Baseball Season Ends

Well, I don't have a lot of good news. The Railroader Baseball team battled to the end but they were off their game and the Blazers were on tonight. The first 4 innings were very well played and both pitchers didn't give up a run. Then Eastside found their bats and Garrett didn't. No Bats, with too many errors, too many walks and you end up with a 12-2 score.

As with the softball team, it's not how we wanted to end the season but we can be proud the Baseball team fought to the sectional finals with a lot of class. I am proud of our Coaches. I am proud of our players, and I am proud of our Fans. We are doing great things. Sometimes I look at the other teams and wonder why they act the way they do. Eastside won, but they do not hold a candle to the program we have at Garrett. Thanks Railroaders!

Softball season ends and Baseball season continues!

The girls softball team season ended yesterday as they were defeated in the sectional championship game at Denny Feagler Softball field. The lady railroaders were defeated by a hard hitting Prairie Heights team. The Garrett girls hit the ball hard, but most of the time they hit it straight to one of the fielders. PH hit the gaps and had a monster home run late in the game to seal the championship. We say farewell to our seniors Kelly Singleton, Jessica LaTurner, and Kortney Holliday. Thanks Ladies for great Softball careers. We will miss you!

The Boys Baseball team matched the girls by defeating Central Noble to make the Sectional Championship 4-3.  This was another exciting game where the Railroaders held on to a close game. Once Again Andrew Johnson made a great play from Right Field. His diving catch in Right field saved a run and the Central Noble base runner was called out at second because he thought the ball was dropped.

The Railroader Baseball program has not won a sectional championship since 1973 and this team is one win away. The game will be played Tuesday Night at the Railroader Baseball field. The first pitch will be 6pm.  Everyone needs to come out and cheer on the team. The cost for the single game admission is $5.  GOOD LUCK RAILROADERS!

TRIPLE WINNERS!

What a great night in GHS sports!

First the Girls Softball team soundly defeated Fremont in 5 innings by a score of 11-0. The team was very  well prepared and focused during the whole night. Tomorrow they will face a very tough and hard hitting Prairie Heights softball team in the championship game of the sectional. The game begins at 11am.

Second Todd Frickey made GHS Track History by becoming the first Railroader to win a 100m regional championship. The Fort Wayne Track Regional is one of the toughest in the state. Todd had a great trial and was seeded 2nd in the Finals. BUT, he was not to be defeated. Todd won the Regional by setting a new school record time of 10.8 seconds. This was on a FAT timing system and that time is FAST!  Todd will run at State next Friday Night. I can't say enough about what Coach Clifford has done to prepare his team for competition. All the regional qualifiers had great times tonight! In his first year coaching he has a conference championship and a State Qualifier! Great Job Jake and Todd!

Third, The Railroader baseball team won the first round of sectionals tonight by defeating Prairie Heights in a close game 2-1. The last inning was full of excitement. In the top of the 7th, Prairie Heights had runners on and a deep ball hit to the outfield and Andrew Johnson gunned down the Heights runner at home. It literally saved the game. Then the Panthers let GHS load the bases with one out. Andrew popped up on a foul ball.  Then Brett Schendel got his by a pitch to walk in the winning run. Great Game Coach Mireles and the Railroader Baseball team.  The team will play tomorrow at 1230pm vs. Central Noble.  The Churubusco Eagles and the Eastside Blazers will play in game #1 of the day tomorrow.

Congrats to all the railroaders for a great spring season!

Let's try this again!

Here are the schedules for the Baseball and Softball Sectional Tournaments at Garrett

Softball

     Friday - 5pm - Eastside vs Prairie Heights
                - 7pm - Fremont vs Garrett

     Saturday - Championship game - 11am

Baseball

     Friday - 5pm - Central Noble vs Fremont
                - 7:30pm - Prairie Heights vs Garrett

     Saturday - 10:00am - Churubusco vs Eastside
                    - 12:30pm - Winner game #1 vs Winner game #2

     Tuesday - Championship game - 6pm

Someone needs to pray for good weather. My prayers aren't working! I have no idea what happens if this schedule gets changed.

Lost the Battle - We will win the WAR!

