A look at the top softball players in the NewsTribune area for the 2026 season.

Avah Oertel batted .607 with a school single-season record 17 homers, 59 RBIs, 19 doubles and 55 runs scored. The NewsTribune Softball Player of the Year is already Princeton’s career leader for home runs (35), RBIs (137) and doubles (35).

Camryn Driscoll and Common Green have been awarded the Teddy and Barbara Reed Scholarship for 2026 at Princeton High School. Both were heavily involved in athletics in their four years at PHS and were members of the National Honor Society.

Congratulations to the 2026 Times Boys Track and Field Athlete of the Year, Ottawa hurdler and state medalist Joey Liebhart.

Presented here are The Times area’s state qualifiers and their postseason accomplishments, the 2026 Times Boys Track and Field All-Area Honor Roll.

Three Rivers Conference basketball teams will be adding a crossover “shootout” type event next season matching the teams from the East and West Divisions to determine an overall conference champion.

The best senior players in Illinois, including six from the Illinois Valley area, will suit up for the 49th annual ICA All-Star Baseball Game on Monday at Schweickert Stadium in Peru.

Here’s the BCR Girls Soccer Honor Roll team for the 2026 season. Princeton's Yocelynn Robledo is the Player of the Year.

When you grow up in the Robledo family, you’re going to play soccer. Jose Robledo passed on his love for the game to his kids, Juan, Viviana and now Yocelynn, a junior sweeper for Princeton this spring. Yocelyn said the sport of soccer is a way to bring all the family together.

The IHSA’s board of directors this week finalized expectations for the 35-second shot clock, which will be required for varsity boys and girls basketball contests beginning with the upcoming 2026-27 IHSA season.

Stacey Aber Richardson said her mother’s illness started as “clumsiness” and tripping and escalated to not be able to eat, drink, move or speak. Linda Aber of Sheffield passed away in 2024 within three months of an official bulbar Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis diagnosis at 67.

A look at the top girls soccer players in the NewsTribune area for the 2026 season.

La Salle-Peru senior Vicky Tejada is the 2026 NewsTribune Girls Soccer Player of the Year after scoring an area-best 25 goals and helped the Cavaliers improve by 10 wins.

Recent Sandwich graduate, distance ace and Class 2A state champion Sunny Weber is the 2026 Times Girls Track and Field Athlete of the Year.

Here are The Times area’s state qualifiers and their postseason accomplishments, the 2026 Times Girls Track and Field All-Area Honor Roll.

NewsTribune-area softball players have hit more home runs in each of the last five seasons. This spring, 44 players combined to hit 146 home runs, with four players hitting double-digit homers.

In the short term, when the Marquette baseball team won the Class 2A St. Bede Supersectional, it sent the Crusaders back to the IHSA State Finals. In the long term, it also guaranteed Marquette will remain in Class 2A for baseball through at least the 2028 season.

The FCA Basketball Power Camp for boys and girls entering grades 4-8 will be held once again at Bureau Valley High School from 9 a.m. to noon on July 13-15. Also, the Walnut 3 on 3 Basketball and 5K Run/Walk for ALS are set for July 4.