By Dave Krider
MaxPreps.com
Andover Central (Kan.) junior softball pitcher Nikki Armagost recorded a remarkable 33 strikeouts, but still suffered a heartbreaking 3-2 loss to Clearwater in a 21-inning marathon. Sophomore Sam Cargile slammed the decisive home run in a game dominated by great defensive play on both sides.
Armagost struck out 14 as Andover Central won the first game of the doubleheader, 7-0. Carson Wohler took the loss in that game, but she went the distance to win the 21-inning nightcap.
Softball Notes
* The Lyndon (Lyndon Center, Vt.) Vikings rallied to nip Randolph, 5-4, in 10 innings as they stretched their winning streak to 61 games. Alyssa Davis singled up the middle to drive in the winning run and keep the streak alive.
* Newhall Hart (22-4) defeated Thousand Oaks, 3-1, to win the prestigious two-week Thousand Oaks Tournament. Thousand Oaks had ended Oak Park’s 10-game winning streak, 1-0, in the semifinals.
* Oak Park had to play without its ace pitcher, junior Julia Rice, who was sidelined with a shoulder injury. The previous week Rice struck out 28 and scattered four hits while shutting out Camarillo, 3-0, and Santa Maria Righetti, 4-0. Rice, who has a 14-0 record, fanned eight straight batters as she halted Camarillo’s 13-game winning streak.
* Turning to Alabama, Columbiana Cornerstone Christian blanked Ashford Academy, 10-0, to win the Class A state championship. Chelsey Dunnaway was deprived of her 16th no-hitter by a bad-hop single with two outs in the last inning. She beat Ashford, 2-0, on a no-hitter earlier and finished the day with 28 strikeouts. It was no surprise, of course, that she was named the tournament’s most outstanding player.
* Coaching milestones: Pete Fick became the first New Jersey coach to collect 600 victories (600-212-1) when Flemington Hunterdon Central blanked Hillsborough, 2-0. His team won the Group IV state title in 1999…In California, Dan Berry notched his 500th victory (500-101) as La Crescenta Crescenta Valley routed Pasadena Muir, 23-1, in five innings. Caitlyn Cox led the onslaught with five hits.
Track Notes
* Miami Southridge senior Brandon O’Connor, who has signed with Florida State, won the 200-meter dash in a national spring-best (wind-legal) 20.82 seconds while placing first in Florida’s Class 4A state meet. Southridge senior Brian Knight and Carol City sophomore Antron Jackson both high jumped 7-feet, but Knight won on fewer misses.
* In Florida’s Class 3A meet, Fort Lauderdale St. Thomas Aquinas senior Riley Eagan set a state record by pole vaulting 16-7. Groveland South Lake senior Jeff Demps beat an outstanding field to win the 100-meter dash in 10.4…In Class 2A Pace junior Derrick Hopkins ran the 200-meter preliminary race in 20.97…In Class A, Port St. Joe senior Kayla Parker won four events: long jump, 100-meter hurdles, 100- and 200-meter dashes.
* Turning to Georgia, Chamblee senior Emily Reese closed out her brilliant career by winning the Class AAA 1,600- and 3,200-meter runs for the fourth straight year. The Harvard signee also won the state cross country crown four straight years. Meet director Johnny Seabrooks appropriately presented her one dozen roses for each of her state titles…In Class AAAAA, Newnan junior star Chalonda Goodman won the 100-meter dash in an all-class, state-record time of 11.45 seconds. The previous record of 11.5 had stood since 1986. She also won the 200-meter dash in 23.69 – just .06 off the state record.
* At Oklahoma’s Class 4A state meet, Oklahoma City Northeast star Takoya Simpkins left her mark by winning the 100- and 200-meter dashes and running on two state-champion relays. UCLA coaches apparently thought she was a senior and were ready to sign her up. Sorry, Bruins, she’s just a freshman!...In Alabama, Daphne’s Kyle Smith demolished the state javelin record with a toss of 223-8 in the Class 6A meet. He shattered the state mark by almost 35 feet and set a national season-best by three feet.
* Kayla Blood of Buckeye set two state records during the Class 3A competition during the Louisiana finals by winning the 100-meter hurdles in 13.75 and the 300-meter hurdles in 43.08…In the Class 4A meet, Rachel Laurent of Vanderbilt Catholic broke the girls state pole vault record with a 13-6 effort…It’s becoming almost routine, but Morristown (N.J.) sensation Nick Vena broke his own national freshman shot put record again with a heave of 67-10 ¼ during the Morris County Relay Championships.
