Jacksonville Baseball
It was a rough week for Jacksonville High School sports this week. Boys’ baseball lost all three games this week in close fashion. Granite City scratched out a run in the final innings on April 14 while in town to down the Crimsons 7-6. Chatham-Glenwood scored three runs in the bottom of the seventh inning on Tuesday to beat Jacksonville while the Crimsons were on the road 8-7. Then, the boys were out-slugged by Limestone on Friday 16-11. Crimson baseball is now 8-9 overall and 3-2 in the Central State 8 Conference. Taylorville, Normal U-High and North Greene lie ahead this week.
Jacksonville Softball
Lady Crimsons Softball had another rough week on the diamond. They lost both games this week, with Mother Nature stepping in on Saturday to postpone their game against North Greene. Softball was shut out at home by Chatham-Glenwood 6-0 on Tuesday. The Titans posted three runs in the first inning and never looked back. A six-run second inning by the Porta A/C Blue Jays on Friday put the game out of reach for the Lady Crimsons on Friday at home, as they fell 13-3. Softball is now on a five-game losing streak with one tie in between. Two conference games lie ahead in the coming week with games against non-conference foe New Berlin-South County and then Normal U-High and Decatur-Eisenhower. The Lady Crimsons are 4-6-1 overall and 0-4 in conference play.
Jacksonville Girls Soccer
It was a light week on the soccer pitch. The JHS girls’ soccer team were on the road this week as they fell to Normal U-High 9-0 on Tuesday. They then went west to take on longtime rival Quincy and fell 5-1 on Saturday. The girls are now 2-8-1 overall.
Routt Baseball
Routt baseball regrouped this week for a pair of wins after a rough week last week. The Rockets visited WIVC foe Greenfield-Northwestern on Monday and shut out the Tigers 4-0. Routt pitching tied the Tiger up in knots and avoided a pair of late-inning jams to keep the zero on the board. The Routt offense was mostly powered by timely hitting. It was timely hitting on Wednesday that made Routt’s matchup with 3A Chatham-Glenwood a candidate for the game of the year. Early MLB prospect for Chatham-Glenwood Cameron Appenzeller had a quick exit in this game after he was tossed out for arguing an out call during a stolen base attempt in the second inning. Then, it was back-and-forth baseball the rest of the way. It was Samuel Long’s two-out, bases-loaded double that drove in three runs in the bottom of the seventh inning that made the difference for the Rockets. The timely hit downed the Titans 10-9 in a walkoff. Unfortunately, the win didn’t carry over to the following day as the Rockets fell on the road in a conference game to the Carrollton Hawks 5-1. Routt is 9-4 overall and 1-3 in WIVC Conference play.
Routt SoftballThe Lady Rockets continue to search for a win in the 2025 season. Three more big losses, including two to conference opponents, was the story this week. The Lady Rockets fell to Greenfield-Northwestern 14-4 on Monday. They got beat in four innings on Tuesday by Liberty at home 25-1, and then were knotted up with a one-hit shutout on Thursday by Carrollton on the road 15-0. The Lady Rockets are 0-7 overall and 0-3 in conference play. Three more conference games are scheduled for a busy week ahead.
Routt Boys’ Track
The Routt boys 4×400 meter relay team of Owen Geirnaeirt, Kellen Creviston, Bryson Mossman and Charlie Alan broke the school record time in the relay at Pittsfield on Thursday with a time of 3:37.01. The group broke last year’s record by more than six seconds. The previous record was 3:43.68.
Cory Ronan Update
Routt Catholic High School graduate Cory Ronan has had a rough start to his junior season at the University of Hawaii. The left-hander has been primarily working in a relief role for the Rainbow Warriors. He was roughed up for two runs on one hit allowing three walks in an inning and a third of work against UC Irvine on Thursday. Ronan is 1-2 with a 6.38 ERA in ten appearances. Ronan appears to be struggling with control. Last year, Ronan only appeared in five innings for the Rainbow Warriors. He did the majority of his work in the MLB Draft League for the West Virginia Black Bears where he threw 27 ⅔ innings for a record of 1-2 across 7 appearances. The Rainbow Warriors are 25-12 on the season and are tied for third in the Big West Conference standings.
Illinois College Baseball
The Blueboys split with Ripon on Friday afternoon at Joe Brooks Field, but then swept them on Saturday to take the season series 3-1. The Blueboys improve to 21-12 on the season and take the top spot in the conference standings at 9-5. Jacksonville High School graduate Nolan Decker had a big day on Saturday in an offensive slugfest going 4-5 with 3 runs scored and 5 RBI. One of those hits was a grand slam in Game One. The Blueboys hit the road Wednesday for the series finale at Monmouth College.
Illinois College Softball
The IC Lady Blues hit their stride this week winning all six games. IC broke out the bats and added some pitching in rolling to a doubleheader sweep of Eureka on Tuesday. Jordan Closs twirled a one-hit shutout with a school-record 18 strikeouts in Game One on Tuesday. Closs returned to dominance on Friday, twirling a perfect game in Game One against Monmouth, and then teammates Taylor Henry and Avery Fritz combined on a one-hitter in Game Two. IC took the opener, 5-0, and completed the sweep with a 7-1 on the road Saturday in Mt. Vernon, Iowa against Cornell. Closs was once against dominant in Game One tossing seven shutout innings, allowing four hits with four strikeouts. The Lady Blues continue Midwest Conference play, traveling to Knox College in Galesburg on Tuesday.
Illinois College Tennis
The Illinois College men’s tennis team won its fourth-straight dual match, sweeping Monmouth in a Midwest Conference contest on Wednesday. Southwestern Illinois College used a strong singles performance to beat IC, 6-1 on Thursday at home. Lake Forest posted a 7-0 shutout of the men on Saturday. The Blueboys will conclude the regular season portion of the schedule with a visit to Kaskaskia on Tuesday. The Lady Blues Lily Ingram originally of Jerseyville became the program’s all-time winningest singles player, and the Illinois College women’s tennis team posted a 4-3 win over Southwest Illinois College on Thursday. Ingram won her historic match at No. 4 at the Bellati Tennis Courts with a straight-sets win to post her 36th career singles victory.The Lady Blues will travel to Centralia on Tuesday to begin winding down their regular season.
