All-stars: Gates, Gray top players Right

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Product: ENQUIRER PubDate: 04-10-2008 Zone: Late Edition: 1 Page Name: C12.0
Time: 04-09-2008 22:23 User: jpleshinger
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C12 THURSDAY, APRIL 10, 2008
THE ENQUIRER
HIGH SCHOOLS
BOWLING ALL-STARS
SELECTED BY ENQUIRER REPORTER TOM GROESCHEN BASED ON RECOMMENDATIONS FROM AREA COACHES
BOYS’ BOWLER OF THE YEAR
Craig Sherrill, Elder
The senior averaged 207 this season,
and got his team to the state tournament
with a 284 in his final game at districts. He
finished seventh at districts and 27th at the state
meet.
BOYS’ COACH OF THE YEAR
Ray Littelmann, Elder
GIRLS’ BOWLER OF THE YEAR
Amy Wormus, McAuley
The senior led the city with a 187.3 average, including a 277 game. She finished
seventh at the state meet. She was GGCL
Scarlet bowler of the year, and led her
team to fifth-place finishes at the district
and state meets.
GIRLS’ COACH OF THE YEAR
Kim DeLaet, McAuley
His squad was sectional champion,
fifth at districts and 13th at the state
tournament. Elder was the only Cincinnati boys’ team to qualify to the state
meet.
BOYS’ FIRST TEAM
Bill Lipps, Oak Hills
The senior was one of the area’s most
dominant bowlers this season, with a
225.8 average. He was GMC Bowler of the
Year for the second consecutive season.
Rick Lane, Anderson
The senior averaged 206.8 for the season. He was district runner-up, and finished 14th at the state meet with a 654
series. He had a high game of 279.
Kyle Black, North College Hill
The senior averaged 216 for the season,
was sectional runner-up and led his team
to the district meet, where he shot a 265
game.
Billy Kingsolver, Mason
The senior averaged 219.1 for the season, with a high of 278. He helped lead
his team to a sectional championship, and
he finished 17th at districts.
HONORABLE MENTION
Fairfield – Scott Foster; Glen Este – Dustin Brinson; Hamilton –
Jimmy Ryan, Nick Wilson; Lakota West – Derrick Sharp; Mason – Mark
Allen; Northwest – Jerrod Ahr, Zac Mousie; Oak Hills – Alex McIntosh;
St. Xavier – Chris Weber.
Her team won a sectional championship,
finished fifth at districts and also finished
fifth at the state tournament. It was McAuley’s second consecutive fifth-place finish at
the state tournament, the top finish each
year by a Cincinnati girls’ team.
GIRLS’ FIRST TEAM
Jerrica Guzzi, Wilmington
The senior led the Fort Ancient Valley
Conference with a 186.4 for the season,
including a high game of 257. She repeats as Enquirer all-area.
Nicole Oehler, McAuley
The senior averaged 185.2 for the season, with a high game of 257. She finished seventh at sectionals and 14th at
districts.
Rita Yoder, Wilmington
The senior was FAVC Cardinal bowler of
the year. She averaged 185.0 for the season, with a high game of 239.
Sue Butscha, Mercy
The senior averaged 182.2 for the season, with a high game of 237. She tied
for third at districts with a 577 series.
HONORABLE MENTION
Amelia – Amber Kellerman; Badin – Ali Schneider; Glen Este –
Noelle Beagle; Harrison – Jessika Denny; McAuley – Andrea Dollenmeyer, Katie Ruehl; Northwest – Kristen Minix; Oak Hills – Chelsey
Shelton; Seton – Nicole Kettler; Winton Woods – Jazmine Burton, Brittany Studer.
Enquirer file
Withrow’s Yancy Gates will play at
Cincinnati next season after
averaging 21.2 points and 10.8
rebounds as a senior.
Enquirer fie
Lakota West’s Amber Gray will play
her college ball at Tennessee,
which won its eighth national
championship Tuesday.
All-stars: Gates,
Gray top players
From Page C1
Associated Press Division I player
of the year. She is rated No. 10 overall in her class by Collegiate Girls
Basketball Report.
Gray, when asked about her
achievements, always has deflected praise to others.
“I’m proud of my career, but people don’t understand why I always
give credit to my teammates,” Gray
said. “They’re the ones getting me
the ball. It’s a team sport, not an individual sport.”
Gray goes to the ultimate women’s program in Tennessee, which
Tuesday won its eighth national title under coach Pat Summitt.
“(Amber) certainly has great
range,” Summitt recently told The
Enquirer. “With her physique, she
can go inside and post up and play
off the dribble. She’s got a strong
set of offensive skills that give her
even more versatility.”
