Game Balls: Top performances from the week in high school sports

Rachel Anderson

The Tigers claimed four wins in the last week, including conference wins over O’Fallon and Belleville East. Anderson, the senior outfielder, hit 11-for-14 in those games with a pair of triples, three home runs and 10 runs batted in.

Sam Calhoun and Jack Langen

Langen and Calhoun were the standouts of the day as Belleville West defeated Belleville East 5-4 in a Southwestern Conference tennis match. Calhoun won his match at No. 5 singles, while Langen took the No. 6 singles match as West moved closer to a Belleville city tennis championship.

A.J. Epenesa

It was another day, another meet and another record for the Tigers elite athlete who won the discus at the Granite City Invitational on Friday. Epenesa’s winning toss of 193 feet 9 inches was 25 feet better than the previous meet record. In the past three weeks, the University of Iowa football recruit has set invitational meet records at O’Fallon, Belleville West and Granite City.

Austin Francis

Making his first start this season, Francis held one of the area’s top small-school lineups to four hits and one run Saturday while striking out seven as Dupo delivered an attention-grabbing 7-1 win over cross-Cahokia Conference rival Carlyle. Francis, who typically starts at catcher, is hitting .471 for the Tigers with four doubles, one home run and 15 RBIs.

Brad Fuhrhop

Fuhrhop, who helped Okawville (7-7-1) reach the Class 1A state tournament last season. went 7-for-11 last week with two doubles, one home run and six RBIs. Fuhrhop leads the Rockets in hitting (.444), four home runs and 11 RBIs.

Sarah Hangsleben

Included among the eight hits she had in 12 at-bats were three home runs. Hangslaben drove home eight runs total in a four-game sweep of the week’s schedule.

Cal Kossina

It was another big week for the senior Southwestern Illinois College recruit as he allowed one hit in six shutout innings of a 2-0 win over city rival Althoff, striking out five. Kossina also pushed his season average to .583, going 4-for-4 with an RBI against Alton on the way to a 7-for-10 (.700) week with four RBIs.

Bradley Harrison

Harrison allowed five hits and struck out eight in a 12-2, six-inning Southwestern Conference win over Edwardsville on Thursday. That pushed the senior left-hander’s record to 6-0 and dropped his season earned-run average to 0.73 with 58 strikeouts in 38 1/3 innings. The Southern Illinois University Carbondale recruit is also hitting .354 with two homers and 17 RBIs.

Abby Marlow

The senior got the job done at the plate and in the pitchers’ circle to lead the Yellow Jackets to three wins last week. At the plate, Marlow went 7-for-12 with two doubles, a triple, a home run and three runs batted in. As a pitcher, she allowed no earned runs while striking out 40 over her last four games.

Jordan McFarland

The Arkansas recruit and potential Major League Draft pick has done nothing to disappoint this season, currently hitting .563 with eight doubles, three home runs and 15 RBIs. McFarland was 11-for-16 (.687) in five games last week with two doubles, a home run and four RBIs.

Taylor Mathenia

It was a big week for Mathenia who leads the Maroons with 17 points this season. A sophomore, Mathenia scored twice in a West 3-0 win over Granite City on Tuesday, then scored twice as the Maroons wrapped up the Belleville city title with a 2-0 win over Althoff on Thursday.

Mackenzie Ryan

A major factor in yet another deep and talented Panthers girls squad, Ryan won both the 100 and 300 meter hurdles championships at the O’Fallon Invitational last week. Ryan won the 300 meter hurdles in a time of 47.19 seconds. Her time in the 100 meter hurdles was 15.64 seconds.

Max Schaefer

It was a big week for the junior left-hander as he tossed 12 innings of shutout ball in back-to-back wins over Granite City and Eureka, Mo. Schaefer (5-1) allowed one hit in five innings and struck out eight against Granite City on Tuesday, then shut down Eureka on Sunday at Busch Stadium, allowing four hits in seven innings and striking out four.

Courtney Weilbacher

It was a mixed bag for the Eagles, who split their double-header date at O’Fallon Saturday. But Weilbacher did her part with a 6-for-9 performance which included a pair of doubles in the game one win and three RBI on the day.

This story was originally published April 18, 2016 at 12:33 PM with the headline "Game Balls: Top performances from the week in high school sports."