The fall postseason is here. It kicks off this week with the softball district tournaments and girls golf finishes its season next week with its four state tournaments.
St. Pius X High School freshman Maggie Krutzsch qualified for the Class 1 state golf championships at the Tanglewood Golf Course in Fulton on Oct. 20-21. Krutzsch shot 112 on the par 70 course to finish 21st at the District 2 tournament at the LA Nickell Golf Course in Columbia on Oct. 8. Whitfield sophomore Heng Zhang was the medalist with a round of 81. The Class 3-4 district tournaments were on Monday after the Leader deadline. Fox High, Northwest High and Seckman High all have golfers competing in Class 4.
In softball, the Class 2 District 1 tournament at Chaffee High begins today (Oct. 16). The host Red Devils are 21-3, the No. 1 seed in the district and have a first-round bye. They’ll play the winner of the Jefferson High (No. 4, 7-15)/East Carter High (4-17) game in the semifinals Saturday at noon. The other county team in the district, St. Pius X (6, 3-18) meets Twin Rivers High (3, 12-5) today.
Senior Annabelle Richardson has smacked 21 career home runs for the Blue Jays and is batting .540 this season. Against East Carter High at Festus High on Sept. 27, Richardson hit a grand slam.
The Lancers broke an eight-game losing streak with a 17-2 win at St. Clair High on Oct. 7 and played Cape Girardeau Central High on Monday in their final game before districts. Junior Michaela Quick and sophomore Ava Schwartz are the two top hitters for St. Pius. Quick is batting .442 with eight doubles and 12 RBIs and Schwartz is hitting .408 with a home run and 13 RBIs.
The Herculaneum/Crystal City co-op team is 5-10 and seeded sixth in Class 3 District 1 at Fredericktown High. The Blackcats play North County High (3, 8-1) today in the first round. The Raiders of Bonne Terre beat the Blackcats 22-4 earlier in the season.
Festus High and Windsor High tied for the JCAA large-schools title after the Owls beat the Tigers 6-3 Oct. 9. Seeding for Class 4 District 1 had already been voted on so Festus maintained its top seed. The first round began Wednesday in Imperial. The Tigers (23-5) beat winless Sikeston (8, 0-21) 15-0 and meet Windsor (4, 19-11), which shut out De Soto (5, 15-9) 8-0, in the semifinals today at 4 p.m. Hillsboro (3, 17-9) beat Poplar Bluff (6, 12-11) 7-1 in the first round. That winner is in the other semifinal at 6:15 p.m. against defending district champion Cape Girardeau Notre Dame (2, 23-8-1), 16-1 winners against Cape Girardeau Central High (7, 7-19).
Windsor has a robust offense and junior Ty Schenck should be in the running for conference MVP. Schenck is batting .523 with 13 extra base hits (6 triples) and a team-leading 42 RBIs. Senior Natalie Krause (.349, 4 homers, 39 RBIs), sophomores Ella Montgomery (.390, 29 RBIs), Madison Smith (.415, 17 RBIs) and Gracie Willtrout (.460, 18 RBIs) and junior Sophia Stemmler (.478, 9 doubles, 19 RBIs) are all having stellar years.
Right up there for postseason honors should be Festus junior Keeleigh Hankins, who had 41 hits in 87 at-bats (.471) and a team-leading six home runs and 43 RBIs. Juniors Aubrey Doyle and Ava Oberle will both be up for all-conference and more honors after splendid seasons in the circle and at the plate. Oberle is a strikeout machine when she pitches with 116 Ks in 77 1/3 innings. She leads the Tigers in hitting at .495.
Hillsboro senior Ashley Hilton is having an MVP season as a pitcher and hitter. Hilton is batting .500 with 13 extra base hits and 27 RBIs. In the circle, she’s 8-3 and leads the team with 73 innings and 83 Ks. Hilton and her sister Kaylee, a 2024 graduate, are leaving behind an incredible legacy for the Hawks.
Fox High (3, 15-13), Northwest High (7, 10-19) and Seckman High (5, 13-14) all play today in the first round of the Class 5 District 1 tournament at Oakville High. The Warriors face Kirkwood (6, 12-12), the Lions are against Jackson (2, 20-9) and the Jaguars take on Oakville (4, 12-7-1). Top-seeded Lindbergh (18-6) plays Farmington (8, 4-14). The tournament final is Oct. 21 at 4 p.m. Seckman was 2-0 against Fox and Northwest.
The state championships are being held at Meador Park in Springfield on Oct. 30 to Nov. 1. Northwest was the last softball team from the county to reach the final four, finishing fourth in Class 4 in 2019.
In girls volleyball, Hillsboro (District 1) and St. Pius X (District 2) were awarded No. 1 seeds. The Hawks (19-5-3) meet JCAA rival De Soto (8, 5-15-2) on Oct. 21 at Cape Central and the Lancers tip off the defense of their state championship Oct. 22 after a first-round bye.
After hosting the state championships at the Show Me Center in Cape Girardeau since 2011, the Missouri State High School Activities Association moved the tournaments for the five classes to the Civic Arena in St. Joseph on Nov. 5-8.