CENTRAL TENNIS TEAM WINS FIRST DISTRICT TITLE IN AT LEAST 15 YEARS

ST. LOUIS -- For the first time in at least 15 years, Cape Girardeau Central High School's boys tennis team can call itself district champion.

Competing in the Class 4A, District 1 Tournament at Lindbergh High School Wednesday, the Tigers ran away with the title in the 10-team meet, scoring 25 points.

Oakville was a distant second with 16 points while Farmington placed third with 15.5 points.

Central and Oakville both advance to the four-team sectional meet May 20 at Kirkwood, from where the champion advances to the state tournament May 25 in Springfield.

Central also qualified a doubles team for the individual state tourney May 26-27 in Springfield as Mick Metzger and Trevor Blattner won the district title. The top two in singles and doubles Wednesday made the state cut.

According to Central coach Bud Craven, the Tigers' previous best district finish had been a second place in 1986. It is not known when the Tigers last won a district title.

"It was really exciting and it's a great accomplishment for our team," said Craven. "Since I've been coaching the last six years, we'd never won district, made it to sectional or had anybody qualify for state."

Metzger and Blattner were only seeded third, but they defeated four opponents to claim the crown. The wins were 6-0, 6-0 over a team from Poplar Bluff; 6-2, 6-1 over a Farmington squad; 6-4, 2-6, 6-2 over the No. 2 seeded team from Oakville; and 2-6, 6-2, 6-4 over a Poplar Bluff squad in the finals.

"They played excellent," Craven said. "They won an unbelievably tough match against the team from Oakville."

Central's other doubles team of Andrew Eaton and Eric Daume pulled off a major upset by beating Lindbergh's top-seeded team 6-1, 6-4 before losing to Poplar Bluff 6-4, 4-6, 6-1.

In singles, the Tigers Paul Miller won his first match 6-4, 6-3 over a player from Farmington before falling to his Oakville foe 6-2, 6-1. Also, Andy Tansil was beaten in the first round by Sikeston's Steven Pobst 7-5, 6-1.

BASEBALL

Chaffee 10, Poplar Bluff 5

POPLAR BLUFF -- Chaffee, after Monday's 10-0 drubbing at the hands of Sikeston, got back on the winning track by knocking off Poplar Bluff.

"It was a good win for us," said Chaffee coach Brian Horrell, whose squad improved its record to 16-5.

Matt Stroup, who had been struggling lately, got back on track with six solid innings to get the win. Stroup allowed eight hits and four runs while striking out 10 and walking four.

"I thought Matt looked real good," Horrell said. "He'd been struggling lately, but he had his velocity back. He was kind of wild early, but he really settled down."

Tommy Stidham hurled the final inning, allowing no hits and an unearned run while fanning two.

Chaffee had 10 hits, two each by Stroup, Perry Rice, Travis Hanback and Zac Horman. Hanback and Stidham both drove in two runs.

The Red Devils will close out the regular season today when they travel to East Prairie to resume a game that had been halted by rain Tuesday with Chaffee leading 8-1 in the fourth inning.

Oran 5, Hayti 2

ORAN -- Oran got a great pitching performance from freshman Trey Graviett and one run batted in from five different players as the Eagles improved to 9-10.

Graviett pitched a complete game and struck out 10 while walking none. He allowed just five hits and both of the runs scored against him were unearned.

Nathan Seyer, Oran's No. 9 hitter, was the only Eagle with more than one hit. He went 2-for-2 with an RBI.

Oran scattered seven hits.

"I guess we made our hits count," said Oran assistant coach Larry Boshell. "I was just thrilled to get the win."

SOFTBALL

Oran 12, Chaffee 8

ORAN -- Chaffee ended its successful season with a loss, just its second setback of the season.

Misty Senciboy picked up the win for Oran, going the distance and giving up 10 hits and five walks while fanning four.

For Chaffee, Jill Little and Casey Graviett each had two hits and doubled.

Ashley Pepple went the distance and suffered the loss for the Lady Red Devils (13-2). Pepple struck out seven, walked four and allowed 13 hits. Only six of Oran's 13 runs were earned.

"We had a very good season," said Chaffee coach Mark Devenport. "We had a lot of players step into starting positions and accept their roles."

Oran, which was the visiting team despite playing on its home field, took an 8-1 lead into the bottom of the fourth, but Chaffee made a game of it with six runs to cut the lead to 8-7. But Oran responded with four in the top of the fifth and Chaffee couldn't catch up.

BOYS GOLF

BONNE TERRE -- St. Vincent capped a brilliant regular season by running away with the Jefferson County Conference Championship at Terre-du-lac Country Club.

The Indians, who have qualified their entire team for next week's Class 1A state meet, are 15-2 overall and 13-1 in the conference.

St. Vincent led the way with a score of 304, followed by Festus (340), St. Pius (347), Hillsboro (348), Perryville (352), Herculaneum (358), De Soto (364) and Crystal City (404).

St. Vincent also swept the individual awards as it placed five golfers on the all-conference team which consists of the top 10 golfers.

Wes Richardet, with a 1-over-par 73, was the tournament medalist. He was followed by teammates Craig Schumer (75), Ryan Prost (78), and Jon Paulus and Mark Gotto, who each scored 82.

Perryville's Jeff Hotop (85) made the team as he tied for 10th place.