With a pair of wins late this week over visiting East Central, the St. Louis Community College softball team improved to 30-4 overall and to 15-1 in league play to capture its first Missouri Community College Athletic Conference title.
The team, which has won 30 of 32 games since opening the season with a pair of losses, is ranked 13th in the latest NJCAA poll.
The Archers, who’ve won nine in a row, feature a balanced pitching staff led by sophomores Hannah Marquardt (Freeburg), who’s 11-0 with a 2.61 ERA, and Sarah Shepard (Clayton), who’s 7-3 with a save and a 2.43 ERA.
Offensively, the team is paced by Haley Schmutz (.479, nine home runs, 34 RBIs), Kacy Bergfeld (.447, six HRs, 44 RBIs) and Jennifer Luebbert (.411, 16 RBIs, 26 stolen bases), who is from Troy, Mo.
Other top hitters include Alton’s Miranda Hudson (.435, 24 RBIs), Mehlville’s Tori Siebum (.395, eight homers, 45 RBIs), Sidney Litviak (.374, 31 RBIs), Hazelwood West’s Abby Lavley (.366, 30 RBIs) and Northwest’s Breanna Potthast (.323, six home runs, 33 RBIs).
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WEBSTER’S GOLF TEAM SEEKS THREE-PEAT
Webster University’s men’s golf squad will be looking for its third straight conference title when the St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference championships begin Monday at Weaver Ridge Golf Course, in Peoria, Ill.
After 36 holes on Monday, the tournament is to conclude with 18 holes on Tuesday.
At the recent Rhodes Spring Classic in Memphis, the Gorloks fired a program-record 5-under-par 283 in the final round.
Webster is led by defending conference champ Will Hocker, who’s looking to become the SLIAC’s first repeat champion since 2009. Hocker is ranked 135th in Division III’s Golfstat rankings.
GLVC TENNIS HONORS
Drury University junior Nico Hadeler was named Great Lakes Valley Conference tennis player of the year and Indianapolis freshman Maximilian Witthaus Rebolledo was honored as freshman of the year.
Players from area squads named to the first team include UMSL junior Ben Kasprzak and sophomore Vitor Monteiro as well as Maryville sophomores Jack Beuttell Triggs and Louis Glaves.
On the women’s side, University of Indianapolis senior Hanna Volikova was named player of the year for the third straight season and teammate Nikol Alexeeva was named top freshman.
Also named to the first team were UMSL senior Salome Bleuler and junior Marina Prediger, plus Maryville freshman Nicole Pafundi.
HONOR ROLL
Missouri sophomore Sophia Rivera (Brentwood) reset her school record in the javelin for the second time in as many meets with a toss of 182 feet, 10 inches at the John McDonnell Invitational last week at the University of Arkansas.
On March 29, at the Texas Relays, she had a toss of 175-4.
At Arkansas, the Tigers also got first-place finishes from Nylo Clarke in the 400, Morgan O’Neal in the 400 hurdles, Evan Schulte and Jordyn Kleve in the 3,000 meters, Jordan McClendon (John Burroughs) in the hammer throw, Gabi Jacobs in the discus and Emily Stauffer in the shot put.
• Truman State center fielder Christa Reisinger, a senior from Troy, Mo., was named GLVC softball player of the week after hitting .692 and registering multiple hits in every game during a 4-0 week for the Bulldogs. It was the seventh career player of the week honor for Reisinger, who scored 10 runs, hit three home runs and two triples and stole four bases.
• Missouri State’s golfer Abby Cavaiani, a freshman from Wales, moved up two places on the final day, carding a 1-over-par 73 for a 4-over-par 220 overall and then beat Northern Iowa’s Sydney Eaton on the second playoff hole to win the Missouri Valley Conference championship this week in Chesterton, Ind.
The league’s newcomer of the year, Cavaiani became the first MVC golfer since 2011 to earn medalist honors as a first-year player.
• Rockhurst goalkeeper Alex Pfeil, a senior from Eureka, was named a GLVC lacrosse player of the week after making a career-best 18 saves, including nine in the final period of a 12-6 win over No. 18-ranked Lindenwood.
• Missouri S&T freshman Colin Stoltze (Chaminade) was named GLVC golfer of the week after placing second and helping the Miners win the recent Kentucky Wesleyan College Panther Invitational. Stoltze shot 71 and 70 at the two-day event.
• St. Louis University senior pitcher Ryan Lefner became the Billikens’ career saves leader this week, picking up Nos. 23 and 24.
• For the second time this season and the third in his career, Webster junior Zac Ciesla has been named the St. Louis Intercollegiate Conference golfer of the week. He closed the regular season by shooting a 2-under-par 214 over 54 holes at the Rhodes College Spring Classic.
• McKendree junior Tsitsi Mahachi was named GLVC women’s track athlete of the week after setting a personal best triple jump of 12.23 meters in winning at Ole Miss’ Joe Walker Invitational. It’s the seventh-best mark in the country this season.
• For the second time this season, Webster has swept the St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference track and field honors. Junior Meredith Sowers posted personal-bests in the 800 (2:16.17) and the 100-meter hurdles (15.88), bettering her school record in the 800.
Meanwhile, the Gorloks’ Daisha Reece picked up her second field athlete of the week honor this season after winning the long jump (5.43 meters) and making her season’s debut in the long jump.
• Webster junior Matt Mulhearn was named SLIAC baseball pitcher of the week after pitching the 24th-ranked Gorloks to a 1-0 win over Iowa Wesleyan. He becomes his team’s third pitcher to be honored by the league this season, following Sean Beaver and Adrian Santiago.
This season, Mulhearn is 6-1 with a 2.24 ERA. The righthander has struck out 60 and walked just eight.