* Switching to South Dakota, Rapid City Central’s Jasmyne King set two state records during the Black Hills Track Classic in Sturgis. She won the 100-meter dash in 11.6 seconds and the 400-meter dash in 55.2 seconds…In California, San Luis Obispo Mission Prep junior superstar Jordan Hasay won the 1500-meter run in an outstanding 4;17.46 during the Payton Jordan meet at Stanford University.
* Salt Lake City Judge Memorial senior Luke Puskedra won the 3,200-meter run in a Utah state-record 8:56.71 at the Brigham Young Invitational in Provo. Senior twins Natalie and Nachelle Stewart of Spanish Fork also left their marks. Natalie won the 400-meter dash in a national spring-best 53.39, while Nachelle won the 800-meter run in 2:08.48, which is No. 3 nationally this spring.
Basketball Notes
* Because of coaching changes at the collegiate level, several seniors have signed with different schools this spring. For example, high-scoring guard Brad Tinsley has switched from Pepperdine to Vanderbilt. The 6-foot-3 Oregon City senior is the No. 5 scorer in Oregon history with 2,330 points…Tyshawn Taylor, a 6-3 guard who helped St. Anthony (Jersey City, N.J.) to a national championship, has passed on Marquette in favor of national champion Kansas.
* Duke benefited from a coaching change at Stanford as 6-10 Miles Plumlee chose to eventually re-team with his younger brother, Mason, who made an earlier commitment to the Blue Devils. Plumlee averaged 15.8 points and 6.9 rebounds at Christ School in Arden, N.C…Frank Ben-Eze has passed on Harvard to enroll at Davidson. The 6-10, 230-pounder starred at Bishop O’Connell in Arlington, Va.
* Berkmar (Lilburn, Ga.) star Wesley Witherspoon surveyed the landscape for a long time before finally deciding that NCAA runner-up Memphis was the place to go. The 6-8 small forward averaged 18.6 points and 9.8 rebounds as a senior…St. John’s landed 6-5 point guard Quincy Roberts, who averaged 18.5 points, 6.5 rebounds and 5.0 assists at Harrisburg, Pa…Another point guard, 6-1 Paul McCoy of Grant (Portland, Ore.), has chosen Southern Methodist. He averaged 16 points while leading Grant to a state title and also was an All-State football player.
* Unheralded Serbian Luka Mirkovic has signed with Northwestern University. The 6-11 LaLumiere (LaPorte, Ind.) center averaged 25 points and 15 rebounds as a senior….East Tennessee State signee Seth McCoy is another “sleeper” whose best years are ahead of him. The 6-11 senior averaged 13.6 points, 9.6 rebounds and shot .665 from the field while helping Washington win Indiana’s Class 3A state title. He also set a school record by grabbing 26 rebounds in one game…Campolindo (Moraga, Calif.) standout Jack Trotter turned down several scholarship offers to be a recruited walk-on at Stanford. The 6-9 senior averaged 24.1 points – with a high of 41 – 13.8 rebounds and blocked 124 shots.
* Underclassmen also continue to make commitments. Keith (Tiny) Gallon, a 6-9 junior at Oak Hill Academy (Mouth of Wilson, Va.) has committed to Louisiana State…Another junior, 6-8 Donnovan Kirk of Detroit Country Day (Beverly Hills, Mich.), has pledged to Miami (Fla..
* And now for the sophomores. Royce Woolridge has made a commitment to Kansas. The son of former NBA player Orlando Woolridge, the 6-2 guard averaged 16 points for Sunnyslope (Phoenix, Ariz.)…Kentucky has received a commitment from 6-9 Dominique Ferguson, who used his 7-foot-5 wingspan to average 12 points and eight rebounds for Lawrence North (Indianapolis, Ind.)…A big man with great potential, 6-11, 250-pound Evan Anderson of North (Eau Claire, Wis.), has made a commitment to the University of Wisconsin.
