PREP ROUNDUP: Cass girls tennis tops Logan, moves to 9-0

May 3—Lewis Cass' perfect season in girls tennis continued with a 4-1 win over Logansport on Thursday at the Stu Engle Courts.

The Kings improved to 9-0 and dropped the Berries to 9-4 in a matchup of two teams in the midst of standout seasons.

"The girls have been working hard this season and it has been paying off with strong play on the courts," Cass coach Matt Hurst said. "There were some close matches but we were about to come out ahead at the end.

"It has been a good start for sure. Now we need to keep working hard and push strong through the end."

The Berries' lone point came at No. 1 singles, where senior Lydia Goad defeated sophomore Katie Hurst 6-0, 7-6 (7-4).

The Kings claimed the other four points. Senior Dixie Wagoner defeated senior Lexi Brown 6-2, 6-1 at No. 2 singles. Junior Eliana Cicalo defeated senior Kate Barber 6-4, 4-6, 6-0 at No. 3 singles.

Senior Abbigail Hileman and junior Maryn Zeck defeated junior Kate Maxson and sophomore Rylee Zimmerman 6-0, 6-0 at No. 1 doubles. Seniors Nia Maroney and Maci Garland defeated sophomores Goldie Kitchell and Violet Pherson 6-3, 6-2 at No. 2 doubles.

"It was competitive," Logan coach Adam Thompson said. "1 singles was a win and 3 singles went to three sets. 2 doubles was a pretty competitive, 6-3, 6-2. We got one point and we were competitive at at least two others. 2 singles Lexi kind of had a rough night it seemed like. She's been playing really well so I think overall if we get a chance at them again at the sectional if we can play better at a couple more spots we can pull a win out there."

Thompson added he's not surprised the Kings are having as good of a season as they are. The Kings have a lot back from last year's team that had a dominant run to a sectional championship. They have won two out of the last three sectional crowns. They did lose Nos. 1 and 3 singles players Erika Johnson and Addison Ousley to graduation.

"They were solid last year. They've been solid for several years," Thompson said. "It seems like the girls that graduate they've got some more girls to bring in. They have four seniors right now and a couple of them have played varsity for awhile. I knew that they would be the sectional favorite again probably.

"Cass is ranked eighth in our district right now. They've been showing all season that they're pretty tough. We knew they would be. But I think we can be competitive with them again in the sectional."

The Berries are having a strong season as well. They have wins over McCutcheon, Peru and Northwestern and are 3-1 against the sectional field with wins against everyone but Cass.

"Delphi has a decent team and Twin Lakes always improves through the season, so we'll see how it goes," said Thompson, adding that the Berries and Kings don't have as many common opponents as they've in previous years.

"They're playing different people than we are now in their new conference so we don't have a lot of mutual matches. But they've been winning quite a bit and we've been winning. It was disappointing to get this loss tonight but we're going to keep on working and hoping for a rematch."

BOYS GOLF

W. LAF. 157, LOGAN 166, LAF. JEFF 189

The Berries placed second at a three-way meet at Ackerman Allen Golf Course.

Graham Taylor shot 39 to lead the Berries (3-1), who also counted scores from Louis Rozzi (41), Evan Brandstatter (43) and Eli Baldwin (43).

SOFTBALL

PIONEER 7, CULVER 1

Class 2A No. 8 Pioneer moved to 13-3 and 5-1 in the HNAC with a win at Culver.

Ava Beasy went 3-for-4 with two doubles and three RBIs for the Panthers. Emma Sells went 3-for-4 with two RBIs. Lois Layer had two doubles and two RBIs. Kamryn Newby had two hits. Kylie Attinger added a double.

Layer allowed one unearned run on five hits and two walks with six strikeouts.

WINAMAC 24, OD 1

Linzy Walters and Olivia Browning combined on a two-hitter with seven strikeouts for Winamac (9-5).

Maggie Keller went 4-for-4 with two RBIs. Piper Link went 3-for-4 with two RBIs. Olivia Link went 2-for-2 with two RBIs.

BASEBALL

CULVER AC. 4, LOGAN 2

Culver Academies scored four runs in the bottom of the fifth in a win over visiting Logansport.

Josh Middleton allowed four runs (two earned) on four hits in 4 2/3 innings. Micah Rogers pitched 1 1/3 innings of scoreless relief.

Aiden Swank had a single and RBI for Logan (8-11). Deagan Kitchel had a double and run scored. Carson Dubes had a single and run scored. Cooper Smith and Bryson Herr each added a single.

Logan competes at the Plymouth Tournament on Saturday. Fort Wayne Carroll plays Plymouth in the first game at 11 a.m., followed by Logan vs. Penn at 1:30 p.m. The consolation game is at 4 p.m., followed by the championship game at 6.

WINAMAC 16, CULVER 0

Cody Wheeler and Max Gearhart combined on a one-hitter with 10 strikeouts as Winamac (7-4, 6-2 HNAC) completed a sweep of Culver.

Wheeler had a home run and two RBIs for the Warriors. Brayden Mathias had a triple, double and two RBIs.

Winamac needed just seven hits to score 16 runs and led 15-0 after two complete.