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 Lincoln
Colts take
second at July 4
weekend tournament
[JULY 12,
2000] The
Lincoln HEAT Colt team (15- and 16-year-olds) took second place at
the July 4 weekend River City Baseball Tournament in Evansville,
Ind. The talented Colts began with a 13-2 win over Newburgh, Ind.
Jeremy Ohmart, Derek Schrader and Danny Schick led the offense
with three hits apiece, with Schrader banging out five RBIs,
including a triple and home run. Blake Schoonover took the
pitching win in the five-inning game, allowing five hits and
striking out five. |
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Meremac
Valley, Mo., was the HEAT's second foe. Leadoff hitter Ohmart
again had three hits in the 6-4 win. Pitcher Andy Knopp faced only
two batters more than the minimum in six scoreless innings,
striking out nine and walking one.
However, the third inning
proved troublesome. Meremac scored four runs on five hits that put
the Colts down 4-3 after three innings. But two Colt runs in the
fifth and one in the seventh, combined with Knopp's shutdown of
the Cats in the last four innings, assured the victory.
The
third game, against Murray, Ky., was a blowout by the bat-powered
Colts. Ryan Williams, Derek Schrader, John Peters, and Michael
Martin had a multiple-hit game. Williams was the beneficiary of
the pitching win, allowing just one hit in the mercy-ended
three-inning game.
(To
top of second column)
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Game
four was officially won by forfeit over Madisonville, Ky. The
fifth and final game in the round-robin tourney was highly
anticipated. Ironically, the Evansville final saw two
tourney-undefeated Illinois teams face off – the Lincoln Colts
and the Bloomington Comets. The hot HEAT bats unfortunately cooled
considerably in the 16-6 loss. The Comets showed hot bats of their
own as they wacked 13 hits and 12 earned runs off starter Matt
Boyer and reliever Ryne Komnick. Lincoln's bats came alive only in
the fifth and sixth innings, when they scored two and four runs.
The burst fell short, as the Comets had already etched 10 runs
through five innings.
The
Colts committed seven errors in the tournament, three contributing
to the final loss. The tournament offense was still impressive.
Nine Colts (Jason Fitzpatrick, Knopp, Komnick, Martin, Ohmart,
Peters, Schick, Schrader and Williams) had an on-base percentage
of .400 or higher. And Ohmart, Schrader, and Williams hit .500 or
better for the tourney. Schrader accumulated 10 RBIs and tallied
two home runs and a triple.
[Rich
Knopp]
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Ciaccio
says she is looking forward to building the Lincoln College
softball program. "We have a solid group of athletes coming
in, led by Ronni Beebe (Lewistown), Brandi Barnes (Canton) and
Carrie Pestle (Macomb), but we will be young. We'll have to see
during the fall season exactly what we have."
Lincoln
College Athletic Director Allen Pickering says he’s happy about
the announcement. "We’re fortunate to get someone with her
experience and qualifications this early. It was important to us
to not have a big gap in time when searching for a coach for our
softball program. We’re very pleased with the outcome."
(To
top of second column in this article)
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This
is Ciaccio’s first head coaching position; she was the assistant
varsity coach of the softball program at Millikin University in
Decatur before joining Lincoln College. Ciaccio also played ball
at Millikin University and with summer teams such as the Decatur
Breeze, the Decatur Scorpions and the Springfield Rockettes.
She
replaces Nicole Turley, who left this spring semester to pursue
other interests.
Ciaccio
is originally from Momence and is currently working on her
doctorate in English studies at Illinois State University.
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New
coach for Lincoln College