The most dominant area boys’
player, Gates, also has a well-rounded game.
The 6-9, 255-pound Gates has a
repertoire that includes inside power moves, plus a feathery shooting
touch from outside.
Gates this season averaged 21.2
points, 10.8 rebounds, 1.9 blocks
and 1.7 assists a game. He was Associated Press Division I state player of the year, Southwest District
player of the year and Cincinnati
Metro Athletic Conference player
of the year. He was named to the
Parade All-America fourth team,
putting him among the nation’s top
40 players.
Gates also put in his work outside the gym. He has spent time
running the steps at Nippert, running laps at Withrow’s track and bicycling at Lunken Playfield.
Gates learned to deal with constant double- and triple-teaming by
defenders.
“I had a lot of good players
around me,” Gates said. “That
helped me a lot.”
Gates received all-area recognition as a junior but was not player of
the year, and that was one of his
goals this season.
“He felt he was becoming unnoticed, so he worked hard over the
summer,” Withrow coach Walt
McBride said. “He loves a challenge. He put up the numbers.”
Softball: McNicholas 3, Badin 0
Right-hander Ferris wheels and deals for Rockets
By Mark Schmetzer
Enquirer contributor
Greg Stilzel doesn’t mind admitting that he’ll be glad when Ronni
Ferris graduates from McNicholas.
In fact, “glad” doesn’t quite go far
enough for the Badin softball
coach.
“Very glad,” Stilzel said Wednesday after watching the Rockets senior throw a no-hitter in McNicholas’ 3-0 win over the visiting Rams.
“We knew what we were facing in
coming down here.”
Ferris, an Enquirer all-star last
season, rang up 14 strikeouts and
finished with a flourish by striking
out the side in the seventh inning
while improving her personal record to 5-0 and helping the Rockets
– the No. 2 team in the Enquirer Divisions II-IV coaches’ poll – get to
6-0 overall and 3-0 in the Girls’
Greater Cincinnati League Grey
Division.
No. 5 Badin fell to 4-4 overall and
3-1 in the GGCL Grey, a half-game
behind McNicholas.
“We knew it’d be a battle,” Stilzel
said. “I thought we did a pretty
good job getting into position to
make things happen. We had the ty-
ing runs in scoring position twice,
but when you have somebody as
dominating as Ronni, it’s tough getting things going.”
The lead McNicholas built in the
second inning and added to in the
fifth was threatened when the
Rams loaded the bases with two
outs in the third inning and had runners on second and third with one
out in the sixth. Ferris caught junior Lindsey Williams’ popup to
end the third-inning threat and got
junior Whitney Mueller and senior
Ashley Crossley swinging to end
the sixth, starting a string of five
consecutive strikeouts to end the
game. She issued just one walk and
hit two batters while putting together her first no-hitter of the season
“When you have
somebody as
dominating as
Ronni, it’s tough
getting things
going.”
Badin coach Greg Stilzel
on McNicholas pitcher Ronni Ferris
and eighth in the last two years.
The Rockets, who allowed just
six runs while going 26-2 last season, posted their fourth shutout
this year.
“We’re still learning,” McNicho-
las coach Kathy Lach said. “We
have a lot of inexperience. They’re
jelling. They know what to do.
That’s half the battle.”
McNicholas put together a 2-0
lead with two out in the second inning. Senior Katie Losekamp
walked and scored when junior
Brie Powers’ hard grounder up the
middle on junior right-hander Stacie Weber’s first pitch got through
for a double.
Freshman catcher Hannah
“Hank” Schoolfield launched the
next pitch over Williams’ head in
left field for another run-scoring
double.
McNicholas is focused on taking
the season one step at a time –
league and sectional tournament
before trying for what Lach described as the “elusive” district.
Ferris, who didn’t know she had
a no-hitter until told after the game,
is a little more impatient after seeing her team lose to eventual state
champion Greenville in the district
final last season.
“We’ve never won a district in
my career here,” said the St. Louis
University-bound
right-hander,
who set the team’s single-game
strikeout record with 19 against Seton last Saturday. “It would be nice
to get a district – getting past that
game.”
Badin ............000 000 0
–0 0
2
McNicholas ...020 010 x
–3 7
3
WP – Ferris (5-0, 14 Ks); LP – Weber (4-4). Leaders: M –
Hollenkamp 2-3; Powers 2-3, 2B, RBI; H. Schoolfield 2B, RBI.
Records: B 4-4 (3-1 GGCL Grey), M 6-0 (3-0 GGCL Grey).
0000252815
Senior strikes out
14 as McNicholas
improves to 6-0