The GHS Athletic Department has declared war on the weather. We have had an absolutely terrible Spring Athletic Season due to Mother Nature. But, we will not be defeated!

Even with the Eastside Tarp on the Softball field, we could not play due to the non-stop rain and storms. I went out to the field to check the field between storms and the field was ready to play. The water was draining off the tarp and in to the drains that line the infield fence. The prediction of rain tomorrow will make it tough, once again, to play, but we will keep or fingers crossed. Eventually, we will be able to play.

The schedule for tomorrow is the semi-final softball games beginning at 5pm (Eastside vs Prairie Heights) and the bye game to follow (Fremont vs Garrett). The championship game has been moved to Friday at 7pm.

Baseball Sectional begins tomorrow at Garrett also. We don't have a tarp for the Baseball field, but it drains well and we have a great grounds crew that will try to get the field ready.

WE WILL NOT BE DEFEATED!

Jordyn Knott going to State and Softball Teamwork

For the 2nd year in a row, Jordyn Knott qualified for the State Track and Field meet in Bloomington. Last year it was High Jump and this year it is in Long Jump. Jordyn and 6 other girls from the Northrup Regional jumped the state qualifying distance to earn the trip to the State meet. JOrdyn finished 5th with a jump of 17' 8 3/4". Jordyn came close in the High Jump finishing 6th. She ended her season with a jump of 5'2 1/2".

We are so proud of Jordyn and the leadership she has shown this year on the track team.  She may have set a school record for the most points scored in a season. (I'm not sure we keep that stat, but we should!)  Good Luck Jordyn!

ALSO, while Jordyn and the girls track team were competing at Regionals, GHS was hosting the "delayed" first round of the softball sectional. Last night's games were played tonight in near perfect conditions. That is amazing because it rained buckets at Northrup!  Eastside and Prairie Heights won their games to advance to tomorrow night. The Lady Railroaders will take on Fremont in the second game of the evening.

Even though the girls were not playing tonight our GHS Softball team set a great example for all the other teams to follow. They were there and helped get the field ready for tomorrows "weather".  Coach Bishop arranged to borrow the infield tarp from Eastside and the GHS Softball team stayed after the last game to put it on the field. WE ARE PROTECTED FROM THE ONSLAUGHT OF STORMS PREDICTED TOMORROW! You girls are awesome and I can't thank you enough for helping tonight!

I can't say enough about Coach Bishop, Coach Andrews, and John Bennett for working their "butts" off to get the field ready today and working tonight on OVERTIME to prepare the field for tomorrow. I also love the donation by Aaron Willard. Aaron is the AD at Eastside and also the softball coach. You couldn't meet a nicer person and someone who is AD for the right reason. He loves kids and would do anything for you. We talk about Character Counts at GHS and Aaron Willard is a prime example of excellent character.

Now with the 100% chance of rain tomorrow we are ready for anything!

Softball Sectional Postponement!

We tried! But, the efforts of our grounds crew were wasted on a couple of heavy rain cells and the field was just too wet to host the first round of the Softball Sectional at Denny Feagler field. The entire schedule will be moved back one day. Tomorrows schedule is: Churubusco vs Eastside at 5pm followed by the Central Noble Prairie Heights game. Wednesday the winner of these two games will play at 5pm and Fremont vs Garrett will follow. The Championship game will then be played on Thursday.

PRAY FOR THE RAIN TO STOP!

ACAC Champions ----- stepping it up when it counts! + Busy Saturday scores

After being away from my computer last evening, I have to share in the Golf excitement at GHS.  The Railroader golf team had lost twice previously to Woodlan, but not on Saturday.............when it counted. After 9 holes on Saturday, the railroaders trailed Woodlan by 4 strokes and led Heritage by 2, Leo by 6. Coach Kleeman told Jacob Stafford to "Keep playing, it was going to be close. Don't think your score is not important." While it didn't come down to a tie, it was very close and when Number 4 golfer, Noah Getts turned in his card, everyone knew he was going to have to shoot under 95 to beat the Warriors. NO PROBLEM! After shooting a 165 on the front nine. The Railroaders stepped it up and shot 158 on the back 9 and won their first ever ACAC Golf Championship.

