To be the winning team, fan votes play a heavy role, along with consideration from our sports team here at LINK.
Nominations are reader-submitted or recommended by our sports team. Our Team of the Week program honors all local sports at all levels, whether it’s youth or adult-oriented recreation, high school or college, professional or amateur.
Want to get a jump start on next week’s Team of the Week nominations? Email: edennison@linknky.com to nominate a team for next week.
This week’s nominated teams are listed below with some information provided by the submitter or LINK nky staff. The poll where you can vote follows at the end of the article.
Voting is open until Sunday at 11:59 p.m.
BEECHWOOD HIGH SCHOOL BASEBALL TEAM
The Tigers won their second straight Ninth Region All “A” Championship last week with quite the two-out rally in the top of the seventh. Trailing 4-1, the Tigers scratched a run across before getting down to their final out. A single followed by a single and a walk loaded the bases up for Carson Welch and he delivered a grand slam to give Beechwood a 6-4 lead. They’d add four more runs, all with two outs before closing the door in the bottom of the seventh for the victory.
Beechwood is currently 7-3 on the season and will await the 10th Region All “A” winner in the first round of the All “A” state tournament. If they win that one, they’ll then head to the quarterfinals on April 29 at Campbellsville High School to face the winner of the 13th/14th Region first round matchup.
The Tigers have five in the lineup hitting at least .300, starting with Cameron Boyd hitting .543. Following Boyd is Ben Meier (.462), Mason Preston (.455), Michael Detzel (.316) and Nazario Pangallo (.300). Beechwood’s offense has been potent early on, averaging 8.8 runs through their first 10 games.
COOPER HIGH SCHOOL SOFTBALL TEAM
Cooper continues to be a force early on in the season as they own a 9-3 record and are coming off their most impressive win of the season with a 13-11 victory over Daviess County on Saturday. Daviess County entered as a top five team in the state.
The Jaguars went 3-0 over the week with wins over Bracken County (2-0) and Bellevue (15-0) along with the win over the Panthers.
In the 2-0 win over Bracken, Kendall Blau pitched a complete game one-hitter and struck out 11. Kailey Milburn and Maddie Childress drove the runs in for the victory.
Desiree Thompson and Lilly Sparker combined for five strikeouts and didn’t allow a hit in the run-rule victory over Bellevue in three innings. Kaitlyn Furnish had six RBI with a homerun, Ava Scott drove in three and Milburn batted home two.
Milburn was the stud at the plate in the win over Daviess with five RBI, Emily Schmeltz with three hits and four runs scored while Furnish and Childress had two RBI games.
Cooper gets back on the diamond Tuesday when they face Boone County in a 33rd District tilt.
LUDLOW HIGH SCHOOL BASEBALL TEAM
Ludlow went from under .500 to three games over .500 in a week after going 4-0 last week. The Panthers defeated Calvary Christian (1-0), Dayton (6-4), Williamstown (9-8) and Gallatin County (8-7) to improve to 8-5 on the year.
Mason Sebastian pitched a complete game two-hitter in the win over Calvary while striking out three. Jackson Mays provided the game’s lone RBI while also stealing two bases.
The Panthers collected 12 hits in the win over Dayton, Kaden Morrison leading the way with three hits and two RBI, Gabe Payne, Camden Caudill and Mays added two hits apiece, Mays driving in two runs.
Joseph Scott and Joey Eads had multi-hit performances in the win over Williamstown, Mays getting the win in relief, pitching 1.1 scoreless.
The win over Gallatin came in extra innings, Sebastian providing the pop at the plate with three hits and two RBI. Kaden Morrison and Caudill had two hits apiece while Eads added two RBI. Mays produced again in relief, not allowing an earned run over three innings.
Ludlow hopes to make it five in a row when they host Dayton on Tuesday.
CONNER HIGH SCHOOL BASEBALL TEAM
The Cougars went 4-0 last week as they continue their blazing start to the season at 11-1. They’re doing it in all facets of the game as they’re scoring 8.2 runs per game and allowing just 2.75 while sporting a 1.77 team ERA.
In Conner’s 4-0 week, they defeated Dixie Heights (11-3), Cooper twice (4-2 and 7-4) and Lawrenceburg (8-2).
In the win over Dixie, Aaron Wichmann went the distance on the bump with five hits allowed, three earned runs and struck out eight. Five Cougars had multi-hit games, Jackson Bucks, Cody Henson, Ayden Lohr, Rex Richter and Brayden Stidham all with two hits apiece.
In the two-game sweep of 33rd District foe Cooper, Stidham had three RBI thanks to a triple while Brody Mangold struck out 11 over six innings in the first victory. Jeffrey Vest tallied three RBI in the second win, Bucks and Oliver Kerns combining to strike out 10 on the hill.
Capping off the undefeated week was Cody Henson’s big day at the plate with five RBI and knocking two doubles. Wichmann, Vest and Cory Henson pitched two innings apiece while Cody Henson pitched the final inning. The four combined to allow just three hits while striking out seven.
Conner gets back into action Tuesday when they host Boone County in a 33rd District matchup.
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