One of the funnier interviews I've had in a while

Highland women's basketball coach Dean Buckwalter received the honor of being named the co-winner of the Illinois Basketball Coaches Association's NJCAA Coach of the Year in Division I.

But that's not the story.

Buckwalter had absolutely no idea when he found out while I interviewed him. This, even though we (The Journal-Standard) received a fax from Highland Community College this afternoon.

Go figure.

Here's Dean's initial reaction:

Buckwalters initial shock -

Buckwalter is unselfish, and it was nice to hear him give credit to the players, and didn't focus much on himself:

Buckwalters humility -

Apparently, I'm the man. Or at least, that's what Dean seems to think of me. LOL.

Apparently, Im the man -

Check out the complete story tomorrow in the paper.

Column: Stern, enough is enough with this age limit thing

Seriously, David Stern?

C'mon! You made your point nearly four years ago about the age limit.

You made players like Derrick Rose, Michael Beasley (who is still a bust right now) and Greg Oden stay a year in college just so they could gain "valuable experience" I guess.

We got it (sort of). Make players wait a year to go pro and waste their time in college for a nice pit stop. Great way to make your point about learning the game.

But you really want to change the age limit, again, to 20?

Didn't you lose this fight last time under the Collective Bargaining Agreement in 2005 (along with the ridiculous dress-up to work thing)?

NBA players are NBA players, Stern. I argue that Rose was ready for the NBA straight out of Simeon.

Beasley, or at least his offense, was NBA-ready. Greg Oden, prior to being a walking band-aid at 21 years old, was ready too.

Now you want those players to play yet another year in college? Do you have some kind of NCAA basketball agenda or what?

How do you, Stern, think this will help the overall product of the NBA?

Sure, the best ratings in years for the NBA happened during the Finals with Boston and L.A. But think about that matchup, and tell me what you think the ratings would have been not even looking at the rosters.

Nevermind the fact that both Kevin Garnett and Kobe Bryant were featured on the biggest stage for the championship.

Two straight-out-of-high-school-to-the-pros guys. Yeah. ABC did whatever it could to promote those two stars.

Kobe won his first MVP this year (probably should have had more than that, too).

KG was already an MVP and won defensive player of the year. He's played more defense these last two weeks, even injured, than I've seen throughout the entire NCAA tournament!

Oh, and that LeBron James guy ... he's pretty good too.

Dwayne Wade? Oh, he played two years ... or was it that he played one and attended Marquette for two years.? Wade had academic problems and didn't even play his freshman year.

So much for that development argument.

Players like Tyler Hansbrough, who will play all four years, aren't always NBA material either. Are we highlighting players like them, Stern, as players who can't make it and are hurting the product?

Jameer Nelson, and players like him, are sometimes the exception to the rule too.

Bottom line, Stern, this isn't right. NBA players are NBA players. They are either ready, or they were never meant to be.

Staying in college for 12 years won't make you, or the overall product, better.

That's on the player.

Not quite the drubbing as expected, but a drubbing nontheless

Aquin showed some fight (granted, War/Stock didn't have its starting pitcher in the seventh), but the Warhawks easily beat the Bulldogs, 10-5.

More on www.journalstandard.com/sports

Drubbing on hand?

Aquin will face Warren/Stockton in less than an hour.

We'll see how this works, but War/Stock is pretty even without their former ace, Mike Werkheiser.

I'm not liking the Bulldogs' chances with Jared McNutt, Jason Brinkmeier and Grant Pierce back into the fold.

Orangeville loses its first of the season, Eastland and Le-Win look strong

Orangeville started off pretty well to start the season on a 4-0 streak.

That ended tonight in a 5-2 loss to likely the best team in our area -- East Dubuque. The Warriors won the regional last year and appear to be just as strong this year.

That was a loss that could hurt their chances early in the NUIC-East.

Milledgeville/Polo and Dakota right now still appear to be the favorites.

But, wow, what a game from both Eastland and Lena-Winslow!

Brian McCabe had a grand slam in a 13-4 drubbing against Rockford Lutheran. It appears the Panthers' hitting could be a threat if they play more games like that.

Eastland also lit up the scoreboard in a 13-1 win.

Three players had multiple hits.

It'll be interesting to see who comes out of the NUIC-West this year.

Rubbish

Highland softball doubleheader ... not too great.

Honestly, if these girls plan on doing anything remotely close to winning conference, or anything else, they'll have to field, hit and pitch better -- other than Heather Jurs.

With what Highland coach Beth Groshans told me, the conference will be wide open this year.

But there's nothing like opening a gap like playing bad softball to start the season.

It's Jurs or nothing right now until someone on the team can do more than make errors defensively.