Bennett Rieke shot a great 70 for the day to take medalist honors. Cam Stockdale shot 79 to earn 4th place. Karsten Cooper shot 84 to earn 2nd team all-conference honors and Noah shot 90. The good news is, none of these great golfers are seniors, so everyone is back next season. We aren't done this year and have a shot at a sectional championship. Now all focus is making it to regionals. Good Job Golfers. Make sure you get your Steak Dinner!

The other news of the day was the Garrett Baseball Invitational and the girls softball double header. Both teams split for the day.  The girls took the first one from Snider 6-2 . Kourtney Holliday only gave up 1 earned run and 5 strike outs. Jessica LaTurner had 2 hits and 2 RBI's to lead the offense.

In game 2 the Railroaders fell 3-1. Sturges, Holliday, and McCoy all pitched but the offense was quiet.

The Lady Railroaders play on Tuesday Night in the bye game of the sectional. The game will start at approximately 7pm and they will face Fremont!

The Boys Baseball Team dominated the first game of the day in the Baseball Invite, defeating Prairie Heights 13-2. Kylan LaMotte got the win with 4 strong innings. but, Noah Follett and Che Fuentes also pitched. Logan Lee was 3 for 3 and scored 3 runs. Lucas Bobay had 2 hits, 3 runs, and an impressive 4 RBI's to lead the offense. In game 2 the team fell for the second time to ACAC Conference Champions Heritage, 10-1. Brett Schendel was strapped with the loss giving up 8 hits and 6 runs in 3 innings of work. The Railroader offense was quiet getting just 2 hits and scoring one run throughout the game.

The Boys will prepare for Prairie Heights and the sectional tournament on Thursday night. 

Good Luck teams in the tournament! Bring home the Hardware!

Boys Track Sectional

Tonight the Railroader Track team traveled to East Noble to participate in the IHSAA Track Sectional. The weather was terrible but our results were good. Todd Frickey once again led the team as he has done all season. He finished a strong 1st in the 100m dash, 2nd in the 400m run, and was the anchor of the Regional Qualifying 4x100 team.  Todd has had a phenomenal track season and I can't wait to see what he can do at regionals.
The only other champion for the Railroaders was Drake Landes. Drake won the long jump.

Jaron Sommers qualified for Regionals in the 1600m run with a 2rd place finish.

The team finished 4th over-all and Todd, the 4x100 team, Drake, and Jaron will all participate in regionals next Thursday Night at Wayne High School. Good Luck Railroaders.

Seniors go out with a Blast!

Tonight was Senior Night at GHS with the Girls Softball and Boys Baseball teams hosting non-conference opponents.

The Softball Seniors Kelly Singleton, Kortney Holliday, and Jessica LaTurner were honored before the game against Prairie Heights. The Seniors led the way! Kortney Holliday pitched 7 strong innings giving up two runs early in the game. Jessica LaTurner cranked a home run early in the game and Kelly Singleton iced the game with a two run shot in the bottom of the 6th inning.   Prairie Heights displayed stellar defense . The Lady Railroaders hit the ball hard but most of the time the Heights defense had some great plays to keep us off the base paths most of the night.. The girls are now 11-11.

A pick up game with Adams Central will be played tomorrow night at Adams Central.(5pm). Both the Lady Railroaders and the Lady Jets lost several games this year to rain-outs. So, both coaches are interested in playing games instead of practicing.  The Lady Railroaders also will host the Snider Lady Panthers this Saturday in the final regular season game before Sectionals. Sectionals start on Monday but the girls will not play until late Tuesday night against Fremont in the bye game. The game will start at approximately 7pm. The championship game will be played next Wednesday night at 7pm.  Good Luck Ladies in the tournament!


The Boys Seniors also gave a great effort tonight. After being down 2-0 early in the game. The Railroaders fought back to take a 3-2 lead on a James Weber Bomb in the 4th inning. They added another run and were in the lead 4-2 going into the top of the 7th. However, Hamilton had a little fight left in them and came back to take a 6-4 lead. In the bottom of the 7th Logan Lee hit is 2nd home run in less than a week and 2nd of his career to bring the game to 6-5. But, that was all the Railroaders could put on the board and lost by that score. Seniors Elliott Yarian, Logan Lee, and Tyler Barrientes were honored before the game.  Thanks guys for your dedication to Railroader Baseball. We are proud of you.

