DANVILLE — The Post 210 baseball team will be going from meeting up to play in a matter of days.

The Speakers will have its first practice today with its first game on Wednesday, but coach Brent Hart said he didn’t have enough players for the team until Friday.

“We still have three guys playing for Armstrong-Potomac, St. Joseph-Ogden and Harrison High School in Lafayette,” Hart said. “With IHSA starting a week later for the baseball tournament for smaller schools, it has affected all of the legion teams in the area.”

Two members from the team that are from St. Joe-Ogden and Harrison will make an impact when they do show up for the Speakers.

“Brycen Houchens for St. Joe will help out in the middle of the lineup,” Hart said. “Lyric Neal is from West Harrison, his dad started the younger teams with his older brother. He wanted to finish his prep career at Post 210. They are both high-level kids and we are looking forward to watching them play.”

Even with the issues, Hart does have a starter for Wednesday’s game against Rantoul.

“We have Liam Parish from Bismarck-Henning/Rossville-Alvin. I think there will be a lot of eyes on him because he will be Game 1 starter,” Hart said. “It will be a short start, but I liked what I saw all spring. I think by the end of the summer, there is going to be a lot of people on him because he’s an athletic kid who works hard and likes to compete.”

While there will be some mainstays, Hart had to move some kids up from the Junior Gold to fill out the roster.

“We moved some 16-year olds up to add some depth because we lost a lot to age,” Hart said. “Riglee Hart, Xander Wilson, Pedro Rangel V, Jaxon Spicer and Marvin Davis. They are up a year early, but I have had them at certain periods since they were eight and they are guys you are going to hear a lot about in high school.

“(Ryan) Edwards won the state title game from us last year and he will be back. We will have Ben Darling, Cruz Dubois, Cole Miller and Easton Barney come back as well.”

While the last few weeks have been slow, the next few days will go fast as the team gets into the swing of the season.

“We will go out Monday and throw some short games and have a few swings and we will practice on Tuesday. And then Game 1 will be at Rantoul on Wednesday,” Hart said. “They are a little luckier than us because most of their team is tied in Rantoul, but there are some kids from Mahomet-Seymour who play there. (Rantoul team manager) Garry Smith is going to have a great team there and have a lot of college signees. He has been at it for 35 years and he makes Legion baseball fun. We go round-robins this weekend, but we want to see Lyric Neal and it will depend on what happens on Monday.”

Jun. 2—STEPHEN, Minn. — Emily Marquis was touring Bemidji State's campus when Allison LaVine, a two-time Minnesota Class A champion in the discus, left class to chat with her.

"She ran out and said hi," Marquis said. "We were talking, holding up the tour."

Marquis, a senior thrower for West Marshall, has grown close with the former Clearbrook-Gonvick thrower. On paper, LaVine could very well have been considered one of Marquis' primary rivals over the past few years.

Marquis took first place in the discus at last year's Minnesota Section 8A championships, while LaVine finished second.

At the ensuing Class A state meet, however, LaVine won her second consecutive discus championship while Marquis finished third.

LaVine placed second at the 2024 Section 8A championships. Marquis wound up in third.

The two became friends despite their competition, getting to know each other at various meets.

"She's always super nice and pleasant to be around," Marquis said. "I love meeting other girls at meets, and it's super fun to connect with others that way as well."

Next year, they'll be teammates. Marquis will join the collegiate ranks as a thrower at Bemidji State, where LaVine just wrapped up her freshman season.

"After touring there, I could definitely picture myself having a lot of fun and doing well there," Marquis said. "(LaVine) is super fun to be around, and having that connection just makes it (nice)."

Before her prep career comes to an end, though, Marquis has lofty goals in mind. She'll enter the Class A state meet this week ranked first in the discus with a throw of 137-3, according to

athletic.net

.

"I have two goals to end on," Marquis said. "One is to get a throw of 140, finally hit that mark, and then to win first. I think I'm capable of doing that, so it's just getting out there and being able to perform."

Marquis' previous success, including last year's first-place finish at the section championship, has her confident heading into her third state meet.

"Getting to beat (LaVine) at sections was really cool for me," Marquis said. "Going into this season, knowing what happened last year and being so close, then just practicing super hard and knowing that I'm capable of doing it has been a motivating factor for me."

Marquis has been just as strong this season. She placed first at the Section 8A meet with a throw of 135-8.

"This year we tried to do a lot more and take advantage of the long indoor season, get all the practices in," Marquis said. "I think that really helped out compared to other years, and probably among the other athletes, too."

The West Marshall girls placed first at the section championships with a team score of 91.

Markelle Pederson is one of the team's standouts, ranking second in the pole vault in Class A ahead of the state meet with a vault of 11-0.

The Fusion's 800-meter relay team of Kenley Marquis, Naomi Davey, Annika Adolphson and Pederson is ranked third with a time of 1:44.88.

"We have a really good program," Marquis said. "A lot of our girls are young, so it's awesome for them to get to come as underclassmen. It's a really huge accomplishment for them. We have a lot of talent between our schools."

The state meet will begin Thursday at Saint Michael-Albertville High School in St. Michael, Minn.

The Class A finals are scheduled to begin Friday at 3:30 p.m.

Knightstown’s May Hershberger pitched four innings of no-hit ball against North Decatur in the sectional championship game at Tri. The Lady Chargers got a pair of singles in the fifth inning, but it was too late as the Lady Panthers took the championship 12-0.

Hershberger pitched 5.0 innings, allowing two singles and one walk while striking out four.

Knightstown scored two runs in the first inning, two runs in the second inning, four runs in the third inning and four runs in the fourth inning.

North Ella Wilson opened the top of the fifth inning with a single. With one out, Haylee Schoettmer singled to left field. Hershberger retired the next two Lady Chargers to seal the victory.

The Lady Panthers had seven hits and eight walks and took advantage of four errors by North. Hershberger had a double and triple with an RBI. Dylann Fausnaugh singled and drove in two runs. Grace Behny had a single and RBI. Lanee Swindell, Jaycie Cole and Lyla Trigg all had a single for the Lady Panthers.

Brooklyn White pitched 2.0 innings for North, allowing three earned runs on four hits and four walks while striking out one. Brynlee Green went 2.0 innings in the circle, allowing three hits and four walks.

Knightstown (17-7) travels to Milan (29-4) to take on the Lady Indians in the regional.

Jun. 1—MOSES LAKE — Athletes from schools all around the Columbia Basin competed in the state championships over the weekend with Ephrata, Moses Lake High School, Othello and Quincy competing in Tacoma and Almira/Coulee-Hartline, Lind-Ritzville, Moses Lake Christian Academy/Covenant Christian School, Royal, Soap Lake and Wahluke competing in Yakima.

Full coverage of how each track team did at the state championships will be posted in a future edition of the Columbia Basin Herald.

(WAVY) — Virginia Tech released on Sunday that former assistant coach Curt Newsome has passed away. The Hampton native was the Head Football Coach for Emory and Henry College from 2014 to 2023.

Newsome was also an assistant at Virginia Tech and James Madison University.

Back here in Hampton Roads, Newsome coached at Heritage and Keoughtan High School, where he led the Warriors to 6 playoff wins and a State Championship game appearance.

He was 67 years old.

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