Of the four teams in the Class 5 softball semifinals, Eureka entered the final four with the longest winning streak at 11 games. The Wildcats hadn’t lost a game in October when they arrived at the Killian Softball Complex in Springfield.
More times than not, pitching controls the outcome of the softball championships, and this year was no different when Eureka, Troy Buchanan, Lee’s Summit and Liberty convened Oct. 29-30. In the 28 innings played during the four games, a total of 26 runs were scored.
After Troy (30-5) shut out Eureka 2-0 in the semifinals, Lee’s Summit (20-15) won the Class 5 championship with a 4-0 shutout against the Trojanettes. It’s the Tigers’ third state title and first since 2014.The Wildcats (22-6) finished fourth in the state after a 6-1 loss to Liberty in the third-place game. It was Eureka’s first appearance in the final four since 2014 and its seventh overall. The Wildcats have finished third twice and fourth five times.
Troy junior pitcher Avery Dennis took a 1-hitter and 2-0 lead into the bottom of the seventh against Eureka, but the Wildcats didn’t go quietly in front of their fans on a perfectly sunny fall afternoon. Sophomore Alina Logush, senior Kayleigh Niles and sophomore Teresa Hutchcraft strung out singles over four at-bats and suddenly Eureka had the bases loaded against Dennis with one out. But Dennis got a fly out and strikeout – her ninth – to end the game and send the Trojanettes to their fourth state final. Troy has won state twice, the last time in 2016.
“Avery Dennis did what Avery Dennis does,” said Mark Mosley, who wrapped up his 16th season as Eureka’s head coach. “We were her 22nd victim this year. We knew it was a big task. Unfortunately, we waited until the seventh inning to get (the offense) going. If we made adjustments sooner and made her work more, it could have been a different game. She did a good job of mixing it up, hitting spots and keeping us off balance.”
“Avery can’t throw the ball straight. We’re so spoiled. She can throw it in. She can throw it out. She can throw it up. She can mix in a changeup. That makes her lethal,” said Troy head coach Lance Richardson, who guided the Trojanettes to both state crowns. “That’s probably the best offense we’ve faced all year, up there with Fort Zumwalt West and Francis Howell. Having to go through the gauntlet getting here, helped. Those games prepared us for that excellent Eureka team.”
They had their own star pitcher in senior Chrystal Hall, who was every bit as effective as Dennis. Hall allowed seven hits, walked two, struck out eight, and one of the two Troy runs was earned. Hall was at her most lethal in an eight-strikeout, complete-game performance in a 14-0 win against Jackson in the state quarterfinals. Before state, the Wildcats allowed three runs in the previous five elimination games.
“I thought our energy was really good,” Hall said. “We came out ready to battle it out with them. We never gave up. We were in this game until the very last pitch.”
“When I saw Ms. Hall throwing before the game, I told my staff, ‘We’re going to have to have our short game today. She’s pumping it,’” Richardson said. “When it comes down to the final four, it comes down to the big squeeze, the big error.”
Hall worked out of a bases-loaded jam in the first inning in the semifinals with two strikeouts to end the threat.
“That was a big deal,” Mosley said. “That would have been a hard way to start the game. Unfortunately, it was the batter’s box that got us today. Chrystal Hall did her job. When you have two dominant pitchers, it comes down to who gets that sac bunt down, who’s able to get the big hit, all of that matters in a game like this.”
The two teams met previously on Sept. 21 in Troy. There was a little more offense in a 6-2 Trojanette victory, and Troy’s other junior ace in the circle, Grace Jacobsmeyer, was the winning pitcher. It’s hard to imagine Troy not returning to Springfield in 2027 with Dennis and Jacobsmeyer returning as seniors. Hall, Niles and sisters Shelby and Emmy Seiler played their final games for Eureka.
Eureka’s shortstop, Shelby had hits in both games at state and scored her team’s run.
“Eureka has given me a lot of opportunity to play, and put me in this leadership position as a senior,” Shelby said.
An outfielder, Emmy entered the final four batting .358 and was among the team leaders with seven doubles.
“I’ve improved a lot this year as an outfielder and a hitter. I’m thankful for my four years here,” Emmy said.
Niles had a hit in both final four games, and she entered state hitting .397 with four homers.
“I thought we competed hard,” Niles said. “Chrystal dominated (in the circle). Alina (Logush) had a great throw to get a runner out. Everybody had opportunities, and we did as well as we could. At the end of the day, we competed, and that’s alright.
“Eureka softball has helped me as an athlete and a person. I’ve built so many great friendships, and just love the town and the community and am blessed to be part of it.”
Freshman Harper Hubbard pitched the first game of the season for the Wildcats, and she pitched three innings in the loss to Liberty. Freshman Estelle Gianino also pitched in the third-place game, and will combine with Hubbard to carry on in the circle, where Hall filled it in so well.
“I’m glad I’ve been able to be part of this team for four years,” Hall said. “We’ve built so many memories, and I’ll carry those for the rest of my life.”