The Boys end their season on Saturday with the Garrett Invitational tournament. The Host Railroaders take on the Prairie Heights Panthers in a Preview of the first round of Sectionals. Then the Wayne Generals and the Heritage Patriots play in game #2. Losers play in game 3 at approximately 3pm, followed by the championship game at near 5:30.

The Boys Baseball Sectional will also be played at Garrett and the Railroaders will take on Prairie Heights on Thursday night in the opening round. Good Luck Guys! We have faith in you to win the tournament and Sectionals!

Girls Sectional Track

The Lady Railroaders didn't have there best night. But, 3 individuals qualified for Regionals next Tuesday.

Laura Moynahan place 3rd  in the Shot and Discus to qualify for Regionals. She expected to qualify in the Shot but the Discus was an added bonus. She threw great!

Heather House barely missed qualifying in the 100 hurdles and qaulified easily in the 300 hurdles.

Jordyn Knott also qualified in 2 events by placing 3rd in both High Jump and Long Jump. She didn't jump her best, but this time of year it is about moving to the next level.

All 3 girls will compete in the Northrup Regional next Tuesday Night. Good Luck Ladies!

Cat and Mouse Loss

Both Garrett and Central Noble were playing it close to the vest tonight at the Denny Feagler Softball Field.  Neither team wanted to show too much considering in a little over a week they could be facing each other in the IHSAA Sectional. The game was back and forth with the Lady Railroaders losing 12-9. Kortney Holliday only pitched one inning. Macy Sturgis and Kelly Singleton pitched the middle innings. The bright spot on the pitching staff tonight was  Hannah McCoy. She pitched two strong innings of shut out ball. Garrett and Central Noble hit the ball pretty well tonight. But, errors made by both teams factored into the final outcome.

The girls face Homestead on the road tomorrow night before coming back to Garrett for Senior Night on Wednesday. We will honor Kortney, Kelly, and Jessica before the game.

I haven't heard from the Baseball team after their trip to Fremont tonight. I will let you know when I here the outcome. Wednesday is also Senior Night for the Baseball team. We will honor theses seniors before the game also.

Let's Play 2!

The Railroader Baseball team took on the Columbia City Eagles in a double header today in Garrett. The teams dodged the rain drops that seemed to surround Garrett but the team could not match the offensive fire power of the Eagles. Garrett started out strong in game 1 with back to back home runs for Brandon Porter and Logan Lee. Lee's Home Run was the first of this seniors career! However, we managed only a couple of other hits and lost the game 14-2.  Game #2 did not go much better. The final score of that game was 9-2.  The Railroaders gave up too many "extra opportunities" to hold off CC.  The team enters the final week of the regular season and completes that season next Saturday with the Garrett Invitational Baseball Tournament.

Senior Night is this Wednesday, May 18th for both the Baseball team and the Softball team. Good Luck teams as the season winds down and we head toward the tournaments.

ACAC Track Champions!

WOW! What a great night for Garrett Track and the community of Garrett. The Boys Track team took 1st place in the ACAC track meet hosted at Memorial Field in Garrett. Coach Clifford, Coach Cutler, Coach Rhoades, and Coach Lapadot, can be exceptionally proud of this accomplishment. No one expected us to beat perennial powerhouse Leo. But, with Todd Frickey, Jaron Sommers, Drake Landes, Jamarius Mitchell, Robert Deventer, Matt Schultz and a host of others, scoring in nearly every event to defeat the Lions and the rest of the ACAC.

Coach Clifford has done a wonderful job in his first year as head boys track coach. He has stepped up the training and certainly has raised the bar of expectations. The team of Coaches work together so well and that family type atmosphere has yielded great results.

The girls took 2nd behind a dominate Leo Girls team. Jordyn Knott won the Long Jump by destroying and ACAC record of 17' 3.75" that stood since 1979. Jordyn jumped 17'8" and didn't even need her final 3 jumps to win the meet.  Heather House won both hurdle races. Jordyn also won the High Jump. Laura Moynahan won the shot put and also placed in the discus.

