Weekend Round-up: Region baseball, softball tournaments begin Monday

PHOTO: Allen Ramsey, DWCPhoto.com. Highlands freshman Josie Daley (28) slides in for a run in Thursday's 36th District championship game. Highlands opens the 9th Region Tournament against Beechwood on Monday.

The Highlands baseball and softball teams received good draws for the 9th Region quarterfinals Saturday.

Both 36th District championship teams play in the first games Monday. The Bluebirds (29-6 overall) take on the 34th District runner-up St. Henry Crusaders (13-17) at 10 a.m. at University of Cincinnati Medical Center Park. Highlands finished 12-2 in region play during the regular season including an 11-1 win over St. Henry on May 9 at Covington Catholic. The Bluebirds finished 8-2 against teams in the tournament with the only two losses coming to Covington Catholic.

The winner takes on either Beechwood or Boone County on Tuesday at 5 p.m. The winner plays for the region championship at 7 p.m. Wednesday. The Bluebirds are hoping to make it back to the title game and win it after falling short last year and in 2012.

The Ladybirds (22-8) begin defense of their region crown against Beechwood (10-15) at 11 a.m. at Northern Kentucky University. Highlands is 13-3 against the region including a 15-0 four-inning run-ruling of the Lady Tigers on April 29. Highlands finished 5-3 against the tournament field.

The winner battles either Conner or Dixie Heights at 4:30 p.m. on Tuesday. The championship is Thursday at 5:30 p.m.

The lower part of the softball bracket sees Newport Central Catholic (20-10) take on Notre Dame (23-6) at 3 p.m. NewCath is 13-6 against the region including a 4-1 loss at Notre Dame on May 12. The Thoroughbreds are 4-4 against the field. The winner faces either Ryle or St. Henry at 6 p.m. Tuesday.

Newport Central Catholic (14-19) drew Dixie Heights (15-10) at 7 p.m. Monday in the last quarterfinal game of the baseball tournament. The Thoroughbreds struggled against the field going 10-13 overall in region play and 2-9 against the field. But NewCath went 1-1 against Dixie Heights losing 3-2 on April 11 before winning the 3-0 on May 4.

The winner plays in the second semifinal game Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. Ryle or Covington Catholic will be the opponent.

Track and Field:
Highlands narrowly misses second state championship:

The Highlands boys track team hoped to win a second straight Class AA state championship. But Paducah Tilghman edged the Bluebirds, 81-80 on Friday in Lexington while the Highlands girls took fifth with 35 points.

Ethan Shuley captured three gold medals to lead Highlands. He won the mile race in 4:18.81 and the two-mile in 9:29.28 and helped the two-mile relay team capture gold along with Devin Dupont, Matthew Gray and Will Backsheider. Geoffrey Mearns finished fourth in the mile in 4:34.91 and fifth in the two-mile in 9:59.25.

Senior Alex Veneman won the 400 in 49.38 seconds and finished third in the 200 in 22.20. He helped the mile relay team finish second with Dupont, Gray and Jared Pulsfort.

On the girls side, Rosmanie Long won the triple jump with 36 feet, one-quarter inch. Mikayla Reichert finished third in the discus tossing it 118 feet, 11 inches and finished fifth in the shot put at 33-08.