Eureka senior Craig Ringe has fewer than two weeks of classes remaining before he graduates. He said he’s equally excited and anxious about leaving his friends, teammates, coaches and teachers.
“I’ll be leaving a lot of these guys I’ve been around my whole life,” said Ringe, who has signed to play baseball at SLU, where he’ll report as a Billiken in August.
With his final season playing third base for the Wildcats (16-5) in the seventh-inning stretch, Ringe still has plenty of memories to make. And who better to make them against than archrival Lafayette?
Trailing the Lancers 1-0 in the bottom of the seventh inning with two outs on April 7, Ringe rang their bell with a two-run double for the 2-1 walk-off win. Eureka had been shut down for six innings by Lafayette junior Michael Sinn, who’s committed to playing at the University of Missouri.
“It was pretty special,” Ringe said. “That’s one of the coolest things I’ve ever been part of here.”
Ringe said he loves the challenge of playing the “hot corner.”
“I really like the position for the types of pitchers we have,” Ringe said. “John Haberkorn, Ben Lackey are ground ball guys. A lot of the way their stuff works is they get a lot of rollovers at third, so I get a lot of action there.”
That was the first of two Suburban Conference Yellow pool games between the intra-district rivals just a few miles apart on Highway 109. In the rematch the next day, the Lancers (13-7) led 5-0 after four innings and held off a furious Wildcat rally in a 5-4 win. Senior Cole Rogers hit a two-run home run for Eureka. Senior pitcher Jaxson Joggerst allowed five hits and three walks and took the loss.
It’s too early to tell how much the split between Eureka and Lafayette will determine the Yellow champion, but it’s a wash when it comes to seeding in the Class 6 District 2 tournament being hosted by the Wildcats in May.
After the games against the Lancers, Eureka won its next five games: 11-0 vs. Ladue; 8-3 vs. Parkway South; 11-1 vs. Parkway West; 1-0 vs. Parkway West; 8-0 vs. Platte County in Columbia on April 16.
Eureka traveled to Columbia and played in five games April 16-18. An 8-4 loss to Jackson (16-3) on April 16 snapped the Wildcat winning streak. It’s Eureka’s second loss this month to the Indians.
The Wildcats then beat Platte County for the second time in three days, this time 6-3. A five-run fourth catapulted Eureka to the win. Tyler Sweeney was 3-for-4 with a double and two stolen bases. Levi Fieser (double), Ringe (triple) and AJ Scott (triple) also had extra base hits. Ringe stole two bases.
“Triples are fun but it’s a lot of running,” said Ringe, who had a four-game hitting streak going into Tuesday’s Yellow game against Rockwood Summit after deadline.
Ringe tripled again in a 16-0 four-inning mercy rule shutout over Battle High to wrap up the road trip.
“It was a 3-0 count, and (head coach Ken Droege) gave me the green light. It was fastball up, and I drove it to left center field. Coach is good at giving the green light from third base.”
Dan Greis and Jack Baker combined on the mound to one-hit Battle. The pair struck out six without a walk. In the second win over Platte County, Haberkorn pitched a complete game around eight hits and two walks.
Haberkorn, Lackey and Joggerst have all signed to play at Southeast Missouri State University. Lackey hurled a complete-game one-hitter in the shutout against Platte County.
Eureka has road games at Westminster Christian Academy on Friday and Francis Howell North on Saturday.
The Wildcats haven’t won a district championship since 2015. That’s not much of an issue, Ringe said.
“I think we have a great approach to that. When the games start meaning everything, you have to win one game. You have to take the field and play as best as you can. That’s our mental approach.”
Eureka track and field finish strong at recent meets
The Eureka boys and girls track and field teams figuratively crossed the finish line at the same time when they both finished in fourth place at the 51st Henle Holmes/Steve Warren Invitational on April 17 at Parkway Central.
Literally speaking, the Wildcat girls scored 74 points for their finish, while the boys scored 63.33. The Lafayette girls finished first out of the 19 teams with 95 points. The Lancer boys made it a clean sweep by besting a 20-team field with 151 points. It’s the second week in a row Lafayette captured the boys and girls titles, taking both at Northwest in Cedar Hill on April 11.
The Eureka boys weren’t at that meet, but the Wildcat girls were, and they were second to the Lancers. The two intra-district rivals are already very familiar with each other, and they’ll see each other again at the Suburban Conference Red pool meet and the Class 5 District 2 meet in May at Ladue Horton-Watkins.
The Wildcat girls were without one of their top scorers at Parkway Central. Senior Brooke Samuelson broke off from the team and competed in the Kansas City Relays at Blue Springs South on April 17-18. Out of a field of 53 runners, Samuelson won the 800-meter run in 2:11.38, three seconds faster than Liberty junior Lily Hurt and Liberty freshman Tessa Perdue. Samuelson’s indoor PR in the 800 is 2:10.55. Her outdoor PR is 2:11.38.
“The whole reason we took her there was how big and competitive that meet was,” said Eureka girls head coach Darrell Lewis, who traveled with Samuelson. “We wanted to put her in position to be uncomfortable, and she made it look comfortable.”
With a state-caliber cross country program in the fall, the Eureka girls benefit from many of those same runners in the spring. Samuelson, senior Abigail Smith, junior Sofia Hoerchler and sophomore Madison Schepis were all on the Wildcat team that finished third in the state in Class 5 last November. At Parkway Central, Smith was second in the 3,200 in 11:40.96.
“It was a very tactical race. The difference between first and fifth place was pretty close,” Lewis said.
Schepis finished fifth in the 1,600 in 5:34.64 and Hoerchler was third in the 800 in 2:22.43.
