Suburban West Roundup: Parkway South Softball is Sizzling

Parkway South softball moved ahead of Eureka in the standings with a 2-1 victory on Monday. Sheridon Sprague pitched seven innings for the win, while senior Alana Hester had three of Eureka’s six hits in the loss.

The Patriots, however, lost their first game of this season to Oakville on Tuesday night, 6-0. They are now 16-1, and in first-place at 5-1 in the Suburban West Conference. Eureka is 14-4 and in second place in the league at 4-1. Oakville (21-3, 4-1) is tied with Eureka.

Parkway South also defeated Eureka 1-0 on Sept. 1, as Sprague hurled a two-hit shutout. She is 14-0 this season with a 1.27 earned-run average. She also has 100 strikeouts in 82 2/3 innings.

Oakville is led by Savannah Fedorchak, who is batting .515 with a team-high 23 runs is batted in.

Last week, Parkway South defeated Marquette, 9-5, on Thursday as Alyssa Francis went 4-for-4. Francis also had a home run and four RBI in a 13-1 win over Parkway West on Sept. 12.

Eureka has lost each of its four games by one run. The Wildcats lost to Washington, 1-0, and Seckman, 2-1, in addition to the losses to Parkway South. Eureka has won nine of its past 11 games, including an exciting 6-5 win over Lindbergh last Thursday. Eureka tied the game in the seventh and added a run in the eighth.

Pacing the Wildcats this season is Hester with 25 hits and sophomore Jamie Fowle with 21 RBI.

Northwest had its best week of its season with one-run wins over Kirkwood and Lafayette last week. The 11-10 win over the Pioneers came in 10 innings after Kirkwood had tied the game with five runs in the seventh. Northwest followed the next day with an impressive 3-2 win over Lafayette as Alicia Pingleton pitched a complete game.

"It was Alicia's best game of the year and overall was definitely our best game," Northwest coach Dan Davison said of the win over the Lancers. "It was close throughout. In the past we have melted down with a bad inning or two. This was our first game with no errors."

Volleyball: Oakville, Lindbergh Setting the Pace

The Oakville and Lindbergh volleyball teams continue to play well. The Tigers defeated Farmington 25-19, 25-20 in a nonconference game to improve to 5-1 (they are 3-0 in the league). Lindbergh improved to 2-0 in the conference and 5-2-1 overall with a 25-19, 25-22 win over Marquette last Tuesday.

Soccer: Busy Week at A-B Center

The 57th Annual CYC/Bob Guelker Memorial Soccer Tournament began on Monday and will run all week at the Anheuser-Busch Center in Fenton. There are 34 teams in the tournament, which will be divided into three divisions with championship games in all divisions scheduled for Saturday.

Oakville, Lindbergh and Mehlville will be competing in the Msgr. Louis Meyer Division, while Fox and Northwest will play in the Msgr. Lloyd Sullivan Division.

Lindbergh (4-4) is 2-0 in Suburban West play, and has been led by junior midfielder Brian O'Neal’s five goals. Marquette has the best overall mark in the league at 9-0-2. The Mustangs feature sophomore Keith Grieshaber, who already has scored 13 goals.

Golf: Lafayette Takes Tourney Title

The Lafayette girls golf team won the Lindbergh Invitational last Tuesday. The Lancers won the first Lindbergh Tournament in 2009, but had a conflict last year. Claire Norfleet was the medalist in the tournament with a score of 88.

"The course played difficult as the pins were fairly difficult," Lafayette coach Gaylen Laster said. "Our course management had been improving, but we had some holes where I thought we could have played smarter, but we will take the win.

“We are really striving to get our scores down over the next couple of weeks with conference and district coming up. As always, the goal is to finish stronger than you started the season. I hope that is the case with this team."

Cross Country: Eureka Boys Impressive

The Eureka boys cross country team won the Stan Nelson Invitational on Sept. 10. Senior Ethan Lambert placed first. Two other Wildcats seniors finished in the top 10. Cade Netscher was fifth and Cameron Schmitz was seventh.

Lafayette runners finished second and third. Junior Jordan West was second, while junior Derek Legenzoff was third.

Lafayette dominated the girls race at the Stan Nelson finishing with 15 points. Seckman was a distant second with 79 points. Potosi freshman Kassie Rawlings won the girls race but the Lancers finished second through eighth in a pack which was separated by just 26 seconds. That group included: Grace Bueckendorf; Kelly Carpenter; Jessy Maddox; Katherine Kelly; City Most; Mary Augustin; and Maddie Henning.

The Lancers followed with another title at the Parkway Central Invitational last Thursday. Maddox and Carpenter led the way, finishing sixth and eighth, respectively. Oakville sophomore Melissa Brown won the race with a time of 19:26.60.

Marquette sophomore Noah Kaupilla set a school record, running a 15:37.50 at the Forest Park Cross Country Festival on Sept. 10. Kaupilla finished seventh out of 246 runners.

Eureka freshman Hannah Long won the Girls Green Division with a time of 18:00.30. The Wildcats finished second as a team. Oakville's Brown was third (18:30.60)

Patch Girls Suburban West Athlete of The Week

Parkway South senior Alyssa Francis went 3-for-3 last Friday with a homer and three RBI in a 14-0 rout of Incarnate Word. She also 4-for-4 last Thursday as the Patriots defeated Marquette 9-5. On the season, Francis is batting .625 and she has already blasted five home runs and has a team-best 26 RBIs.

Francis is likely to be considered for a variety of postseason awards at this pace as Parkway South is 16-0, and 5-0 in the Suburban West Conference.

Patch Boys Suburban West Athlete of The Week

Eureka cross country senior Ethan Lambert led the way for the Wildcats with a first-place finish at the Stan Nelson Invitational on Sept. 10., finishing with a time of 16:23.86. The Eureka boys won the Stan Nelson Invitational as a team.