A look back on the Freeport JV softball season

Originally published in the Journal-Standard on May 24, 2008

BY JOEY BASKERVILLE

joey.baskerville
@journalstandard.com

Like most junior varsity sports, winning the conference is the highest honor a team can have.

It shows young athletes the value of taking care of conference matters first, before any dreams of winning a regional, sectional or super-sectional title can be realized. Let alone anything relating to state.

Conference is everything.

The Freeport JV softball team was able to come away with a NIC-10 conference championship this season on May 16. It was an accomplishment Freeport coach Chad Hersey was proud of. Especially considering the close games two of the best teams in the conference.

“Against Harlem and Hononegah, we played four of our best games,” Hersey said. “All of those wins were come-from-behind wins in the sixth and the seventh inning.”

The comeback kids rallied against the Indians in eight innings on April 9 for a 6-5 win in the first conference home game of the season.

Then against in their first true road test, the caught up to a hot Harlem team and managed an 11-8 win against the Huskies on April 22.

At that point in the season, the Pretzels were 10-0 with a perfect 7-0 NIC-10 record. Seven days later, Freeport would be challenged by the Huskies at home but escaped with a 10-9 win for a 12-0, 9-0 record.

The firepower on offense of catcher Shanna Winnekins (.457 batting average, 3 home runs, 36 RBIs), Anna Perkins (.513, 2 HR, 41 RBIs, 31 stolen bases), Cherice Stimpert (.500 BA, 35 stolen bases), Mariah Gill (.352), Ginger Thompson (.333) and Megan Kortermeier (.388, 18 RBIs, 20 stolen bases) made it tough for any pitcher to get around.

Then there were the arms of Rebecca Wagner – whose .419 batting average and 26 RBIs and 12 stolen bases made her a double threat – and Kortermeier in the pitcher’s circle that made it hard for some batters to make solid contact with the ball.

“Becca pitched all the tough games,” Hersey said.

Wagner had quiet a few great accomplishments in her young career including a perfect game against Rockford East, sitting down all 12 opposing batters on 42 pitches. She would strike out 13 batters against Hononegah on April 30 and struck out a season-high 14 against Rochelle in an 8-3 win.

Not bad considering she also was a member of the girls basketball team that took second place in the state tournament that ended March 1.

“The basketball team went deep into the year and she missed a week or so in practice,” Hersey said. “She had a sore shoulder. I think she was trying to get it going too quick. But it ended up working itself out.”

Wagner finished the year with an ERA of 2.28 with 152 Ks and and 55 walks. She completed 16 games.

The next night on April 30, Freeport would defeat Hononegah 6-2 and were close to completing not only a perfect conference record, but a perfect season overall.

Both of those hopes were dashed, however by Boylan on May 5 in a 6-3 loss, knocking down their record to 15-1 and 10-1 in the conference.

“They played really well the night they beat us,” said Hersey, who witnessed the Pretzels crush the Titans in mid-April defeat Boylan 23-10. “I know that the girls were pretty disappointed.”

The Pretzels would end the season undefeated at home. However they would lose another away game against Palatine in a close 4-3 game in the Belvidere tournament. Freeport finished third and had a 20-2 record with a 13-1 conference record.

And though Hersey and the team knew that the conference crown was all but their nearing the end of the season, the title was still not theirs. And Guilford would let them know about it.

“I think we lost because we knew all we had to do was win a couple,” Hersey said. “But a lot of these girls were on the freshman team last year that went something like 8-20. They didn’t expect to be this good but … they were.”

Guilford won 5-3 for the Pretzels third road loss of the year in a doubleheader. Freeport would defeat Guilford to split the twin bill with a 2-0 win.

Finally on May 16, the dream was realized after an 11-0 win over Belvidere North. The Pretzels would finish the season 23-3, with a 16-2 conference record.

Breakout box info (not sure if this made it to print or not)

Freeport’s JV top hitters:

“Anne Perkins, who’s only a freshmen lead the team in batting average, started the year batting sixth in the lineup. I ended the year having her bat clean up. She kind of came out of nowhere. She’s actually batted for the varsity team in the regional. He got an RBI in the regional and it’s always nice to see her do that.”

Perkins had a .513 batting average, drove in 41 RBIs, and stole 31 bases. She also had an on-base percentage of .677 and a .744 slugging percentage

Shanna Winnekins

“Shanna’s stats are pretty impressive,” Hersey said.

That they are. Winnekins was second on the team in batting average with .457 with 36 RBIs, .638 OBP and a .700 slugging percentage.

Becca Wagner
For the year as a starting pitcher, Wagner had a .419 BA with 26 RBIs and 12 stolen bases. Her on-base percentage was .574 and slugging percentage was .500.

“Pretty much from top to bottom they did well and everyone had a good on-base percentage,” Hersey said.

