Written by

Dee Loflin SMT Manager/Writer

Dexter, Missouri - With the Lady 'Cats Basketball season completed, the final trophies were awarded to the Dexter Senior High School Winter Sports Athletes.

The Winter Sports Banquet was held prior to the Lady 'Cats traveling to Columbia for the ShowMe Showdown and therefore not all of the awards were presented.

Mrs. Nancy Vines, High School English/Journalism Teacher, took this photo in the gym last week of the students and their awards.

The Outstanding Winter Athletes included:

Trevor Waldner:  Most Aggressive Wrestler and Most Valuable Wrestler

D.J. Dowdy: Boys Basketball Free Throw Award

Brittany Harris: Girls Basketball MVP and Girls Basketball Rebound Award

Jordan Miller:  Boys Basketball Defense Award

Hannah Noe:  Girls Basketball Defense Award and Girls Basketball Free Throw Award

Brad Potts:  Boys Basketball Rebound Award

Cameron Craft:  Most Improved Wrestler Award

Congratulations to all of the Winter Sports students as they had a great season!

More photos can be seen on our showmetimes Facebook page: 2013 DHS Winter Sports Banquet photo album.

Dexter, Missouri - The TS Hill Middle School 7th and 8th Grade Baseball Team will be in action today, Tuesday, April 2, 2013 at 4:00 p.m.

The schedule was to play Kennett; however a last minute change was made and they will be battling it out against Greenville this afternoon.

Tomorrow afternoon, the Middle School 'Cats will be playing at Campbell, Missouri.  Game time is 4:30 p.m.  They will be back on the mound at home on April 11th when they play the Bernie Mules.  Home games begin at 4 pm and are played at the ball field across from Keller Public Library.

Don't forget the Dexter Invitational will be played on Saturday, April 13th and should be a great day of baseball.


Student Managers are Bradley Freeman and Jacob Kidd.

Playing for the Bearcats are:


James Sneed and Kurt Lovelady are the coaches for the Middle School Baseball Team and look forward to seeing you there to cheer for the Bearcats!  They are having a pretty good season so far, recently beating East Prairie Eagles at home.  Let's Go Bearcat Nation and support them as they take to the mound at 4 pm TODAY!

You can see more photos of the Bearcats vs EP Eagles game on our Facebook page.

Cape Girardeau, Missouri - The Dexter Bearcats were in action over Easter weekend as they traveled to Cape Girardeau for a dual, facing both the Cape Central Tigers and the St. Genevieve Dragons.  The Bearcat split the contest by defeating Cape by a score of 4 to 1 and losing to St. Gen 15 to 5.

DEXTER VS CAPE:

The Bearcats have been searching for good weather to begin their Spring season and they had a nice day for baseball.  Brad Potts was slated on the mound to lead off the game for the Bearcats.  The coaching staff was confident they could compete against a very solid Cape Central team coached by Central's Coach Steve Williams. 

The Tigers jumped out to a 1 to 0 lead in the first inning with a hitting streak by the Tigers.  Ramsey Scott and Chase Eubank hit back to back singles with two outs in the inning followed by a double from right fielder Matt Chism.  Brad Potts came back with a strikeout to end the inning with the Tigers leading 1 to 0. 

"Brad Potts threw an outstanding game against Cape," commented Head Coach Brian Becker.  "He allowed a run in the first, but after that he settled in and did a great job of shutting down a very good Cape Central team."

Offensively, the Bearcats were able to get some action going in the second inning as Colten Averett was able to drive in Jason Mattison to tie the score. 

Logan "Perry" Northern lead off the top of the third inning for the Bearcats with a walk and was able to steal second base.  He was sacrificed in to take the lead on a long fly ball by Nick Noble.  The Bearcats were able to stretch the lead with a double by Bearcat's Jordan Miller that was backed up by a single over the right side by Potts, making the score 3 to 1.

Austin Aldridge was able to get on base in the 4th inning with a single.  Logan "Perry" Northern quickly came up and rocketed the second pitch for a double, driving home Aldridge to round out the scoring in the game.

DEXTER VS ST. GENEVIEVE:

The Bearcats were not as fortunate in the second game against the St. Genevieve Dragons dropping the contest by a score of 15 to 5, however, the score may not be a good reflection of the game.

Neither team was able to generate any runs in the first inning of the game.  Despite the bases loaded first inning for the Dragons, Jordan Miller was able to deliver a key strikeout pitch against St. Gen's third baseman Lusk, to end the inning. 

The 'Cats were three up and three down in the second, which is when it all began to break loose for St. Genevieve offensively.  The Dragons posted five runs in the inning, assisted by back to back doubles in the lineup. 

Logan Northern used his steady watchful eye again in the third and was able to reach base on a walk.  Nick Noble's single for the 'Cats drove him in to make the score 5 to 1 at the end of three.  The Dragons picked up another run in the fourth inning.

The fifth inning appeared to be that perfect inning for the 'Cats, as Northern was able to get started with a walk.  With a driving double by senior Jordan Miller, Dexter was able to narrow the margin to only 1 going into the last inning. 

"We got down early but did a good job of battling back," commented Becker.  "We had the tying run on second base with no one out in the top of the sixth but couldn't push that run across."

The Dragons matched the 'Cats strong comeback with a little offense of their own in the sixth inning, scoring an additional nine runs to gain the win 15 to 5.

"Ste Gen seized the momentum and the wheels just fell off for us in the bottom of the sixth," said Coach Becker.