Beyond the victory and second place finish by the teams was the great work of the people of GHS running the meet. Over 67 people gave up almost 4 hours on a Friday night to run this meet. It just shows the dedication our community has for the student-athletes of GHS. I could not be more proud of how well the meet went. It is because of the great workers and the community support. We do these things for our kids and it is exciting when we can see a championship crowned right here in Garrett!

Both teams will focus on the IHSAA journey to state which starts next week on Tuesday for the girls and Thursday for the Boys.  The goal will be to send as many to the next level as we can. GOOD LUCK RAILROADERS!

Baseball Stats

I got the Stats for Baseball late last night, (After I went to bed) But, I thought I would share them:

Brett Schendel had another great game with 10 strike-outs on the night. He gave up 3 runs in 7 innings, but Garrett bats could not help him get the win. He left the game with the score tied 3-3 in the 7th. James Weber, the Mariano Rivera of GHS, came in to close the game with 3 strong innings walking 2 and striking out 5. He got the win. Offensively, Brandon Porter drew 3 walks and a hit in his 4 plate appearances.Logan Lee was 1 for 3 with 2 base on balls. He also scored 2 of the 4 Garrett runs.

Great Effort Railroaders and Conference win at Poneto!  The Railroaders will travel to Heritage on Thursday to take on the ACAC leading Patriots. Good Luck Railroaders!

Tough Loss -- Great Win!

The Softball team took a tough loss tonight at Southern Wells 2-0.  Here are Coach Bishops comments:

Once again we made mistakes on defense 

and on the base paths early in the game and it cost us the 2 runs which was the 

final score.Southern Wells pitcher, Carter dominated us start to finish with 14 

strikeouts. We left 8 on base but could not produce a key hit.We continue to shoot 

our selves in the foot with stuff that wew constantly have been working on and 

until we learn were going to struggle. The team needs to refocus on the sectionals 

now that we are out of the conference race. Holliday took the loss giving up 2 hits 

 no earned runs , walked 3 and hit 1 batter.Katie DePew had 2 hits to lead us and 

we had 6 hits total. 

Sometimes you just have to tell it like it is! Well, we need to regroup and look to Thursday at Heritage!

I don't have the baseball information. I do know from the Southern Wells AD that Garrett defeated Southern Wells 4-3 in 10 innings. I don't know more than that! The boys also face Heritage on Thursday at Heritage before coming home vs Columbia City on Saturday.

Can't keep a good man down!

I know the players win and lose the games. I have never heard a coach get a hit, score a run, strike out a batter, or make a great defensive play. But, I have to give Coach Bishop a "gold star" for today! Coach Bishop is struggling with severe back pain that doesn't allow him to get any sleep. The our girls softball team scores 4 runs early in game 1 of our tournament, only to lose the game in 8 innings. Then he gets a nice comfortable lead in the consolation game. Then he gets drilled by a ball, WHERE? In his back! Does he complain, does he stop coaching? NO. What a great example for our kids. He has had some really tough losses this year and doesn't give up. I can't be prouder of his coaching and his coaching staff. They are working hard to get the best out of our kids! He challenges them and never gives up! Thanks Coach!

The team leaders for the day: Kortney Holliday 4 of 7 and 3 RBI's and Macy Sturgis / Kortney Holliday battled to win the 2nd game.

A very good Bishop Dwenger team defeated Manchester in the Championship game 10-1.  Great work by Rich Wisel and Mike Andrews to keep the field playable all day. Thanks to Greg Griffin for supervising and managing the tournament for me while I was out this morning. I love GHS and the team work that goes into pulling off an event like this.

GHS WINNERS!

Tonight was a great night for GHS sports. The Girls track team won 14 out of 15 events against the Central Noble Lady Cougars. The Lady Railroaders end the regular season with a 5-2 record. Jordyn Knott won 4 events. Heather House, Ariel McCoy, and Laura Moynahan won 2 events. Kaitlyn Hinkle and Brandy Dawson won 1 event each. We won all 3 relays and won by a final score of 84-39.

