by Steve Dunford

Like in basketball, I am only look at the games that are in front of us, taking one round at at time.

Thompsonville will be taking on Crab Orchard today in the Carrier Mills-Stonefort Class 1A Baseball regional at 4:30 p.m.  This is the only 1A regional game in the state today, as the game was moved up to accommodate Thompsonville’s graduation on Wednesday night.  I put this at the top because of the schedule change.

Rewinding to yesterday, the West Frankfort Lady Redbirds defeated the Eldorado Eagles 15-0.  Z-R-C fell to Sparta 8-6.

This afternoon in softball action, West Frankfort will play Nashville at 5:00 p.m. and Benton will play Harrisburg at 7:00 p.m at the West Frankfort Class 2A regional.

The WF- Nashville game will be broadcast on WNSV 104.7 in Nasvhville.  The Benton-Harrisburg game will be broadcast on WEBQ 1240 AM from Harrisburg.  Both stations will have the game streamed on their website.

I will be covering both games this afternoon.  I will be interviewing Kelly Mason, who does play-by-play for WEBQ.

Waltonville-Sesser-Valier will be facing the Farifield Lady Mules this afternoon at the Carmi Class 2A Softball regional.  Game time is 4:30 p.m.

The Galatia-Thompsonville Lady Cats will be facing the Gallatin County Lady Hawks this afternoon at 3:30 at the Carrier Mills Class 1A girls softball regional.

It is a beautiful day to see some action on the area diamonds.

The Benton Rangers took the long trip to Clay County Saturday morning and swept a double header from the Flora Wolves.

The Rangers won game one 8-7 with Parker Williams picking up the win in relief. Derek Oxford homered for the Rangers.   In game two, Tyson Houghland pitched a complete game in a 13-3 win.  Bryden Picklesmeyer homered for Benton.

The Rangers host the Mt. Vernon Rams this afternoon at 4:30 at Evaoldi Field.

Four hurlers combined as the West Frankfort Redbirds defeated the Eldorado Eagles 8-3 on Saturday.

The Redbirds will face the Vienna Eagles this afternoon at 4:30 p.m. at Bill McKee Field.

The Z-R-C Tornadoes host the Hamilton County Foxes at 4:30 as it is Senior Day.  The Thompsonville Tigers make the long trip to Golconda, to take on the Pope County Pirates this afternoon at 4:30.

Waltonville-Sesser-Valier will be playing in the Midland Trail Conference Tournament this week.

sd

by Steve Dunford 

The IHSA released post season assignments for High School Boys Baseball yesterday. Like I did for the postseason in basketball, I am going to break down each round for the county schools.

Here is a link to the full brackets:

https://www.ihsa.org/SportsActivities/BoysBaseball/StateSeriesInformationResults.aspx

The Benton Rangers and the West Frankfort Redbirds will be heading to the Harrisburg Class 2A Regional.  (Yes I said Benton, they are 2A in Baseball)

The Rangers are the number one seed and will play the winner of seventh seeded Johnston City Indians or ninth seeded Eldorado, Wednesday, May 17th, at 4:00 P.M. The winner advances to the championship game on Saturday, May 20th at 11:00 a.m.

The Redbirds are the number five seed, and will play fourth seeded Harrisburg on Thursday, May 18th, at 4:00 P.M.  The teams have split the season series.

The Waltonville-Sesser-Valier Spartans are the number three seed at the Farifield Class 2A Regional.  and will face the sixth seeded Carmi-White County Bulldogs, on Wednesday, May 17th at 7:00 p.m. The winner will advance to the championship game on Saturday, May 20th at 11:00 a.m.

The Zeigler-Royalton-Christopher Tornadoes are the number five seed in the Carterville Class 2A regional.  They will have a first round home game on Monday, May 15th at 4:30 p.m. against the number nine seed, the Vienna Eagles.  The winner advances to face the number three seed, the DuQuoin Indians in a semi-final game at 4:30 P.M.. Thursday at Carterville.

The winner of all three regionals, advances to the Benton Sectional.

The Thompsonville Tigers are the number seven seed in the Carrier Mills Class 1A Regional.  They will face the ninth seeded Joppa Rangers, at home on Monday, May 15th, at 4:30.  The winner will advance to face the second seeded, Crab Orchard Trojans on Wednesday, May 17th at 4:30 p.m., at Carrier Mills.

The winner of the Carrier Mills Regional advances to the Goreville Sectional.

by Steve Dunford 

In Boys Baseball, Z-R-C  defeats Vienna 2-1 in nine innings.  Aaron Abrahamsen with a ground ball error that scores Steven Anderson to win it. Gabe Schimpf and Anderson with two hits. Luke Garver was outstanding in relief with 5 no hit innings to get the win. 13-4 now on the season.

Z-R-C takes the short road trip to Bill McKee Field this afternoon to take on the West Frankfort Redbirds.  I will be there to cover both teams this afternoon.

Ian McMahon pitches six shutout innings to give Benton an 8-0 win over Harrisburg. There is a link with the game story on the website and Facebook page to the Benton Evening News Story.

W-S-V- picks up a 10-3 Midland Trail conference win over the Cisne Lions yesterday afternoon.

West Frankfort at Murphysboro was rained out yesterday.  There is no makeup date.

The Thompsonville Tigers game against Pope County yesterday and Hardin County Thursday has been postponed.  There were several players out of town for spring break.

Please pass along any baseball or softball scores you might have by emailing me at sdunford1970@hotmail.com or send me a message on Facebook.  If you send me a picture of the score book totaled up, I could create a box score.

Z-R-C picks up a pair of wins Saturday.  First they defeat Johnston City 11-6.  Nick Hale with the win. Steven Anderson, Shane McCowen and Bryce Pratt all with two hits. Pratt with  three RBI’s and Anderson drove in two runs.

In game two Gabriel Motsinger pitches a shutout as the Tornadoes down the Crab Orchard Trojans, 8-0.  Kaeleb Pedigo has three hits on the afternoon, Steven Anderson and Luke Garver with two each.

Z-R-C improves two 12-4 on the season and scheduled to have a home game with the Joppa Rangers at 4:30 this afternoon, weather permitting.

The Waltonville-Sesser-Valier Spartans go on the road to pick up an 8-5 road win over the Odin Eagles in Midland Trail Conference play Saturday.

On Thursday the Benton Rangers pick up a home SIRR Ohio Conference Win at Benton 17-7.

Redbird reliever Brendan Johnson pitches 1 2/3 innings to pick the victory in a come from behind win over Harrisburg Thursday.

Also on Thursday afternoon, Brendan Johnson comes out of the Redbird bullpen and picks up the win, in a come from behind victory over the Harrisburg Bulldogs 10-7.

The Rangers and Redbirds are slated for a 4:30 start this afternoon at Bill McKee field, weather permitting.

In high school girls softball the  Benton Rangerettes will be facing the West Frankfort Redbirds at 4:30 weather permitting.

I would like to feature scores and info from every HS baseball-softball team in the county.  Please email me at sdunford1970@hotmail.com or send me, Steve Dunford a message on Facebook.  If you could send me some information about the game and a picture of the scorebook for both teams I would appreciate it.

I plan on covering the Benton-West Frankfort baseball game today, and West Frankfort and Z-R-C this afternoon, weather permitting.

sd