* One of Wisconsin’s finest coaches, Tom Diener, has resigned at Milwaukee Vincent. In 15 years, the 50-year-old Diener compiled a 313-60 record with five state championships and two runner-up finishes. He’s looking for a new challenge. Athletic directors, take note… Dave Porter, who won 595 games during his 39-year career, has retired as coach at Lafayette in Wildwood, Mo….Calvin Johnson has resigned after 30 years as coach at Cleveland in Seattle, Wash. Without explanation, the administration has decreed that all coaching jobs are open.
* Due to a new rule, which will be effective for the 2008-09 season, rebounders on free throw attempts will be positioned along the foul line three feet farther from the basket during high school games. It is hoped that this will reduce rough play and fouls while rebounding missed free throws.
Football Notes
* Elite safety Craig Loston has made a commitment to Clemson. The 6-2, 193-pounder made 65 tackles and three interceptions as a junior for Eisenhower in Aldine, Texas…Ohio State has received a commitment from 6-1, 240-pound linebacker-fullback Zach Boren, who made 182 tackles and three interceptions as a junior for North in Pickerington, Ohio…Versatile quarterback Shavodrick Beaver, who passed for 2,545 yards and ran for over 400 yards as a junior at Rider (Wichita Falls, Texas), has made a commitment to the University of Michigan.
* South Dade (Miami, Fla.) junior defensive end Ed Stinson has chosen Florida State because he will be allowed to play football and basketball. The 6-5, 234-pounder made 60 tackles and 15 sacks in his first season of football. In basketball he averaged 17 points and 15 rebounds…Alabama’s No. 1 junior quarterback, A.J. McCarron, has chosen the University of Alabama. The 6-4, 189-pounder threw for 54 touchdowns over the last two years and was intercepted just six times while starring for Mobile St. Paul’s Episcopal.
* West Virginia’s No. 1 junior offensive lineman, Cole Bowers (6-5, 288) of Ona Cabell Midland, has chosen the University of West Virginia…Penn State has received a commitment from offensive tackle Mark Arcidiacono (6-4, 289) of St. Joseph’s Prep (Philadelphia, Pa.)…Junior quarterback Brock Osweiler (6-8, 230) of Flathead (Kalispell, Mont.) has switched from a basketball verbal to Gonzaga to an Arizona State football commitment.
Baseball Notes
* In Rhode Island, senior Ryan Westmoreland pitched a perfect game with 19 strikeouts as Portsmouth edged Barrington, 2-0. Westmoreland has 5-0 record with a 0.41 earned run average. He has struck out 79, scattered six hits and allowed only two earned runs…Former major leaguer Bip Roberts is in his first year as head baseball coach at Skyline in Oakland, Calif. A 1981 graduate of Skyline, Roberts also serves as an analyst for Comcast SportsNet.
* Tommy Sigler of North Mesquite (Mesquite, Texas) and Manny Hermosillo of Montgomery (San Diego, Calif.) both recently posted their 500th career coaching victories…Cranford (N.J.) coach Dennis McCaffery won his 200th game.
Potpourri
* Top-seeded Alexander Sarkissian (Glendale, Calif.) defeated No. 2 Eric West (Broken Arrow, Okla.), 6-2, 7-6, to win boys 18-and-under singles during the eighth annual Muterspaw Tennis Championships in Las Vegas, Nev. In the girls 18-and-under division, unseeded 14-year-old Anna Mamalat (Philadelphia, Pa.) defeated No. 2 seed Stephanie Hoffpauir (Escondido, Calif.), 4-6, 6-4, 6-4.
* Jannetta Robinson of Pender and E.J. Abrams-Ward of Thomasville have been named winners of the 2008 Athlete of the Year awards by the North Carolina High School Athletic Association. They both were awarded the Pat Best Memorial Trophy, which is being presented for the 23rd year.
The 6-5, 220-pound Abrams-Ward accounted for over 3,000 yards and 33 touchdowns in football, averaged 20 points and eight rebounds in basketball and is a pitcher-outfielder in baseball. He has signed with the University of Tennessee to play football. Robinson actually has played four sports. She paced her volleyball team in digs, averaged 17.1 points, 8.6 rebounds, 5.1 steals and 4.3 assists in basketball, is batting .545 in softball and is a first-time track performer, too.
* Marty O’Toole has retired as head swimming coach at St. Xavier in Louisville, Ky. The 68-year-old legend led the Tigers to an incredible 20 consecutive state titles. However, he plans on becoming an assistant to the new head coach, his son, Michael O’Toole.