The Dexter Baseball Team will be back in action at home on Thursday, April 4th.  Hopefully the weather will cooperate and a great game will be played!

East Prairie, Missouri -  The cold winter weather has limited the Bearcat Baseball program from getting a lot of outdoor action so far this 2013 High School season.  With their season opener against Doniphan postponed due to weather on March 18th, the 'Cat's were able to get this fourth schedule game in this week and even their record to 2 and 2 with a win over the East Prairie Eagles by a score of 17-0. 

With Monday's contest against West Plains cancelled in Dexter due to weather, neither school was able to find an open date allowing them to reschedule the game.  Quick action by the coaching staff arranged Wednesday's opportunity to pick up the extra game with East Prairie. 

"With the way the weather has been this spring, it was just good to get the kids out on the field to face live pitching and throwing against hitters in a competitive situation," commented Head Coach Brian Becker.

The game got a slow start with three up and three down in the first inning.  A lead off walk and two stolen bases by Bearcat's Brad Potts gave the 'Cats their first opportunity to score in the top of the second.  Potts was driven in for the run by a sharp hit fielders choice by Colten Averett. 

The Bearcats were able to post two runs in both the third and fourth innings as they took advantage of walks.  Leading off in the third, Logan "Perry" Northern was hit by a pitch and a walk was issued to Jason Mattison in the third. 

"We took advantage of some walks and some timely hits," commented Coach Pixley.   


"Typically if you score 17 runs you have a few more hits than nine," noted Coach Pixley.  "At the same time we were doing a pretty decent job at the plate not swinging at bad pitches and taking our walks so that is kinda how it blew up.   We had some timely hits."

Miller, Dowdy, and Aldridge all added base hit singles in the sixth inning while Brad Potts continued his smooth swing adding another double.  The Bearcats were able to finalize the game scoring 8 runs in the 6th making the final score 17 to 0 in favor of Dexter.

The Bearcat win on Wednesday moved their record to 2 and 2 for the 2013 season.  With the season opener against Doniphan rescheduled for April 17th, the 'Cats have only been able to play three other games thus far.

The 'Cats suffered a loss against the Malden Greenwaves in the previous week by a score of 6 - 2.  Dexter traveled to Oran last weekend to take on Oran and St. Genevieve Valle.   The Bearcats took Oran into extra innings but lost the game 3 to 2. 

The Bearcats did get their first win in Oran as they battled it out with St. Genevieve Valle.   The Warrior are known to have a very good baseball program having represented District 4 Class 2 A in the MSHSAA State playoffs the past several years.  The Bearcats were able to defeat the Warriors 1 to 0. 

"We are playing a lot of young guys," noted Pixley.  "Prior to our first game, we had only been on our field once.   It's just taking us a little longer to get our bats going."

"We hit a little better against East Prairie," noted Coach Pixley.  "We just need to get outside and practice."

The Bearcats Head Coach Brian Becker knows his program as he enters his 23rd year coaching at Dexter.  Coach Becker spent nine years as an assistant to long time baseball coach A. J. Nugent before taking over as head coach in 2000.   Coach Becker has been assisted by Coach Aaron Pixley all 13-years.  This season, the coaches have gained some extra help with the addition of Coach Wade Boyer and Coach Drew Pixley.

If you get a chance to catch the Bearcats at a home game, be sure to come out and support their efforts this season.  Both the varsity and junior varisty will be playing Thursday, April 4th at home against Scott City.  Game time is 4:00 p.m.

Bloomfield, Missouri - The Bloomfield Wildcats Varsity Baseball team finally were able to get their season underway this past Thursday with a huge win over Saxony Lutheran by a score of 13-0.  Head Coach Jason Karnes was pleased to finally get past the recent cold, wet weather to get the 2013 Spring season started.  Bloomfield's home opener against Greenville was cancelled on March 18th.

The Wildcats performed well overall as they traveled to Jackson.  Pitching is always a key to a successful season and the Bloomfield pitching staff was able to record ten strikeouts and only allowing three hits on the afternoon.  Both Tim Fox and Travis Phillips were strong from the mound holding Saxony to .158 average and only two hits for the day.

As the game unfolded in the first inning, it appeared that it was going to be quite a contest between the two teams.  With their first at-bat, Bloomfield was three up and three down.  The Wildcats were unable to find a hole in the Saxony Lutheran fielders. 

In hopes of taking advantage of a good defensive inning, Saxony came out red hot.  With runners on first and third base, a critical strike out by Tim Fox closed out the inning 0 to 0.

Bloomfield was able to take advantage of walks to put two runs on the scoreboard in the second inning.  A Kyle Causey double in the third gave the Wildcats a chance to to open up their lead, but was cut short leaving two stranded on base. 

The Wildcats continued to play good defense and held Saxony scoreless going into the fourth inning.  That is when they broke out at the plate pounding the Knight's pitchers, scoring 5 runs in both the fourth and fifth innings. 

Kyle Causey delivered at the plate going 2 for 2 on the day posting a single and a double, while scoring 4 runs.  Noah Vandiver was 3 for 4 with two doubles, Tim Fox was 2 for 3 with a double and Travis Phillips went .500 on the day (2-4) with one double.

Weather permitting, the Wildcats will be in action against Kelly High School on Saturday, April 6th at Bloomfield High school.  Wildcat fans are encouraged to come out to support the varsity baseball team.

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