By FRED KRONER
fred@mahometnews.com
Aubrie Shore continued her stellar freshman season on Saturday, slugging four home runs, driving in 10 runs and pitching a three-hit shutout as the Bulldogs swept an Apollo Conference doubleheader from visiting Taylorville.
M-S won the opener 7-0 and the nightcap 21-1 in four innings.
Shore hit one home run in the opener. She pitched a complete game, walking one and striking out six batters in seven innings.
She pounded three home runs and drove in eight runs in the second game to support the five-hit pitching of Ashley Wheeler, who walked one and struck out one.
Bulldogs with hits in both games, besides Shore, were Ashley Campbell, Layne Acree, Madi Scott and Kameryn Brotherton.
Campbell was 3-3 in the first game and tripled in the second contest. Julia McNaught collected three hits and three runs in the second game.
Others scoring three runs in the nightcap were Acree, Shore, Campbell and Carlee Scott.
M-S has an 8-5 season record and a 4-4 mark in Apollo Conference action.
For the season, Shore has a school-record 11 home runs. She has hit at least one home run in nine of her last 10 games as well as in seven consecutive Apollo Conference contests.
Girls’ soccer
Meredith Johnson-Monfort scored twice as Mahomet-Seymour stayed unbeaten in Apollo Conference matches with a 6-0 win against Mount Zion on Thursday.
On Friday, she netted her 100th career goal as the Bulldogs (13-2) edged visiting St. Thomas More.
Against the Braves (7-8), Johnson-Monfort scored what proved to be the decisive goal on a direct free kick from 25 yards 20 minutes into the contest.
By halftime, Erin Lenschow had scored and M-S was credited with a third score on an own goal.
During the final half, Mackenzie Moore and Lily Isaac joined Johnson-Monfort in adding goals.
Goalkeeper Sarah Hohenstein had four saves in her 10th shutout of the spring.
Lenschow and Moore had assists as did Haley Lester and Maddy Wade.
M-S has a 5-0 record in Apollo Conference matches.
Against the Sabers (10-3), Johnson-Monfort had a goal and two assists as the Bulldogs overcame a 2-0 deficit to earn a 3-2 triumph.
Lenschow scored in the final minutes of the half, cutting the M-S deficit to 2-1 at intermission.
Johnson-Monfort scored the equalizer in the second half and assisted Moore on the go-ahead tally.
Hohenstein had three saves.
For the season, the Bulldogs have allowed nine goals in 15 matches and no opponent has scored more that two goals.
In junior varsity action, M-S (11-0-2) blanked Mount Zion 2-0 and St. Thomas More 3-0.
Baseball
Leadoff batter Austin Biehl had three hits and scored three runs as the Bulldogs shutout Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley 7-0 on Thursday.
Biehl also pitched a hitless seventh inning, striking out two. Winning pitcher Dawson Finch worked the first six innings, striking out 12 while scattering three hits.
Other leading batsmen for the Bulldogs — with two hits apiece — were Jordan Veldman, Brooks Coetzee and Kyle Kinney.
On Saturday, M-S (8-4) swept a twin bill at Taylorville, following a 13-3 first-game win with an 11-0 second-game triumph.
Veldman, Kinney and Cory Noe highlighted the Bulldogs’ 12-hit attack in the opener with two hits each.
Kinney slugged a home run and drove in three runs. Veldman and Finch each had two RBI.
Kinney and Jack McHale each scored three runs.
Tanner Kirts earned the pitching win. He worked 3 1/3 innings and fanned four batters. Kyle Mumm struck out six in his 2 2/3-inning relief stint.
In the nightcap, Noe and Kinney teamed up for the Bulldogs’ fourth shutout of the season while combining on a two-hitter.
Noe pitched 5 1/3 innings and struck out seven.
Noe and Charlie Grant each had two hits. Grant knocked in four runs. Dylan Gates had two RBI.
Bulldogs with hits in each game were Gates, Kinney, Noe and Coetzee,
In Apollo Conference games, the Bulldogs have a 3-3 record after the sweep at Taylorville.
Boys’ track and field
The Bulldogs had record-setting performances in meets on both Friday and Saturday.
Mathias Powell lowered the school record in the 3,200 meters in Saturday’s Palatine Distance Classic, clocking 9 minutes, 14.76 seconds. He finished ninth in the elite field. The winning time was 9:06.
The previous M-S mark was 9:16.42, set by Alex Keeble in 2016.
Teammate Riley Fortune ran the 1,600 meters in 4:27.0, the best time this spring among area athletes. He placed 39th. The winning time was 4:08.
Powell and Fortune were the lone Bulldogs to compete at Palatine.
On Friday night, M-S placed second to the host school at the Normal Community Invitational.
The team’s highlight was a meet-record in the discus by Hunter Hendershot (170 feet), which is also an area-best thus far in 2018. Hendershot also won the shot put (50-0).
Bryson Keeble won the 1,600 in 4:42.0 and Adam Von Holten led a 1-2 Bulldog finish in the 300 hurdles. The winning time was 42.3. Runner-up Peter Slezak was timed in 45.0.
Slezak placed third in the 100 hurdles (17.5).
Individually, other M-S standouts included Brandon Bretz (second in the 200 at 23.0), Corey Cebulski (second in the pole vault at 12-6), Noah Powell (third in the triple jump at 37-7) and C.J. Shoaf (fourth in the high jump at 5-10).
Normal Community amassed 168 points. The second-place Bulldogs had 108.
M-S pole vaulter Callan Whitehouse is sidelined with a back injury that may keep him inactive for another week. Keeble filled in for Whitehouse on the 1,600 relay, shortly after winning the open 1,600, and ran a 56-second split. M-S was second in the meet-ending relay.
M-S was also second in the 400 varsity relay as well as the freshmen-sophomore 800 relay.
Girls’ track and field
Mahomet-Seymour won five individual events and three relays to capture team honors in Friday’s Normal Community Invitational.
The Bulldogs had a double winner in distance runner Brisa McGrath. She won the 1,600 meters in 5 minutes, 32.1 seconds and the 3,200 meters in 11:43.4.
Jessica Franklin captured the 300 hurdles in a meet-record time of 46.1 seconds.
Other teammates with first-place performances were Lakeida Nichols (100 meters, 12.7) and Mara Pletcher (pole vault, 11-6).
The victorious relays were the 400 varsity, the 1,600 varsity and the 1,600 freshmen-sophomore.
Two Bulldogs were members of both winning varsity relays, Nichols and Destiny Pryor. Also on the 400 foursome were Stacey Irwin and Sylvia Byron. The 1,600 unit also featured Pletcher and Jessica Franklin.
The underclassmen on the other victorious 1,600 relay were Madi Balbach, Gretchen Scheele, Olivia Bunting and Alexa Franklin.
Byron had runner-up efforts in both the 300 hurdles (50.1) and the triple jump (34-4) and placed third in the 100 hurdles (16.4).
Amanda Franklin was second in the discus (104-7), Jessica Franklin was second in the 100 hurdles (16.4) and Balbach was second in the 800 meters (2:30.8).
Bunting was third in the 1,600 (5:46.1), Irwin was fourth in the 100 meters (13.1), Nichols was fourth in the long jump (15-3 1/2) and Jessica Franklin took fifth in the long jump (15-3 1/2).
Other top-placing relays were the varsity 800 (third) and the varsity 3,200 (fourth).
As a team, the Bulldogs totaled 148 points. Runner-up Metamora had 120 points.
No M-S athletes qualified for the Palatine Distance Classic on Saturday.
