Valazquez and Nichols play in ninth-annual Battle of the Border, Bulldog weekend sports round-up

By FRED KRONER
fred@mahometnews.com

Abbie Velazquez’s senior season in basketball started on Sunday.

And, the former Mahomet-Seymour athlete was in the starting lineup in the ninth-annual Battle of the Border, an all-star series between athletes from western Indiana and east central Illinois.

She was surprised to be included on the Illinois team roster.

“I thought my basketball was over,” Velazquez said.

As a December graduate, she didn’t play for the Bulldogs in what was her senior season.

However, she and another M-S senior, Lakeida Nichols, were selected for the east Central Illinois squad.

“I always wanted to play basketball and I thought it was done,” Velazquez said. “I’m glad I got one more game.”

Not surprisingly, Velazquez wasn’t in mid-season form in her return to the court.

She was held scoreless in a game where the Indiana all-stars captured a 62-46 victory.

“I didn’t do so good, but I should have expected that,” Velazquez said. “I’m definitely out of shape.”

Nichols, meanwhile, was the game’s most dominant player.

She was the only person with a double-double, scoring 12 points and pulling down 12 rebounds.

“I was trying to do whatever I can,” said Nichols, who used part of her pre-game time to talk with teammates she was meeting for the first time.

“I needed to know what to expect and who to pass to,” Nichols said. “We kind of clicked once we got it going.”

Indiana scored the game’s first six points, before Illinois regrouped and surged ahead, 20-19 with 2 minutes, 34 seconds left in the first half.

Illinois was still in contention, trailing only 34-32 in the final 20 seconds of the third quarter.

Nichols, who has been participating in track since the M-S basketball season ended, has not yet selected a college, but said she hopes to have the chance to play basketball.

“This was another time to get out and play,” she said. “It was really nice.”

The Battle of the Border is a two-game series, one played at an Indiana high school and one at an Illinois high school.

The girls’ finale will be played at 5 p.m. on Saturday at Bismarck-Henning/Rossville-Alvin High School.

For Velazquez, who is attending Parkland College and majoring in psychology, that means six more days to work on her game.

The possibility exists that it won’t be her final game.

“I’ve thought about trying out (at Parkland),” she said.

Boys’ track and field

Hunter Hendershot was a two-event winner in Saturday’s Rantoul Invitational.

He took control in the shot put (53 feet, 11 inches) and the discus (168-9).

Teammate C.J. Shoaf secured two runner-up finishes. He was second in the high jump (6-3) and in the 110-meter high hurdles (15.55 seconds).

Another Bulldog runner-up was pole vaulter Corey Cebulski (13-0).

Chicago Heights Bloom won team honors in the 15-school meet with 111 points.

M-S was sixth with 57 points.

The Bulldogs return to action today at home against Monticello.

Girls’ track and field

Cece Abramson won the  pole vault (10 feet, 6 inches) and two teammates finished as the runner-up in their events on Friday as M-S placed fifth in the 16-school Triad Invitational in Troy.

Meet champion Belleville West had 185 points. M-S had 70 points.

Bulldogs who were second were Brisa McGrath in the 3,200 meters (11:47.56) and Lakeida Nichols in the long jump (16-7).

Nichols also finished fourth in the 100 meters (12.86 seconds).

The other individual placers for the Bulldogs were Elizabeth Sims (fourth in the 1,600 at 5:30.49), Mara Pletcher (fifth in the pole vault at 9-0), Sylvia Byron (seventh in the triple jump at 32-10 1/2) and Olivia Bunting (eighth in the 800 meters in 2:31.40).

M-S also received 27 points from its relay teams, all of which finished either in fourth or fifth place.

The Bulldogs return to action on Friday in the Bloomington Invitational.

Softball

Mahomet-Seymour bounced back from a first-game loss on Saturday at Effingham to salvage a split of their Apollo Conference doubleheader.

The Hearts won the opener, 4-1. M-S took the nightcap, 3-1.

Allison Nofziger, Karley Yergler and Julia McNaught had hits in both games.

In the first game, Yergler drove in Nofziger with the lone M-S run.

Yergler pitched six innings, allowing four hits while walking two and striking out eight.

Aubrie Shore also pitched a complete game. She worked all seven innings in the second game, scattering five hits, walking no one and fanning seven.

Effingham scored its lone run in the bottom of the seventh inning.

McNaught and Emma Clements each had two second-game hits for M-S.

Ashley Wheeler launched a home run in the nightcap, her third of the season.

M-S (7-3) returns to action today at home against Centennial.

Girls’ soccer

The Bulldogs reached a season-high for goals on Thursday, overrunning Charleston 10-1 in an Apollo Conference match on the road.

Ten M-S players had either a goal or an assist.

Cayla Koerner and Brea Benson each had hat tricks for M-S.

Maddie Wade hit two goals. Mackenzie Moore scored the first goal of the match and Lauren Schnepper hit the final one.

Seven squad members had assists: Nyah Biegler, Maddie Claybrooke, Koerner, Haley Lester, Grace Lietz, Maddie Louis and Moore.

Noelle Bailey recorded three saves.

A day after hitting their high mark for goals, the Bulldogs were blanked, 1-0, by Stevens Point (Wis.) in first-round action of the Urbana Invitational.

Bailey had three saves.

The Bulldogs rebounded on Saturday in the consolation bracket at Urbana, edging St. Thomas More, 2-1.

Koerner scored the first goal. Moore also scored, with an assist from Brooke Benson.

In the consolation finals, the Bulldogs picked up their eighth shutout of the season, 2-0 over Marshfield (Wis.).

Wade scored the first goal, assisted by Chloe Buzicky. The final score came courtesy of Biegler, unassisted.

Bailey collected three saves.

M-S (11-1) returns to action on Tuesday with a home match against Lincoln.

Baseball

M-S pitchers gave up eight home runs in a doubleheader loss on Saturday at home against Effingham.

The visiting Hearts won the opener 10-4 and captured the second game, 16-6, in a six-inning contest.

The Bulldogs had one home run in each game.

Rick Bohlen hit one in the first game and Dawson Finch homered in the nightcap.

Kyle Kinney was the only Bulldog with hits in each game.

Jordan Veldman scored two runs in each game and collected two hits in the second game.

Quinn Miller was 3-for-3 and Finch was 2-for-2 in the nightcap. Finch had three RBI.

Kinney was kayoed in the first inning after pitching one-third of an inning. He allowed seven runs, only three of which were earned.

In the opener, Kobe Essien struck out 11 in his 4 2/3-inning stint. He allowed three hits.

M-S (6-4-1) returns to action on Tuesday at Bloomington Central Catholic, seeking t o snap a four-game losing streak.