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Baseball
St. Anne-Donovan 3, Hoopeston 2: The Cardinals opened up the 2025 season with a win at home on Monday. Jacob Onnen got the win on the mound and had an RBI single in the bottom of the fourth that proved to be the game-winning hit. He allowed two runs, one earned, on three hits across five innings of work. Cassen Berryhill and Ben Harpster also had RBI singles for St. Anne-Donovan.
Gardner-South Wilmington 17, Earlville 2: A hot start gave Gardner-South Wilmington a blowout win in four innings on Monday to open the season.The Panthers rallied for seven two-out runs in the bottom of the first inning, including a three-run home run from Ryan Milette. They added nine more runs in the second and one in the third.
Milette and Cole Hampson drove in four runs apiece for the Panthers. Caden Christensen had three RBI while Aiden Mack and Case Christensen had two RBI each. The Panthers worked seven walks and were hit by six pitches as a team.
Coal City 15, Prairie Central 3: The Coalers fell behind 3-0 early in Monday’s season opener, but then scored 15 unanswered runs to pull away for the home win in six innings. Lance Cuddy had a big afternoon out of the leadoff spot, going 3-for-5 with four RBI and a run scored. He had a three-run home run and a pair of singles. Gabe McHugh, Connor Henline, Donnie Ladas and Dylan Young also had multi-hit efforts for Coal City. Ethan Olson pitched four shutout innings in relief to pick up the win. He had seven strikeouts.
Softball
Milford-Cissna Park 11, Watseka 6: They needed a late rally, but the Bearcats managed to win Monday’s season opener at home over the Warriors. Down 5-2 entering the bottom of the fifth, Milford-Cissna Park scored four runs with two outs to take a 6-5 lead. They added five more in the sixth to pad the lead.
For Milford-Cissna Park, Addison Lucht was 1-for-1 with four RBI and two runs scored. She hit a three-run home run in the fifth to tie the score 5-5. Molly Coffey was 2-for-4 with two RBI and Jossalin Lavicka was 2-for-4 with four runs scored.
Noelle Schroeder was 3-for-4 with two RBI and a run scored to lead the Warrior offense Christa Holohan was 2-for-4 with two RBI and a stolen base.
Wilmington 19, Grant Park 1: The Wildcats were in control on the road Monday as they opened the season with a big win over the Dragons in four innings. The top three of the lineup got the job done for Wilmington with Keeley Walsh, Taylor Stefancic and Molly Southall going a combined 10-for-12 from the plate. They each scored four runs while Stafancic and Southall had four RBI apiece.
Grant Park’s hits belonged to Cheyenne Hayes, Claire Sluis and Ave Desiderio. Abigail Roberts had a walk and a run scored while Lola Malkowski took two walks, one of which came with the bases loaded to drive in the Dragons’ run.
Gardner-South Wilmington 4, Earlville 0: Maddie Simms was dominant to open the season for the Panthers on Monday at home. The junior pitched an absolute gem, allowing just four hits and recording 18 strikeouts in a complete-game shutout. Gardner-South Wilmington had just three hits to scratch across their four runs, with Liv Siano going 1-for-3 with two runs scored and Kayla Scheuber going 1-for-3 with a run and an RBI.
Donovan 2, Blue Ridge 1: It took 10 innings, but Donovan walked off with a season-opening win on Monday. Evelynn Martinez came to the plate with the bases loaded and one out in the bottom of the 10th, and down 0-2 in the count, hit into a fielder’s choice that allowed Laylah Lou Walters to score the winning run. Walters was 2-for-4 with that run and also pitched all 10 innings for the Wildcats, allowing just four hits while striking out 14 batters. Enyessa Ellis drove in Donovan’s first run with a single in the fourth inning.
Hoopeston 12, St. Anne 2: The Cardinals took a loss to open the season on Monday. The score was tied 1-1 after the first before the Cornjerkers pulled away with six runs in the second. Christey Moore was 2-for-4 for St. Anne with a run scored. Tia Sykes was 1-for-2 with an RBI while Lily Fox had a walk and a run scored.
Girls soccer
Morris 5, Manteno 1: The Panthers dropped their season opener on the road Monday. They trailed just 1-0 at halftime before Morris pulled away in the second half. Manteno’s lone goal came on a penalty kick by Emily Horath while goalkeeper Ava Derrico had a pair of saves.
Track and field (Saturday)
Boiler Invite: Bishop McNamara, Iroquois West, Manteno and host Bradley-Bourbonnais were among the teams that competed in the Boiler Invite at Olivet Nazarene on Saturday. Bradley-Bourbonnais’ boys team placed overall behind Lincoln-Way West.
Four events were won by area teams. On the boys side, the Bradley-Bourbonnais team of LyZale Edmon, Isaac Allison, Malachi Lee and Jordan Fitch took first in the 4x200 relay with a time of 1:34.06. Lee also won the long jump with a jump of 6.81 meters.
On the girls side, Manteno’s Klarke Goranson won the 800 meters with a time of 2:14.19. In the high jump, Iroquois West’s Audrey Griffin won with a jump of 1.52 meters.
Southland Athletic Conference Indoor Championships: Kankakee’s girls track and field team placed second at the Southland Athletic Conference Indoor Championships over the weekend. They had 118.5 points, just 2.5 points behind conference champs Rich Township. The boys team finished sixth for the Kays.
DaMariana Tooles took first in the girls 200 meters with a time of 25.59 seconds. She also was a part of the winning team in the 4x200 relay along with Essence Bell, Jasiah Hawkins and Trinity Noble. They posted a time of 1:44.15. The Kays also won the 4x400 relay, with Hawkins, Ki’Asia Wilson, Syniah Williams and Jamya McMurtry posting a time of 4:10.46. Naomi Bey-Osborne took first in the 400 meters with a time of 57.77.
On the boys side, Jamarion Calvin won the 800 meters with a time of 2:04.98.
Reed-Custer Indoor Invite: The Comets were the highest-placing local team on both the boys and girls side of their home meet Saturday, with the boys placing fourth and girls placing fifth. Elsewhere on the boys side, St. Anne placed fifth, Peotone placed sixth and Beecher placed eighth. For the girls, Beecher placed sixth and Peotone seventh.
Individually for the girls side, Reed-Custer’s Alyssa Wollenzien took first place in both the 60 meter hurdles with a time of 10.10 and the high jump with a jump of 1.55 meters. Peotone had Celeste Richards win the 800 meters with a time of 2:34.20 and Terrynn Clott win the shot put with a throw of 10.29 meters. Beecher had Brooklyn Burdick win the 1,600 meters with a time of 6:07.54 and Madison Smith win the long jump at 4.52 meters.
On the boys side, St. Anne’s Aden Pinson won the long jump at 6.20 meters and Reed-Custer’s Tanner Hullquist won the triple jump at 11.66 meters.
Rantoul Invite: Herscher made the trip for one of the state’s largest indoor meets of the season at the University of Illinois Saturday, accomplishing several personal records and a few top-10 finishes on the girls side. Fabienne Houberg broke her own school indoor record on the pole vault (2.60 m), good for a fourth-place finish. She also ran the fastest split for the 4x200 relay team that finished 10th (2:00.39), joined by Taylor Foltz, Leia Haubner and Claire Chinski. Henna Mulliken also recorded a top-10 finish by taking seventh in the shot put (9.12 m).