Leopold hires basketball coach

The last vacancy in the local high school boys basketball coaching ranks was filled recently when Leopold hired Shawn Dugger as its coach.

Dugger comes from Marquand, where he led the Tigers to the Mississippi Valley Conference tournament title this past season.

With the Wildcats position filled, there have now been four coaching changes in the area this offseason: Scott County Central hired former Bell City coach David Heeb, Oak Ridge brought in Jackson assistant John Martin, and Bell City replaced Heeb with former Caruthersville coach Brian Brandtner.

Deason's perfecto

Kelly pitcher Kent Deason had not pitched a no-hitter at any level prior to Tuesday's perfect game in a 2-0 win against Portageville. He struck out two and induced 13 groundouts.

"I've got to give a lot of credit to the defense," Deason said. "The outfield, middle infield and third base made some real good plays behind me."

The Hawks had made six errors -- the first six errors of the season -- the previous week in a 10-0 loss to Clearwater.

But they used some homefield help to thwart Portageville's effort. Two hard-hit fly balls to left were held up in the wind and caught.

"They would have been out of here -- there's no question," Kelly coach Cory Johnson said. "But that's what we have here -- a homefield advantage -- and we know that on most days the wind is blowing straight in and fly balls are going to hang up. As soon as they're hit, we know we're not going to give up anything because we'll probably have an opportunity to make a play on them."

Portageville coach Lee Wallace said, "Their pitcher threw strikes. He didn't overpower us, but he pitched.

"This is the best we've hit the ball this season, and we don't have a hit to show for it," Wallace added, "but I'm pleased with the way we swung the bat. That's about as good as I've ever felt about getting no-hit and beat."

Academic honors

The Missouri State High School Activities Association recognized qualified athletic teams with its Scholastic Achievement Awards in the recently released March-April edition.

Those teams on the list for Outstanding Academic Achievement, with cumulative grade point averages of 3.25 to 4.00 were:

* Leopold Junior High -- eighth-grade boys basketball, 3.32 GPA.

* Leopold High School -- freshman girls volleyball, 3.66; junior varsity girls volleyball, 3.92; girls varsity volleyball, 3.88.

* Perryville High School -- varsity girls volleyball, 3.29; varsity girls softball, 3.31; varsity girls cross country, 3.76; varsity boys cross country, 3.46.

Teams on the Distinguished Scholastic Achievement list, with GPAs of 3.00 to 3.24, were:

* Leopold Junior High -- seventh-grade boys basketball, 3.13.

* Perryville High School -- junior varsity girls softball, 3.11; junior varsity girls volleyball, 3.14.

* Woodland High School -- varsity boys fall baseball, 3.07.

Correction

Central senior Jennifer Pancoast has verbally committed to run track and cross country at Nebraska. Pancoast has accepted an academic scholarship. The Southeast Missourian regrets the error.