



The Lady 'Cats moved into the Third Place contest with the loss, where the met the Zalma Lady Bulldogs. Zalma had posted a win over Arcadia Valley and a loss to East Carter County on the day.

Anderson again took to the mound for the Lady 'Cats, and recorded nine K's in the contest.

Dexter trailed 4-1 heading into the fourth inning; Celina Skaggs smacked an RBI double in the top of the fourth to give the Bulldogs a 5-1 lead, but , three straight doubles from Stevenson, Triplett, and Riley Rickman allowed the 'Cats to tally three runs in the inning and tie the game at 5-5.

Trista Clark was able to score on an error to give the Bulldogs a 6-5 lead heading into the bottom of the seventh inning. Ashley Brown led the 'Cats off with a single, but was able to advance to third after an error on Zalma's first basemen. Taylor Owens stepped to the plate, and delivered a single down the first base line, but was able to cross home plate thanks to three errors on the play, ending the game with a 7-6 final score.



After the 2-1 effort in the tournament, the Lady Bearcats stand at 3-3 on the season. The Lady Bearcats will be off until Tuesday, when they host Malden in a 4:30 p.m. contest.

All proceeds from the first annual Swing Pink tournament went to the Ben Kruse 18 FORE Life Foundation, a local organization dedicated to helping the families of individuals who are battling cancer.

By Andrew Cato, ShowMe Times Sports Editor

SIKESTON - The DHS Tennis team was able to put together its first winning effort of the 2012 season on Thursday afternoon against the Sikeston Bulldogs. The Bearcats, who had fallen in the season opener against Poplar Bluff and a match on Tuesday with Notre Dame, swept the day with a 9-0 Varsity win and a 6-2 JV victory.

Andrew Mason and Jacob Robinson - Dexter's #4 and #6 players, respectively - were the only Bearcats who gave up more than two points in their singles matches. Mason downed Layton Jones in an 8-3 contest, while Robinson, in the closes Varsity match of the day, found himself on top of an 8-5 decision over sophomore Wade Gadberry.

In JV action, freshman Noah Kronk picked up a 6-0 victory over Christian Rehder in singles, while Brooks Propst dropped a thrilling 5-7 tie break match to Rehder.

In JV doubles, Kronk and Dalton Putnam picked up a 6-0 victory over Giovanni Walker and Rehder.

The Bearcats are off until Thursday (Apr. 5), when they travel to Poplar Bluff to take on the Mules. PBHS took home a 5-4 victory over the Bearcats in the season opener at Dexter; Thursday's rematch is scheduled for a 4:00 p.m. start, weather permitting.

By Andrew Cato, ShowMe Times Sports Editor

BERNIE - The Lady Bearcats had an explosive day at the plate on Wednesday afternoon when they hit the road to take on the Bernie Mules.

It was a welcome change for Dexter, as the Lady Bearcats struggled at the plate in their first two games of the season (a 13-4 loss against Clearwater, followed by a 17-3, run-rule loss to Kennett), but big offensive production in the third, fourth, and fifth innings propelled the Lady 'Cats to a 15-5 win.

Ashley Brown and Kendra Stevenson both plated runs for the Lady 'Cats in the first inning; after already scoring one run in the third, Riley Rickman blasted a two RBI double to increase Dexter's lead to 5-2.

The scoring rally continued in the fourth inning, with the Lady 'Cats plating three runs, but the Mules responded with three runs of their own to bring the score to 8-5 heading into the fifth inning. Becky Anderson, who pitched in the contest, led off with a double and was later driven in by Taylor Owens to start the rally. A two RBI single from Emily Triplett plated the Lady 'Cats seventh run of the inning, and sealed the final score at 15-5 in Dexter's favor.

The Lady Mules struggled in the field throughout, committing a whopping 15 errors in the contest. Coach Brad Botsch noted this as a big area the team needs to improve on.

"At this point, we really just need to get better at catching and throwing the ball. We are trying to learn the fundamentals of the game and hopefully we will improve," Botsch said. "It's frustrating right now, but we aren't going to stop trying or pushing them to make improvements. They must learn how to compete."

The Lady Bearcats, now 1-2 on the season, will be in action again on Saturday in the first annual 'Swing Pink' tournament. The tournament is in the vein of the volleyball team's 'Dig Pink' contest last season, and the middle school squad's 'Hits for Hope' game earlier in the year; all proceeds raised at the tournament will go to the benefit of the Ben Kruse 18 FORE Life foundation.

All teams participating in the all-day tournament will be guaranteed three games, with contests at 10 a.m., 1 p.m., and 4 p.m.

Photo Above:
Becky Anderson fires a pitch during Monday's loss to the Clearwater Lady Tigers. Anderson's record stands at 1-1 after Wednesday's big win at Bernie, where she struck out two batters (Submitted photo by Kay Stevenson).

By Andrew Cato, ShowMe Times Sports Editor

An explosive nine run first inning, coupled with near-flawless pitching, was enough to propel the Dexter Bearcats (4-1) to a 13-1 victory over the Kelly Hawks on Wednesday afternoon.

Brad Potts took to the mound for the 'Cats, and hurled three perfect innings to open up a massive early lead for the Bearcats. Potts was good for seven strikeouts in his 64 pitch outing.

"I thought Brad Potts threw a great game today," Dexter head coach Brian Becker said. "He had command of every pitch, and he hit his spots really well today. We got up early, and Potts went out there and took us the rest of the way, and he did a great job."

Kelly started a side-arm pitcher, and Becker noted that despite pre-game concern about the unorthodox throwing mechanics, his squad did an outstanding job producing at the plate.

"When we saw him warming up, I thought, 'Oh boy,'" Becker said with a laugh. "We told them to keep their front side on, and to make sure they tried to work up the middle to the opposite field, and I thought they did a very good job of that."

Cody Neldon was hit by a pitch in his first at-bat, advanced to second on a stolen base, and was moved to third on a Brad Potts single. Chase Young hit a hard shot to right-center to drive in Neldon and open up the floodgates during the first inning. After 14 batters and nine runs, the Hawks were able to move into the second inning, but Potts sat down the first three batters he faced.

"We busted it open there in the first; [Kelly] had a little trouble fielding the ball, but we also put the bat on the ball pretty well," Becker said. "We were able to put nine runs up there in the first, and Potts goes out and throws nine pitches in the first inning, that's a coaches dream right there."

The 'Cats played great defense throughout the contest, committing just one error opposed to Kelly's six. Josh Overall and Jordan Miller swapped their usual positions, with Overall at third and Miller at second, but showed their versatility with great efforts in the field.

"We played great defense today. Josh Overall did a great job at third today and made some outstanding plays," Becker noted. "[Chase] Young did a good job at short, and made the routine plays as well. I've been really satisfied with our defense so far this year, and hopefully we can keep that up."

The Bearcats will be off until Saturday afternoon, when they face off against Ste. Genevive in a 'meet me in the middle' game played at Cape Central High School.

"I'm not sure [about them]," Becker said of the Dragons. "What i do know is that they always put a quality product out on the field every year. I think it will be a pretty good battle."

Becker indicated that either Logan Northern (1-0) or Owen Flowers would get the start for the Bearcats.

Photos above:
Top: Brad Potts delivers a pitch during Wednesday's 13-1 rout of the Kelly Hawks. The junior gave up one earned run on two hits, struck out seven and walked one on the day.
Bottom: Josh Overall watches a fly ball go foul during the fifth inning on Wednesday's big win. The senior walked once and scored a run in the run-rule victory.