Most memorable moments for the Pretzels on the field, according to Hersey

“The best moment of the year was that we were playing Harlem on my birthday (April 29) losing 8-2 going into the sixth inning.
In the bottom of the sixth inning we scored eight runs on two outs.
That gave us the lead.
We came out an probably played the best defense that we played all year in the top of the seventh but (the Huskies) still managed to score two runs to tie it.
Then Anna Perkins hit a walkoff, which was just shy of being a grand slam with the bases loaded. The winning run just walked in on that shot and pulled it out to preserve our undefeated season at 12-0 (9-0 NIC-10).”

Off the field?

"Kelsey Eiseman’s mom bringing snacks for everybody after the game. I was joking around with her and I told her 'did you tell your mom that she’s in charge of brings snacks tonight?'
And her mom freaked out and brought cupcakes for the entire bus. I was just kidding but her mom made brownies for everyone for the rest of the year! And she brings them for the entire program on every bus ride."

Freeport softball will depend on some of last year's JV conference champs

The Pretzels softball team will be without their ace pitcher Heather Jurs, their biggest bat in catcher Megan Bennett and their leadoff batter and center fielder Erin Evans.

Most of Freeport's success and troubles this year will depend on the varsity adjustment many of the former JV team's players that have moved up.

New starting pitcher Rebecca Wagner and catcher Shanna Winnekins are among those players I'm most interested in seeing how they play. I wrote about them last year in an article I'll actually republish exclusively on this site.

Hmm ...

So, Megan Bennett is on the Highland softball team this year?

Really? Even though she was a junior on Freeport's softball team last year?

Wow. More on this in a season preview tonight on The Journal-Standard Web site.

Highland loses 80-55

It's over. The Highland women fought hard, but the Cards were just too much for them and will end the year 27-7.

The Cougars couldn't get that elusive first win in the national tournament in team history, but what a year Highland has had.

I'll have a column and story on the game for tomorrow's paper.

Congrats on a great year, girls.

Highland looking to rebound this afternoon

SALINA, Kans. — The women Cougars, decked out in their home jerseys today, will square off at noon to face Trinity.

Again, Highland will be undersized in this matchup, but should be in better position to actually win this game, as they will not face a player as big and dominant from all over the court like Danielle Adams.

The Cougars were already here for the Hutch/Middle Georgia game in the loser's bracket of the tournament. Highland wouldn't see the potential winner in this game, should Highland win, until the eighth place game.

We'll see though.

Highland, first and foremost, must play better on the boards today and play with confidence. It'll help against Trinity, but that team will be tough.

The Cougars will have to play a zone to counter the size of Trinity. Highland's played against taller teams, so we'll see.

Highland taking a break from it all. ...

HUTCHINSON, Kans. — The Highland womens basketball team took quite a beatdown against Jefferson, the No. 1 team in the nation.
So after the loss, Cougars coach Dean Buckwalter decided to just give the team a day to get away and relax a little bit.

Buckwalter told me today the girls just split up and just went wherever for the day and just enjoy being here in Kansas (oh, brother).

Highland's got Trinity tomorrow, so they'll try not to get eliminated

Barton screwed out of All-American status

So, I just read the press release from the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) on its 2009 Junior College/Community College (JC/CC) State Farm Coaches’ All-America Basketball Team.

Jackie Barton is not an All-American or even Honorable Mention. Are you kidding me?!

The Western Illinois-bound sophomore led the Cougars in points, was second in rebounding (at 5-foot-11) and helped Highland win its first Arrowhead Conference in 13 years, its first Region IV championship since 2006 and earned its first NJCAA National Tournament bid ever.

And you mean to tell me that she's not even worth Honorable Mention.

Terrible.

Finally at the biggest show for NJCAA women

I'm here at the Bicentennial Center watching No. 15 ranked Middle Georgia try to comeback to beat No. 2 undefeated Central Arizona. It's now 64-49 after a deficit of 20 points that Middle Georgia has come back from to this point.

10:01 left in the game.

An upset already happen as No. 11 Kaskaskia College beat No. 6 Howard, 61-55. Upsets can happen, I guess, so don't count Middle Georgia and Highland out just yet.

Be sure to follow me on my twitter at twitter.com/jmark79 or at twitter.com/journalstandard.

At Newton, preparing for Salina

So, I'm finally here in Salina for the NJCAA Womens National Tournament!

Highland will have a real task on its hands against Jefferson, the No. 1 team in womens basketball at the JUCO level. We'll see, but if I had to put money on it, which I won't, I'd put it on Jefferson.

The emotional Jackie Barton

Jackie Barton was one of the most, if not the most, emotional player from the Highland womens basketball team Tuesday night.

Check out these quotes just after winning the District playoff game against Lake Region State:

Barton on overcoming post-season past -

Barton on stopping Kate Sharkova

Barton makes a funny, talks about defending Sharkova -

Freeport girls basketball players should come? That's what Barton wants.