Eureka girls looking for third straight state trophy
The Eureka girls cross country team is 3.1 miles closer to winning a third straight team trophy at the Class 5 state championships after winning the District 1 title in Cape Girardeau on Halloween.
The top four teams from each district, and top 30 individual runners, qualified for state at Gans Creek in Columbia on Friday and Saturday. Classes 2-4 compete on Friday, and Classes 1 and 5 are on Saturday. The Wildcats won their third district title in a row by scoring 52 points at Osage Park, easily outpacing their Suburban Conference rivals Lafayette (second, 96), Kirkwood (128) and Northwest (154).
Eureka was third in the state last season, won Class 5 in 2024 and has finished in the top four 12 times. The Class 5 girls are first to run at 9 a.m. on Saturday.
“It was awesome watching them run,” Eureka girls head coach Darrell Lewis said. “That’s the kind of race we’ve been waiting on. In practice, I’ve seen our fitness, but we hadn’t run on a course that let us show it yet. (Osage) was a flat and fast course and it was in perfect shape. The weather was perfect.”
Osage is the home course for Southeast Missouri State University, and the Redhawks had run on it the day before.
Each team sends seven runners on the course, and the top five finishes determine their team score. All seven Wildcats finished in the top 22, with only a gap of 47 seconds between them.
“That’s the closest we’ve been in a long time,” Lewis said. “Today confirmed what we are capable of. In my mind, this is the deepest (state) field we’ve had. We could run fantastic, and finish sixth, or win it. St. Teresa’s is out there ahead of everyone, at least on paper.”
Lafayette senior Kelly Archambeault had the Lancers top state finish (20th) last season, and she won the District 1 race with a PR of 18:11. Northwest senior Rose Nicholls, a four-time state qualifier, was second in a PR of 18:17.3.
The top 12 district runners all set PRs or season bests, and Eureka senior Sofia Hoerchler came in third with a PR of 18:45.9. Hoerchler was 40th at state a year ago.
“She ran her own race and let Rose and Kelly go. She stayed in control,” Lewis said of Hoerchler.
The other four scoring Wildcats were junior Claire McKinnon (eighth, 19:05.2), junior Madison Schepis (11th, 19:19.2), sophomore Aubrey Dalton (12th, 19:20.4) and freshman Brooke Smith (18th, 19:29.6). Junior Olivia Golden (21st, 19:32.3) and senior Natalia Hunt (22nd, 19:32.6) will run at state for Eureka. McKinnon was all-state in 2025. Lewis said Hunt and Smith smashed their PRs by about 45 seconds.
Lewis admits that when he was hired as head coach, Eureka cross country was already on solid footing.
“I took over the team in 2016, and to my knowledge, we had seven girls under 20:00 and today it was 19:33,” he said.
“We’re having a lot of success, but I have a great group of girls who work extremely hard and have earned everything they’ve gotten.”
The District 1 boys race was also held at Osage, and Jackson won with 86 points. Teams from St. Louis County had a strong showing with Parkway West (98), CBC (104) and Kirkwood (128) qualifying for state. Eureka was seventh with 188 points.
Kirkwood junior Andrew Bain won the district title with a PR of 15:24.8. Bain was 40th at state last year. Two Wildcats return to state. Junior Andrew Perry was 13th in 15:51.5 and senior William Diekmann was 29th with a PR of 16:41. Perry’s district time is 50 seconds faster than his run to 70th at Gans Creek last year.
Mustangs trample Wildcats in first round
Sometimes the final score doesn’t give an accurate portrayal of how competitive the game was to the eye test.
Eureka boys soccer head coach Mike Hanna said his team’s season-ending 5-0 shutout against Marquette in the first round of the Class 4 District 2 tournament at Ladue High on Oct. 31 is one of those games.
“Their goalie (Jaxson Colvin) made a spectacular save on a header by Jameson Foley from the corner,” Hanna said about the Wildcats’ first-half scoring chance in a 0-0 game. “They might have had more dangerous chances, but the ball went back and forth. We moved people around and exposed ourselves in the back end and they punched in two goals before the half.”
That’s where Eureka, the No. 7 seed in the tournament, found itself against the Mustangs (No. 2) in their Suburban Conference meeting Oct. 6. But the Wildcats tied the game 2-2 on goals by Liam Williams and Colton Sobacke, with two assists by Henry Eichholz. However, Marquette (14-8-1) won the game 3-2.
Any chance of a similar comeback in the district game dissolved as quickly as it took the Mustangs to score twice early in the final 40 minutes to double their lead.
“We went down after that, no surprise,” Hanna said. “The first (second-half goal) was a ball they played in, our goalie (Charlie Kovis) got a piece, it was loose in the box, and we missed the clearance. The (fourth) goal was a long ball that went through us.”
In the district semifinals tonight, No. 1 SLUH (17-1-4) plays Lafayette (4, 16-6) at 5, and Marquette plays Kirkwood (6, 11-7-3) at 7. The district final is 2 p.m. on Saturday.
