Daily Scores

Both area soccer and tennis teams were the only ones in action Tuesday, but only the Blue Springs South boys tennis team was able to pick up a victory. Check out each schools tab for results.

Blue Springs-Blue Springs South baseball interviews

With the first of two Blue Springs-Blue Springs South baseball games coming up on Wednesday, I talked with Blue Springs head coach Marc Hines and starting pitcher Corbin Hare, as well as Blue Springs South's Logan Taylor and Nathan Goff about the game. Check the 'Interviews' tab to listen.

Daily Scores

Another day of action is in the books, with the Blue Springs boys tennis, golf and baseball teams in action. The Blue Springs South boys golf team took home its tournament title with a solid performance. Also included in each school's tab is weekend tournament action for both baseball teams.

Daily Scores

It was a busy day of sports in the Blue Springs area, with several teams in action. Check both schools' tabs for boys golf, boys tennis, girls soccer and boys track and field results.

Homers power Wildcats past Indians

Marc Hines usually has a simple rule for his starting pitchers the day they start a game – they won’t be in the batting lineup.

But the Blue Springs head baseball coach broke his own rule for Thursday’s home game against Fort Osage, and it turned out to be a good decision.

Blue Springs' Corbin Hare, center, high fives teammates
after hitting a solo home run in the first inning of
Thursday's 8-3 win over Fort Osage. 

Corbin Hare made his first start of the season on the mound but it was his bat that was impressive, as he smashed two home runs in an 8-3 win.

“I’m just trying to hit a line drive,” said Hare when asked if the winds blowing out and short fences had him thinking home run. “He threw a fastball both times. I just saw it and hit it. I wasn’t trying to do too much.”

The Wildcats hit three home runs for the game, as they came back from a 3-1 deficit by scoring seven runs in the final two innings, including five in the top of the sixth.

“They came alive when we needed them,” Hines said of his teams’ bats. “We come in spurts. Our bread and butter isn’t going to be hitting home runs, but it’s nice to get them.”

Blue Springs relief pitcher Bill Slivinski throws a pitch
against Fort Osage Thursday. He picked up the win. 

The Wildcats were quiet at the plate for four innings, as Hare’s first homer was all the offense they could muster. But Brian Burasco’s two-run homer to tie the game in the fifth seemed to get the ball rolling, as the Wildcats started to be more patient at the plate.

A costly error by the Indians on a Nick Gulotta grounder got the rally started in the sixth, which was followed by a James McKinley sacrifice bunt. The move paid off when David Stober hit the go-ahead single to left field.

“Nick set the table and then James, I told him before the inning that when Nick got on I might ask him to bunt and he said he would get the job done,” Hines said. “He set the table for the kids behind him. David got a big hit and the floodgates opened.

“In the end our patience paid off. He got a couple of pitches up and we hit them.”

Added Hare, “Their pitcher was overthrowing and trying to do too much. He was missing high and in the dirt.”

Blue Springs junior Wylson Lamb dives back to first base
during the fifth inning of Thursday's game. 

Fort Osage had the chance for a big inning in the top of the fourth. Hare fought his control on the mound in his first start of the season and with two outs in the fourth an error, hit batter and RBI single – all with two outs – gave the Indians a 3-1 lead and runners at the corners.

In came the Wildcats’ relief specialist, lefty Bill Slivinski, who ended the inning on a deep fly ball to center field.

“I knew I just had to make one pitch to get out of it,” Slivinski said. “I was nervous for a second that it would hit the gap.”

After that hard hit ball, Slivinski got on a roll, retiring the next six batters he faced, striking out four of them using a nasty string of off speed pitches.

Blue Springs senior James McKinley lays
down a sacrifice bunt in the sixth inning
Thursday. 

“I don’t consider myself a strikeout pitcher, but it worked out that way today,” he said with a laugh. “My plan is to keep them off balance, get ahead with the fastball and get them off balance the rest of the at-bat. My curve was working well. The coaches preach getting ahead in the count.”

Added Hare of Slivinski, “He picked me up. He’s been our best relief pitcher all year. He’s doing work and getting the job done.”

The win moved the Wildcats to 3-2 as they head into the Jefferson City Tournament this weekend.

“It definitely helps our confidence,” Hare said of the win. “We were able to swing the bats late and our relief pitchers shut them down.” 

Daily Scores

Check the Blue Springs South tab to see how the boys tennis team faired at the St. Joseph Central Tournament.

Nightingale dominates once again for Jags

Another meet and a couple of more meet records for Blue Springs South track and field star Samantha Nightingale Wednesday night.

The Jaguar senior won the mile and two-mile at the Springfield Hillcrest Girls Night Out meet with times of 5 minutes, 3 seconds and 10:47, respectively.

“That’s three seconds off her personal record at state last year in the two-mile and she broke the meet record by 23 seconds,” South head coach Ryan Unruh said. “Once you break that 11-minute barrier, it’s more of a mental thing than anything. And she did it on her third meet, and at an all girl meet with a quick turnaround, so she raced again an hour later after the mile.”

Another bright spot for the Jaguars was fellow mile runner Grace Klausen who is pulling double duty, as she also plays on the soccer team.

She took sixth in the mile with a time of 5:33 – the second fastest for a freshman in school history – and was also seventh in the 800-meter run.

“She had a really good cross country season and approached me a week before the season and wanted to do both,” Unruh said. “She does a little training on her own but it’s mostly fitness from soccer and talent. She’s been a really big surprise.”

The relays were fairly strong as well for the Jaguars, with the 3,200-meter team of Lindsey Woody, Nightingale, Taylor Gregston and Klausen taking third.

“Lee’s Summit West, Lee’s Summit North and St. Teresa’s are the class of the district in that event and then it’s us and Blue Springs,” Unruh said. “We’ve got a couple of legs that are still getting into shape. Hopefully, we can continue to be consistent and drop time. They’re doing a good job scoring points.”

The 800-meter relay also scored points, taking fourth, while the 1,600-meter team came in fifth.

Other than Nightingale, Brooke Stetzler had the highest finish on the track by taking third in the 300-meter hurdles.

Blue Springs’ results were not available.