Mendota’s Mariyah Elam, L-P’s Elli Sines advance to 2A finals: Friday’s NewsTribune roundup

GIRLS TRACK & FIELD

At Charleston: Mendota sophomore Mariyah Elam and La Salle-Peru senior Elli Sines advanced to the IHSA Class 2A state finals after Friday’s preliminaries at Eastern Illinois University.

Elam qualified for Saturday’s finals in the high jump and the triple jump.

The defending high jump state champion cleared 1.55 meters on Friday. In the triple jump, she sits in sixth place with a leap of 11.11 meters.

Elam also competed in the 100-meter hurdles (20th, 15.84 seconds) and 300 hurdles 916th, 47.19) but did not advance.

Sines returns to the finals in the 100 hurdles after placing eighth in the prelims in a personal record 15.28 seconds.

Sines also ran the 100 (19th, 12.59) and 200 (20th, 26.26) but did not advance.

Princeton junior Camryn Driscoll ran a PR of 59.11 seconds in the 400 but did not qualify for finals as she finished 15th.

Mendota freshman Rylee Woods’ season ended at state as well as she cleared 1.5 meters in the high jump to tie for 25th.

BOYS TENNIS

At La Salle: La Salle-Peru’s Nick Olivero and the Princeton doubles team of Jackson Mason and Asa Gartin qualified for the Class 1A state tournament out of the La Salle-Peru Sectional.

Olivero defeated Streator’s Brad Minick 6-1, 6-0 in the first round before punching his ticket to state with a 6-0, 6-0 win over Ottawa’s Ayden Sexton in the second round.

He’ll face Metamora’s Dane Hutchinson in Saturday’s semifinals.

Mason and Gartin beat Ottawa’s Kaden Araujo and Tucker Ditchfield 6-2, 6-2 in the first round then topped Morris’ Connor Ahearn and Chris Ochoa 6-2, 6-3 to advance to the semifinals where they’ll face Metamora’s Tommy Sopko and Adam Culp.

At Rochelle: Mendota’s Cameron Escatel and Aden Tillman won their first match of the Class 1A Rochelle Sectional 6-1, 6-2 before their season ended with a 6-0, 6-1 loss in the second round.

BASEBALL

Henry-Senachwine 4, Annawan-Wethersfield 1: Carson Rowe threw a complete game to lead the No. 7-seeded Mallards past the No. 3 Titans in a Class 1A Putnam County Regional semifinal in Granville.

Rowe allowed one unearned run on four hits while striking out nine batters and walking none.

He also went 2 for 4 with a run and an RBI, while Landon Harbison was 1 for 4 with two RBIs.

Caleb Wiesbrock, Jayden DeWeerth and Evan Culp each had a hit and scored a run for the Mallards (10-17), who will play No. 2 Putnam County in the regional final.

Farmington 11, Fieldcrest 7: Drew Overocker and Jordan Heider each hit a home run as the No. 6-seeded Knights lost to the No. 3 Farmers in a Class 2A Fieldcrest Regional semifinal in Wenona.

Overocker was 2 for 4 with three RBIs and two runs, while Heider also had a triple, drove in two runs and scored two runs.

Heider took the loss on the mound for Fieldcrest (13-14).

Morris 12, La Salle-Peru 3 (8 inn.): The Cavaliers allowed eight runs in the top of the eighth inning in an Interstate 8 Conference loss in La Salle.

Grey Ernat doubled, drove in a run and scored a run for L-P (14-16), while Griffin May was 1 for 3 with a run and an RBI.

Brady Backes took the loss on the mound.

SOFTBALL

Princeton 9, Sandwich 6: Izzy Gibson launched two home runs to help the No. 4-seeded Tigresses to a win over the No. 7 Indians in a Class 2A Princeton Regional semifinal in Princeton.

Gibson was 3 for 5 with a double, five RBIs and two runs for Princeton (15-11), while Addi Parry was 1 for 3 with two RBIs and a run.

Avah Oertel earned the win in the circle as she gave up six runs (one earned) on nine hits with eighth strikeouts and no walks in a complete game.

Princeton will face No. 1 Morrison in the regional final.