In the game prior to districts, Eureka lost 2-1 in overtime at home to Farmington on Oct. 28. The Knights are the No. 1 seed in Class 3 District 1 and played
De Soto on Tuesday after deadline. Freshman Charlie Tall scored against Farmington, and he finished with five goals this season. He scored a hat trick against Parkway Central in one of the first games after he was called up from the JV.
“He’s one of a handful of freshmen we’re excited about for next year,” Hanna said.
Like a final score, a team’s record can be misleading. Again, that was the case when the Wildcats hosted Summit on Oct. 26 in a conference game. The Falcons entered play in Class 3 District 2 as the top seed despite a record of 6-11-2.
Goals by Ben Berry, Logan Klingler and Eichholz gave the Wildcats a 3-0 lead over Summit, but the Falcons came charging back, cut the deficit to 3-2, scoring their second goal with 30 seconds left in regulation, and took the final shot that Kovis saved.
It was Eureka’s first win over Summit in 10 years.
“Their record didn’t matter to us,” Hanna said. “The last couple years we’d play them feeling great and get smacked 3-0 or something. When you look at your district, and that’s the only goal for the season, that’s pretty rough, so beating Summit was exciting for us.”
Hanna pointed out strong teams from Ladue (No. 3), Vianney (5) and Parkway South (8) were evicted from the district in the first round.
Eichholz, Foley, Charlie Zoeller, Dominic Woods and Ben Schuemann all made significant contributions to the Wildcats their senior seasons, and Hanna said the impact would be lasting. Eichholz led the team in scoring with 28 points on 11 goals and six assists. Foley (9 goals, 7 assists, 25 points) was among the team leaders. Zoeller and Woods were strong on defense.
“Ben had a fantastic year,” Hanna said. “He played wing back. A lot of guys on the team played the way we thought they would, and he got past that.”
“Henry came through in some big moments for us. He and Jameson will be hard to replace offensively, and Charlie and Ben the same on defense. Dominic was the motor who ran everything through the middle. He starts for the baseball team.”
A junior, Klingler had 27 points and scored goals in 11 games.
Kovis will return in goal, as will Jon Neville, who had a sparkling goals against average of 0.84 in more than 500 minutes in the net. Neville and Kovis both played with injuries.
“We’re excited to see them grow,” said Hanna, who will be back on the field in the spring as head coach of the Eureka girls soccer team.
“Beyond the wins and losses, we got ourselves back to what we expect out of ourselves,” he said.
Rested Wildcats brace for surging Patriots
After a first-round bye, the Eureka football team takes its No. 1 seed into the Class 5 District 2 tournament and will try to hold off surging Parkway South (No. 4) at home in the semifinals at 7 p.m. on Friday.
The Patriots (7-3) have won their last four games by a combined scoring of 181-27, including a 42-0 whitewashing of Webster Groves (5, 3-6) in the first round on Oct. 30. Summit (2, 6-4) hosts Parkway West (3, 7-3) in the other semifinal at 7 p.m. on Friday. The district championship will be held at the highest remaining seed on Friday, Nov. 13.
The Wildcats finished the regular season 7-2 after beating Lindbergh 14-13 in a Suburban Conference Yellow pool game on Oct. 23. The Flyers (5-5) are the No. 5 seed in Class 6 District 1 and ended a promising Oakville (4, 7-3) season with a 21-3 victory on Oct. 30. Lindbergh faces the monumental task of traveling to Jackson on Friday to play the top-seeded, unbeaten Indians (9-0) in the home stadium proudly referred to by locals as “The Pit.”
In Eureka’s win over the Flyers, Noah Norman scored two TD runs for Lindbergh in the first half. Curtis Harris countered with a TD run in the first quarter for the Wildcats, who trailed 13-6 after a defensive first half.
Harris rumbled for a 42-yard TD at 10:29 of the third quarter, and Sal Gianino caught a two-point conversion pass from quarterback Zac Kem for what turned out to be the winning points.
Norman rushed for 115 yards, and the Lindbergh defense sacked Kem five times. Kem completed 16 passes to five receivers, and Harris had a team-high 109 rush yards.
Luke Souhrada had 13 tackles in a game for Eureka for the second time this season. Souhrada leads the team with 67 tackles, and teammate Lincoln Rausch isn’t far behind with 62. Defensive lineman Noah McCollum is the team leader with nine sacks.
Volleyball season ends in district final
The Eureka girls volleyball team entered the Class 5 District 2 tournament at Kirkwood as the No. 2 seed and beat Lindbergh (7) and Westminster Christian Academy (3) in straight sets in the first two rounds last week.
But standing in the Wildcats’ way in the district final on Oct. 27 was old rival Lafayette, winners of the last three state championships. The Lancers (33-5) beat Eureka (28-8) 25-12, 25-18, 25-15 to win the district title before continuing along their path for a fourth straight crown by toying with 36-4 Jackson in a 3-0 set quarterfinal victory on Oct. 31.
In a battle of volleyball titans, Lafayette meets Incarnate Word Academy (33-6) at 2 p.m. in one Class 5 semifinal in St. Joseph. The two schools have combined to win 22 state titles. Two schools from Lee’s Summit (West 31-3, and North, 33-4) are in the other semifinal at 4 p.m.