CHESAPEAKE — Laila Wentz doesn’t see herself as a trailblazer, but she did help to clear the path. One of the first to participate in the newly sanctioned Ohio High School Athletic Association sport of girls’ wrestling, the Chesapeake Lady Panthers’ senior has beaten down a path to the college level. Wentz signed a letter-of-intent to wrestle with Wheeling University. She said her decision wasn’t about being the trend-setter but rather maintaining what has already been establ

AID — Holland the country is known for windmills. Holland — the Symmes Valley pitcher is —know for fighting opposing batters. Gradee Holland battled opposing batters like Don Quixote battled the windmills as the Vikings beat the Chesapeake Panthers 6-4 on Friday. Holland scattered 10 hits, struck out 8 and walked just 2 as the Vikings built a 6-1 lead and held on for the win. Chesapeake (11-15) took a 1-0 lead to start the game when Kaden Perkins reached on an error, stole se

SEAMAN — For Saint Joseph, this week might have seemed to take extra longer than usual. After playing 11 innings on Monday, the Flyers capped off the week with another extra inning game and beat the North Adams Green Devils 2-1 in nine innings on Friday. Pitching dominated much of the game for both teams. Barrett Waginger provided another solid pitching performance for the Flyers, going nine innings on the mound and giving up four hits, a walk and striking out six batters. Th

PORTSMOUTH — If you have 6 walks and 6 errors, you’re probably looking at a loss. Well, if you’re the Green Bobcats, you’re looking pretty good. Green used the 3-hit pitching of Jon Knapp to overcome 6 walks and 6 errors to beat the Portsmouth Trojans 12-4 on Wednesday. “It was ugly, but it was a win,” said Green coach Dave Shoupe. “Usually, when you have a game like this it ends up badly for you. But we hit the ball and Jon pitched really well except for the walks.” Knapp st

AID — The Fairland Dragons pushed across a run in the 8th inning to edge the Symmes Valley Vikings 2-1 on Tuesday. The game was a pitching duel between the Dragons’ Josh Gillespie and Nolan Fleming and the Vikings’ Tanner Corn and Gradee Holland. Fleming went the final 2 innings to get the win as he gave up one hit. Gillespie went the first 6 innings and allowed 3 hits, one earned run with 11 strikeouts and 3 walks. Corn went 7 innings striking out 12, walked 2 and he gave u

AID — If this was a tune-up for the postseason tournament, the Symmes Valley Lady Vikings are starting to click. Brenna Tibbs pitched a 2-hitter and the Lady Vikings beat the Lawrence County Lady Bulldogs 4-2 on Tuesday. “Lawrence County is one of the top teams in Eastern Kentucky, so that was a good win,” said Lady Vikings’ coach Jeff “Odie” Estep. “Brenna pitched a great game, we got clutch hitting and we had two errors but for the most part we played good defense.” Tibbs s

SOUTH POINT — If the South Point Lady Pointers went to the doctor on Thursday for a check up, they would have gotten a clean bill of health because everything was well. The pitching was well. The hitting was well. The defense was well. And when you combine all three, well, you get a 14-2 win over the Warren Lady Warriors in the Division 4 district quarterfinals. Kota Copley pitched a two-hitter, struck out seven, walked two and only one run was earned. And, her bat was feelin

ROCKSPRINGS — The Meigs Lady Marauders beat the Fairland Lady Dragons 10-0 in the first round of the Division 5 sectional softball tournament on Wednesday. Meigs (23-2) was led by Natalie Goode who was 3-4 with 4 runs batted in, Bella Roush was 2-3 with 2 RBI, and Brooklyn Roush 2-4 with an RBI. Fairland (3-19) had 4 hits with Yardley Gorby and Raelynn Barker-Chapman each 1-2 while Maddie Cornwell and Aubree Cyrus both 1-3. Brooklyn Roush got the win for Meigs as she struck o

FRANKLIN FURNACE — Overtime must pay well for the Green Bobcats. Green proved working extra with pay dividends as the Bobcats beat the Peebles Indians 7-6 in nine innings on Tuesday. In the bottom of the ninth, Gabe Blevins walked, stole second, took third on a hit by Jon Knapp and scored on a sacrifice fly by Nolan McMackin. Peebles (14-9) took a 2-0 lead in the top of the first inning when Bo Johnson doubled, Crew Wilson walked, and Nash Grooms reached on an error to score

AID — The pitchers were in the spotlight, but Marley Ferguson was in the starring role. Ferguson was instrumental in both runs as the Symmes Valley Vikings edged the South Point Lady Pointers 2-1 on Monday. Ferguson was 2-for-3 including a home run and scored both runs as Symmes Valley improved to 22-3. The Lady Vikings’ Brenna Tibbs pitched a 5-hitter and struck out 13 batters while walking only one. South Point’s Kota Copley gave up just 3 hits as she struck out 6 and walke

