THE LATEST LINE: LOCAL TEAMS FALL SHORT OF TITLES

Three area teams hit the road this past week searching for the ultimate in high school sports -- a state championship.

While all three fell a bit short, that certainly can't take away from the sensational seasons they had.

Cape Girardeau Central's girls soccer squad pulled off a feat that is astonishing -- making it to the Class 4A Final Four in only its fourth year of existence.

The Lady Tigers, who have gone an unbelievable 64-5-4 the past three seasons, fell to Lafayette 3-1 in Friday's semifinals, then lost to Lee's Summit North by the same score in Saturday's third-place game.

Notre Dame's baseball team was regarded as the area's best all season -- and the Bulldogs backed that up by rolling into Thursday's 2A championship game.

But St. Pius X of Kansas City spoiled the Bulldogs' hoped-for state title party with a 13-7 victory. Still, second place for the Bulldogs is not too shabby.

Oran's baseball team, coming off a 1A state runner-up finish a year ago, was thought to have the goods to go all the way this time.

And the Eagles nearly did. They lost a heartbreaking 4-3 decision to Marion C. Early in Wednesday's semifinals but bounced back to rout Northwest of Hughesville 11-1 Thursday for third place.

So, while all three squads are no doubt a bit disappointed that they didn't go all the way, they should hold their heads extremely high knowing they had fantastic seasons -- and carried the flag of Southeast Missouri sports extremely impressively.

* This past week was certainly a big one as far as honors for Southeast Missouri State University athletes is concerned.

It started early in the week when basketball standout Bud Eley and softball star Jenny Oermann were named as the Ohio Valley Conference male and female athletes of the year -- the first time both awards went to athletes from the same school.

Then later in the week, Oermann and fellow softball star Christine Engelhardt repeated on the prestigious GTE Academic All-America team -- Engelhardt becoming the first Southeast athlete to make the squad for three straight years.

Major kudos to all three.

* There's no telling what kind of college careers they'll have, but three SEMO recruits have led their high school squads to big-time seasons in southern Illinois.

SEMO softball recruits Renee Mueller of Johnston City and Jenny Doehring of Nashville led their respective teams into the Illinois Class A State Tournament.

And SEMO baseball signee Zach Borowiak of Nashville also led his squad into the Illinois Class A state tourney.

All three athletes participated in the state meets over the weekend.

* Poplar Bluff did not have the best area high school track teams during the regular season -- that honor went to Cape Central.

But in the biggest meet of the year, Bluff certainly was the cream of the area crop.

Led by several high-quality athletes, the Bluff boys finished tied for second in last weekend's Class 4A state meet -- just a point out of first -- while the girls were fifth.

~Marty Mishow is a sports writer for the Southeast Missourian.