By Terry Boehmker
NKyTribune sports reporter
CovCath senior Anthony Bosch
Covington Catholic is among the leaders in the boys’ team standings going into the second day of the state high school tennis tournament in Lexington.
The Colonels earned seven points on Thursday when two singles players and one doubles team each won two matches. They will compete in the round of 16 when the state tournament resumes on Friday morning at the University of Kentucky tennis complex.
After winning their first two singles matches in straight sets, CovCath senior Anthony Bosch and junior Max Cook will take on seeded opponents in Friday’s round. The match-ups are Bosch vs. No. 4 seed Matt Halpin of Lexington Dunbar at 8 a.m. and Cook vs. No. 2 seed Drew Singerman of Louisville St. Xavier at 9:15 a.m.
This will be the second consecutive year that Cook and Singerman have faced each other in the round of 16. Singerman won last year’s match, 6-0, 6-0, and went on to claim the state singles title.
In the doubles bracket, senior Jared Haught and sophomore Benito Trojani of CovCath won their first match in a third-set tiebreaker and their second match in straight sets to advance as the No. 3 seed. They will take on Brett Folsom and Phillip Priest of Lexington Henry Clay at 11:45 a.m. Friday.
Ryle freshman Elizabeth Hamilton
CovCath’s other doubles team — freshman Evan Gardner and sophomore Cristano Trojani — picked up one point with a win before losing in the second round.
Ryle freshman Elizabeth Hamilton and two Notre Dame doubles teams were the only local players who made it through the first two rounds in the girls’ state tennis tournament on Thursday.
Hamilton, the first Ryle player to qualify for the state tournament as a regional singles champion, will face No. 5 seed Maci Ferguson of Russell in a round of 16 match at 9:15 a.m. Friday.
Notre Dame seniors Kylie Moellering and Katherine Meadows showed why they’re the No. 5 seed in the girls’ doubles bracket by losing only one game in their first two matches. Their next opponents will be Maha and Meena Pattabiraman of Louisville Manual at 10:30 a.m. on Friday.
The other Notre Dame doubles team — freshman Isabel Bailey and senior Josephine Meyer-Hogan — won their second-round match in a tiebreaker to advance to the round of 16. Their next opponents will be No. 5 seed Grace Gardner and Lauren Moore of Scott County at 11:45 p.m. Friday.
Cooper fast-pitch softball player leads state in stolen bases
Cooper fast-pitch softball player Kayari Suganuma leads the state in stolen bases with 52 and ranks among the leaders in batting average (.567), runs scored (42) and on-base percentage (.657), according to statistics posted on the khsaa.org website.
Suganuma grew up playing softball in Japan before joining the Cooper team last year. Her father works for Toyota and moved his family here when he was transferred to the North America headquarters in Erlanger.
This season, the freshman has played in 28 games as the starting shortstop and lead-off hitter for the Jaguars. She has been thrown out on just two of her 54 stolen base attempts.
Cooper has a 15-14 record with two games remaining on its regular-season schedule. The Jaguars will play Boone County (19-5-1) in a 33rd District playoff game at 5 p.m. Monday at Conner High School. Boone County pitcher Olivia Jackson has a 16-3 record that includes a victory over Cooper in April.
Class A girls’ state track meet could be gold rush for local qualifiers
Northern Kentucky teams could dominate the gold medal count at the Class A girls’ state track and field meet on Saturday at the University of Kentucky based on the results from last week’s regional qualifiers.
Organizers of the state meet posted a listing of the top qualifying times and distances in each of the 18 events and Northern Kentucky teams had the top seed in 12 of them, including three of the four relay races.
Six local teams — St. Henry, Beechwood, Brossart, Newport Central Catholic, Bellevue and Dayton — each have two top-seeds going into the small-school state meet that begins at 9 a.m. Saturday. The list includes NewCath eighth-grader Abby Jones, who has the fastest qualifying times in the 1600 and 3200 runs. St. Henry senior Kim Spritzky is seeded No. 1 in the pole vault and 100 hurdles and No. 2 in the long jump.
St. Henry won the Region 4 team title last week and qualified to compete in 17 of 18 events in Saturday’s state meet. Last year, the Crusaders finished second behind Murray in the state meet point standings.
Fast-pitch softball coaches reach career victory milestones
Two Northern Kentucky fast-pitch softball coaches reached milestones on the career victories list during the final month of the regular season.
Newport Central Catholic coach Denny Barnes picked up his 200th victory in a win over Grant County on May 12. Barnes started the NewCath program in 2006 and this year’s team has won eight straight games to raises its record to 21-10.
Highlands coach Rob Coffey reached the 100 win plateau on May 10 in a home game against Holmes. He led the Bluebirds to the 9th Region championship last year.