The Boys won by a final score of 70-62. Drake Landes won the 300 hurdles and 2nd in the 110 hurdles, and 1st in the long jump. Todd Frickey was 1st in the 100, 200, and 4x100 relay. Jamrius was on the winning 4x100 relay and got 2nd in the 100 and 200. Kendal Slabaugh was 1st in the 1600 and 2nd in the 800.  Jordan Lantz won the 3200 and Connor Foster got 2nd. Deventer and Schlutz were 1 and 2 in the Discus.

To continue the winning,

The Girls Softball team came from behind tonight to defeat Bluffton. After getting down 4-1, the Lady Railroaders stormed back and won the game 11-6. I don't have stats yet, but will relay them when i get them.

The Boys Baseball team, just like Softball, came from behind to defeat Bluffton. The Railroaders got down 2-0 in the first inning, came back to make it 2-1. Then Bluffton, then scored 3 more runs to make it 5-1. However, the Railroaders fought back and won the game 6-5 in the bottom of the 6th. I was so impressed with the fight of this team. We had some great base running when we needed it and got a great defensive play in the top of the 7th. A ball was hit deep to right field with a runner on 2nd. Andrew Johnson through to Kylan LaMotte (the cut-off) who then through home to Porter to tag the runner out at home. What a great play!

I am always proud of our teams, but I always get excited when we fight even after we get down in a game or coantest. Great Work Teams!

Baseball falls to SA

The baseball team fell to South Adams in ACAC action on Tuesday. The team fell behind early but rallied with 4 runs in the second inning to take the lead.  However, we gave up 4 runs in the 5th and 2 in the 6th to seal the game for the Starfires.

The Railroaders were led by Logan Lee with 2 hits in 4 at bats. Coach Mireles and the team have the night off tonight and time to work on improving our skills. Next up, the Railroaders will host the Bluffton Tigers on Thursday night.

Good Luck Team, keeping working at it!

Another ACAC victory for Softball

The softball team got another ACAC victory tonight at South Adams, shutting out the Starfires 10-0 in 7 innings. Kourtney Holiday earned the victory on the mound and at the plate. She led the team with 3 hits and had 2 RBIs. Alexis Metzger, Katie Depew, and Jessica Laturner each had 2 hits.

Great performance!

Track Stats

The girls track team easily defeated both Southern Wells and Woodlan tonight in the final ACAC track meet of the regular season. The girls improved to 4-2 in regular season meets. Jordyn Knott took 1st place in the 200, 400, High Jump, and Long Jump. Heather House won both hurdle events. Laura Moynahan won both throwing events. The Lady Railroaders also won the 4x800 relay and the 4x400 relays. Jordyn, Heather, and Emma Riedley all placed in 4 events.

Great job Ladies!

The Boys also defeated both ACAC opponents. Todd Frickey won the 100, 200, 400, and 4x100 relay with Jamarius, Christian, and Desmond.  Jamarius was also 2nd in the 100, 200 and 3rd in long jump. Drake Landes got 1st in Long Jump and 2nd in both hurdle events. He was also a part of the 4x400 winning team. Robert Deventer was 1st in Discus and Matt Schultz was 2nd. Coach Clifford and Lapadot expressed pride in their senior leaders and is happy about the times improving!

Great Job Men!

Double the Fun!

Tonight the Softball and Baseball teams had some fun at the expense of a potential Sectional Opponent. The Girls  took 8 innings but they defeated Churubusco by a score of 5-4. Garrett led most of the game 3-1. In the top of the 7th inning the Lady Eagles  came back and tied the game 4-4. Both teams had plenty of opportunities to win the game, but it was the Lady Railroaders who came through in the bottom of the 8th with the "W". Coach Bishop lost a few more hairs tonight. (He doesn't have many to lose!) But we are proud of how this team competes!

The Boys dominated Central Noble (Last years Sectional Champions). The final score was 7-1. Noah Follet got the win. But, Coach Mireles worked his young pitchers to get the win and Weber came in to close it out in the 7th.

Both teams travel to South Adams tomorrow for another ACAC match-up. Good Luck teams!