IRONTON — For baseball players, the St. Joseph Flyers are pretty good at marathons. The Flyers pushed across a run in the 11th inning as they outlasted the Coal Grove Hornets 3-2 in a non-league game on Monday. St. Joseph (13-6) got the winning run in the 11th with one out when Beckham Waginger singled, stole second, took third on a passed ball and scored on a sacrifice fly by Carson Lyons. The Flyers took a 1-0 lead in the first inning when Mason Weber walked and Beckham Wag

JACKSON — It was a post-conference letdown. After wrapping up a share of the Ohio Valley Conference last week, Ironton traveled to play the Frontier Athletic Conference champion Jackson Ironman on Monday and the Fighting Tigers were not up to championship form in a 6-0 loss. “Jackson has a good team but we did not execute very well,” said Ironton coach John Hunt. “We were tentative in our approach in hitting, pitching and defensively which led to walks and called third strike

FORT GAY, WVa. — It wasn't perfect but it certainly was as close as you could get. Freshman pitcher Barrett Waginger retired his first 13 batters in a row and wound up facing 18 total as he helped the Saint Joseph Flyers rout the Tolsia Rebels 11-1 on Friday night. "Barrett did an excellent job for us again," said Flyers coach Nick Medinger. "It was also good to see us not have a letdown after the Notre Dame game and come out hitting early." The Flyers improved their record t

FLATWOODS, Ky. — After some early scoring, both pitching staffs' for Russell and Fairland settled in and turned the game into a pitchers' duel, with the Red Devils hanging on to edge past the Dragons 3-2 on Friday night. Russell used a trio of pitchers in the game, with Jayden Frasure picking up the win in 3 innings of work. Frasure gave up 5 hits, 2 runs, struck out 3 and walked a pair. Hayden McGowan and Caleb Groves both threw 2 innings apiece and combined for 4 scoreless

IRONTON — After falling behind 3-0, the Saint Joseph Flyers rolled off eight unanswered runs to beat the Notre Dame Titans 8-3 to close out Southern Ohio Conference play on Thursday evening. "Our guys responded tremendously after going down 3-0," said Flyers coach Nick Medinger. "Evan (Aldridge) survived that first inning and gave us a great 6 innings to close it out." The Flyers improved their record to 11-6 on the season and finished 4-4 in SOC play. The Titans fell to 11-1

CHESAPEAKE — This was Fairland vs. Chesapeake and it was a battle. What else would you expect? The Fairland Lady Dragons picked up their first Ohio Valley Conference win of the season as they outscored the rival Chesapeake Lady Panthers 12-9 on Thursday. Fairland (3-18, 1-13) took a 2-0 lead in the top of the first inning. Maddie Cornwell was hit by a pitch, stole second and scored on a hit by Aubrey Hayes. After Hayes stole second she came home on a hit by Aubree Cyrus. Ches

IRONTON — This one was about pride. Ohio Valley Conference co-champion Ironton beat Southern Ohio Conference-1 champion Green 7-4 on Thursday. The Bobcats split with the OVC title teams. They beat Portsmouth earlier in the season 1-0. Ironton (14-4) fell behind 4-2 before rallying for the win. Carson Freeman went the distance for the win. He struck out 5, did not issue a walk, and 76 of his 110 pitches went for strikes. Hampered by his team making 6 errors, Gabe Blevins got t

SOUTH POINT — Portsmouth was quick to start but South Point was even quicker to answer. The Lady Trojans took a 3-0 lead in the top of the first inning only to have the Lady Pointers score 5 runs in the bottom of the inning to propel them to an 8-3 Ohio Valley Conference win on Thursday. South Point (18-7, 11-3) had 8 hits with Kaylee Stidham going 2-3 with a double and an RBI and Adyson Copley was 2-4 with a double to lead the offense. Adding to the South Point offense were

PEDRO — The Ironton Fighting Tigers are hoping to make this a habit. Behind the four-hit pitching of Dawson Philyaw, Ironton blanked the Rock Hill Redmen 8-0 on Wednesday to earn a share of the Ohio Valley Conference baseball title. The Fighting Tigers won the conference outright last season. “One of our goals was to win the league and we accomplished that. The kids worked hard all year and they did a great job,” said Ironton coach John Hunt. “We tied for the title with Ports

SOUTH POINT — After suffering a heartbreaking loss on Monday, it was uncertain what kind of recovery time the South Point Lady Pointers would need. Looks like less than 24 hours. After a 6-5 loss on Monday at Ironton, the Lady Pointers bounced back quickly with a 10-0 Ohio Valley Conference run rule win over the Chesapeake Lady Panthers on Tuesday. South Point (16-7, 9-3) collected 13 hits and Kota Copley pitched a 3-hitter in the win. Copley struck out 8 and walked