After Samuelson, Schepis, junior Natalia Hunt and Hoerchler won the 4x800 relay in 9:36.91 at Northwest, the quartet of Smith, Hunt, Claire McKinnon and Lillian Preston finished fourth in 10:09.49.
“I have a lot of girls who are the same time, so we swap them out and let them race each other to get that spot at the end of the year,” Lewis said.
The 4x400 squad of senior Savanna Wylie, Hunt, junior Abigail Mazzola and Hoerchler was second in 4:09.68.
“Best time of the year,” Lewis said. “All four girls ran pretty well. We’re getting down where we need to be at the end of the year.”
The 4x400 is the final track event at the state meet.
“Once or twice we’ve been in a situation where we watched our 4x400 get us a state trophy,” Lewis said.
At PC, senior Hailey Deakin crushed her PR in the discus with a second-place throw of 37.47 meters.
“When things finally hit in the throws, it’s like it jumps out of your hand,” Lewis said.
Freshman Reese Vogelsang won the three-person field in the pole vault at Northwest by clearing 2.13. Facing tougher and more competition at PC, Vogelsang went higher over the bar in 2.7, but dropped in the standings to fourth. MICDS sophomore Abigail Selner won at PC in 2.85.
“As competitive as (PC) is, for her to finish fourth is an awesome result,” Lewis said.
The Eureka girls are at Festus High for Tigertown on Friday.
The Eureka boys 4x100 relay team of Curtis Harris, Dakola Munyai, Riley Major and Keith Major Jr. won at PC in 42.38. That time would have been good enough for a state medal in Class 5 last year. In the 4x200, Cape Girardeau Central finished ahead of the second-place Wildcats (1:29.86-1:30.16) crew of
Munyai, Kaden Klages, Tyler Vallecillo and Riley Major, who led off the 4x400 with Klages, Adan Higgs and Joe Rauls that finished third in 3:31.43.
Senior Kai Mitchell was fourth in the pole vault in 4.55 and sophomore Asante Brown was fifth in the 110 hurdles in 15.70.
Soccer team without one of top scorers
Before Monday’s soccer game at Kirkwood, it looked like the Pioneers and visiting Eureka were headed in opposite directions.
The week prior, Kirkwood had been shut out 3-0 by Francis Howell of the Gateway Athletic Conference, and lost 3-2 in overtime to Marquette, a rival in the Suburban Conference Yellow pool.
Meanwhile, in their previous two games, the Wildcats blanked Parkway Central at home 4-0, then traveled to Washington and hammered St. Francis Borgia 6-1.
“We did some nice things in that game. We spread the scoring around,” Eureka head coach Mike Hanna said about the win over Borgia. “We’re young. We still have growing pains of what it takes to win day in and day out.”
Conference games have a way of turning conventional wisdom on its head, and that’s exactly what happened when the Pioneers jumped on Eureka for a 2-0 halftime lead in an eventual 3-1 victory. Maren Gasner, Melissa Higgins and Ansley McGuire scored for Kirkwood. Goalie Kyle Kohl made six saves to earn the win. Jenna Branham scored for the Wildcats, who dropped to 4-5-1 overall and 0-2 in their pool.
“I thought we’d be competitive with them. We knew they were good,” Hanna said. “They had struggled the week before when they were missing some girls. We put ourselves in a hole, and we’ve had that lack of urgency this year.”
The wins over Central and Borgia snapped an 0-4-1 streak, which included a 2-1 loss to Lafayette on April 7. The Lancers led 2-0 when Marleigh Allen scored for Eureka. Allen has missed the last few games because of an injury but is expected to return. She missed the second half of last season with an injury. Her absence blows a big hole in Eureka’s offense.
Seven-time state champion St. Dominic scored three second-half goals to beat the Wildcats 4-1 on April 9. Lyla White scored for Eureka, and goalie Addie Clark made six saves.
“She makes some big saves,” Hanna said. “Last night (Kirkwood’s) first two goals were high ones which she struggled on. Overall, she’s keeping us in games.”
Junior Caroline Conley scored and Jocelyn Alicia scored for Fort Zumwalt North in a 1-1 tie on April 11. Zumwalt North and St. Dominic are in O’Fallon.
In their four wins, the Wildcats have scored 17 goals. They’ve scored six goals in all of their other games.
Eureka is at Wentzville to play Liberty today (April 23), and hosts three-time state champion Fort Zumwalt South on Monday, April 27.
After that Eureka has six games in May before the district tournaments begin.
Girls lacrosse team was 10-0
Eureka has advanced to the Missouri State Lacrosse Association championship the last three years, and won it all in 2024.
The Wildcats barged out of the gates this season until they reached 10-0. A 12-11 loss in overtime to John Burroughs on April 15 ended Eureka’s bid at a perfect regular season. The 11 goals against the Bombers were the fewest the high-scoring Wildcats have scored in a game this season. Their 17-5 win at Rockwood Summit on April 2 was a season-high for goals in a game. Kaitlyn Benoist, Amelia Craig and Tessa Srsen each scored four goals for Eureka against the Falcons. Craig scored six goals in a 16-5 win over O’Fallon (Ill.) on April 9.
The Wildcats have also been stingy, winning each of their games by an average of 11 goals. Junior goalie Sam Laudano was named the MSLA Goalie of the Week this week. Laudano and senior Ainsley Seitz have been sharing time in goal.
Eureka notebook
In other news, Tyler Lucarz and Cooper Dufour won their matches at the Lafayette Ryder Cup; senior signings: Mel Hoevelmann, Northwood University, lacrosse, Connor Stephans, Missouri Baptist, wrestling, Amelia Weick, Nova Southeastern University in Davie, Fla., lacrosse, Bodie Wilken, Central Methodist University, basketball.