Barton wants Pretz to join the team? -

Highland GOING TO NATIONALS!

Yep, the Highland womens basketball team is going to the NJCAA National Tournament!

More on this tonight.

Highland attempts to make history

The Highland womens basketball team will make an attempt to make history tonight.

The Cougars have already won its first conference since 1996 and will attempt to make its first national bid in womens basketball program history!

Stay tuned after the game.

Five stories later ...

Freeport advanced to the state championship game.

I've been twittering and writing seeming all day and I've neglected the blog.

For that, I'm sorry.

I still haven't got to that Dorothy Gaters column, but it's lost its significance slightly since Marshall lost to Richwoods.

I'm still going to write it, but it'll probably be after Saturday night. Maybe on Monday?

Anyway, the Pretz have a chance to make program history. I won't say what it is, because I'd rather not jinx them.

That's all I've got before I pass out from sleep deprivation.

Good night and good luck, Freeport.

Four stories later ...

Just took an amazing nap and completed four stories. Three will be on the J-S Web site late tonight.

Media Day was fun. You could see a lot from the practices, and got stuff from three of the four schools in the 3A semifinals.

I'll try to have an exclusive column on my connection between coach Dorothy Gaters, who I met again earlier today.

It'll be on the small world we live in, especially considering the state.

I'm looking forward to seeing what will look like some really great games tomorrow and that's just in 3A. I'd love to see the 4A comp, but I'll be too busy updating you on this site, the J-S Web site and on the Journal-Standard's new Twitter!

That's right, our paper finally has a twitter.

What a great weekend to look forward too!

Here in Normal, prepared for Media Day

Hi, everyone.

I arrived in Normal, Illinois around 10 p.m. last night and will be blogging heavily throughout the next three days.

I'm a little under the weather, but I should be able to battle it out (heck, Katie Norman and others have throughout the playoffs, so why shouldn't I, right?).

This year, I'll be visiting all, that's right, ALL of the Media Day photo sessions for Class 3A.

Should be a fun and relaxed day for everyone (except the media, scrambling for stories) and will serve as a prelude to the Friday's excitement.

Can't wait to see all the Pretzels fans, among others.

I'll check in later if anything interesting happens.

Great wins for Pretz, Commandos, Knights. Springfield advances

So, the Final Four is set.

Freeport's girls basketball team (last year's runner up), along with defending state champs Marshall and Richwoods advance to the state tournament along with Springfield — which earned its first-ever state tournament bid in program history.

Talk about interesting.

Freeport and Springfield were both tied No. 6 in the state at one point, according to Associated Press polls.
Freeport ranked seventh in the last published poll and Springfield ranked No. 6.
Shouldn't it only be fair that these two meet in the state semifinal?

And Marshall will play a team very capable of beating them and even taking the state crown if Freeport doesn't. Peoria Richwoods was just a layup away from going into overtime against Freeport in the DeKalb (NIU) Supersectional.

Their length will be just as tough to counter for the Commandos as the Knights will be just as flustered with Marshall's press D that's on a 24-hour clock.

It never stops.

Should Freeport advance, the storylines lead to even more intrigue.

The Pretzels have what has become a great rivalry with Richwoods. Every time Freeport beats the Knights, it's on a game-winning shot. When Peoria wins, though, it's a blowout.

And it's a no-brainer why Marshall and Freeport would be intriguing.

How many times have we seen a state championship rematch?

Norman racking up accolades

Katie Norman was also recognized in the Chicago Sun-Times as a Second Teamer in the Girls All-Area Team for Class 3A.

Congrats, Katie.

Three members of the Pretz named to Class 3A All-State Team

It's official, three members of the Freeport girls basketball team have made the Class 3A All-State Team.

Point guard Katie Norman, with 54 points, was voted First Team. This season, Norman averages 12.6 ppg, 5.1 apg (team-high), 4.3 rpg and 2.5 spg. The senior point guard was the first of four senior Pretzels to reach 1,000 points and has risen her free-throw percentage to 64 percent — the highest amongst all starters.

Small forward Suporia Dickens, the 2007-08 Freeport Athlete of the Winter, was voted to Second Team. She leads the Pretzels in points (14.8), rebounds (7.3) and steals (3.0) per game. She earned 44 points this season to make Second Team (second only to, surprisingly, Richwoods' Mariah Smith).
A primarily inside shooter, Dickens leads the team in field goal percentage.

Forward (and I guess center) Courtney Shiffer earned honorable mention. This season, Shiffer leads Freeport in blocked shots (1.9 bpg) and went up a steal a game from last season (2.8), which is second on the team.

Congrats to Norman, Dickens and Shiffer.