Shelbyville Lakers Finish Fourth

The Shelbyville Lakers were fourth-place finishers in the 16U ASA "B" State Softball Tournament during the weekend in Springfield. The squad finished with a 5-2 record to take fourth-place out of 28 teams securing a spot in the Northern Nationals in Columbus, Wisconsin the first week of August. Last year, as a 14U team, they finished third at the Northern Nationals.

The Lakers defeated the Chillicothe Chilli Peppers 16-6, then won over the Decatur Country Hawks 13-2. Their first loss came to the No. 1 ranked team in the state, the Minock Crush 2-1. The Lakers rebounded back to beat Colchester McDonough Lynx 7-1 and Lincoln Chill 9-8 on a two-run homer in the bottom of the sixth. The team then blanked Champaign Blue 9-0 before suffering a final loss to the Beardstown Tri County Thunder 5-4. Tri County went on to beat Minock twice to claim the state championship.

Local members of the team are Kendall Knop (Stewardson), Sydney Higgs (Dieterich), Kaitlyn Smith (Teutopolis), Whitney Jean (Neoga), Chandra Smith (Altamont), Alex Teasley (Altamont), Josie Phillips (Altamont) and Lauren and Madison Ohnesorge (Altamont).