At its regularly scheduled meeting, the Missouri State High School Activities Association (MSHSAA) Board of Directors discussed a number of proposals submitted by entities hoping to host championships in the sports of Basketball, Cross Country, Volleyball, Wrestling and activity of Music.
The Board approved the proposal submitted by Columbia and the University of Missouri for hosting the Music Festival on the MU campus until the 2028-29 school year.
The Board also approved the use of Mizzou Arena for the Boys Wrestling Championships until the 2028-29 school year.
The Cross Country Championship will also stay in Columbia with the Gans Creek Recreational Facility serving as the venue through the 2028-29 school year.
The board authorized the MSHSAA staff to continue discussions with the Hy-Vee Arena in Kansas City for acceptable terms in hosting the Girls Wrestling Championships.
The board accepted the hosting proposal from Cape Girardeau for hosting the Volleyball Championships for the years 2023-24 and 2024-25 at the Show Me Center on the Southeast Missouri State University campus.
The board tabled consideration of the hosting proposals for the Volleyball Championships for 2025-26, 2026-27 and 2027-28 to allow staff members to conduct of facility visit with the St. Joseph Civic Arena.
After considering two proposals from Springfield and Columbia to host the Show-Me Showdown, the board chose the proposal from Columbia. Beginning with the 2023-24 school year, the Show-Me Showdown will be held on the MU campus in Mizzou Arena and Hearnes Center.
Bernie, MO - The first Kyle Smith Memorial Athletic Scholarship was awarded to John Nimmo of Bernie High School.
"Two months ago I lost a good friend and colleague," stated Dee Loflin, ShowMe Times, "He was doing what he loved and that was covering high school sports for the Dexter Statesman and SEMOBALL."
"I remember when we were at the sectional game and the Mules punched their ticket to the Final Four! He was super excited to have the opportunity to follow them; however while on assignment in Springfield, Kyle fell ill and passed away not getting to see one minute of either of their games."
Kyle loved sports. He had been a sports editor most of his life and he spent a lot of time talking about the athletes we were covering. He probably could quote just about any stat you wanted to know about any athlete in Stoddard County.
"He was especially impressed with one athlete here at Bernie High School. He interviewed him on more than one occasion and even wrote a feature story about him which was published a few days after his passing. His very last feature story."
Kyle and I always drank Diet Mt Dews at games and on more than one occasion split a Twix bar. That was one of our many things we had in common. I brought those items with me today to go with the scholarship.
"His last words to me just 30 minutes prior to that Friday game was, 'Make sure they win so I can cover them tomorrow in the Championship game!' I said I would as If I had any control over their game and Bernie did win!"
Kyle never got that chance.
And what a better way to honor his memory than to start a community scholarship and give to a Bernie Senior that he admired and respected in his sport of basketball.
"So on behalf of the ShowMe Times, the Dexter Statesman, SEMOBALL, the Bernie Banner, and his mother Connie, I would like to present the first Kyle Smith Memorial Athletic Scholarship in the amount of $500 to Mr. John Nimmo."
Shown presenting the scholarship to Nimmo is Dee Loflin of the ShowMe Times.
Bernie, MO - The 2022 Stoddard County Athletic Association (SCAA) Junior High Softball Tournament seeds have been announced.
Bloomfield earned the #1 seed and received a bye in the first round.
Advance is #2 followed by #3 Bernie, #4 Puxico, and #5 Richland. Dexter and Bell City do not have junior high softball teams.
All games will be played at Bernie on Saturday, April 30th with a time limit for each to be 90 minutes long except the championship game. There is no limite for that game.
Puxico will face Richland at 9 a.m.
Advance will play Bernie at 11:00 a.m.
Bloomfield will play the winner of the Puxico/Richland game at 1:00 p.m.
The 3rd place game will be at 3:00 p.m.
Championship game will be at 5:00 p.m.
Bloomfield, MO - The Bernie Mules blew out their SCAA rival the Bloomfield Wildcats on Thursday, April 7, 2022. They had everything going for them, winning big 15-2 in 5 innings.
In the first inning the Mules got their offense charged when an error scored the first run of the game. They finished the inning with an addition 6 runs.
Later in the fourth inning Bernie scored seven runs led by John Nimmo, Wyatt Nimmo, Landon Ellsworth, and Patrick Liddell, who all drove in runs.
The Wildcats struggled to put runs on the board and had a tough time defensively containing the Mules, giving up a total of 15 runs.
Reece Justice pitched the varsity to victory. The right-hander lasted two and a third innings, allowing zero hits and zero run while striking out two and walking none. Seth Teel and John Nimmo entered the game out of the bullpen and helped close out the game in relief.
"Our pitchers did a great job today. Reese Justice set the tone early. He really pounded the strike zone and we were able to make plays behind him," stated head baseball coach Marcus Massey. "John Nimmo and Seth Teel did a nice job coming in behind him and not allowing Bloomfield to get a whole lot of offense going."
The Mules smacked two home runs on the day. Nimmo had a long ball in the fourth inning and Liddell had a dinger also in the fourth.
"We did a good job coming out aggressive at the plate. The guys did a good job of finding good pitches to hit and not changing balls out of the zone."
Caleb Upchurch took the loss for the Wildcats. He lasted three and a third innings, allowing eight hits and 11 runs, striking out two. Law Graser and Cole Hartlein entered the game from the bullpen, throwing one inning and two-thirds of an inning respectively.
The Bernie Mules will be back in action in the Malden Baseball Tournament on Friday. They will play against Senath-Hornersville at 3:00 p.m. and Malden at 5:00 p.m.
The Bloomfield Wildcats will host Holcomb at 4:30 p.m. on Friday, April 8th.
Final Score Bernie 15, Bloomfield 2
Bernie 7 0 0 7 1 X X - 15
Bloomfield 0 0 0 2 0 X X - 2
Bernie, MO - The Bernie Lady Mules opened their season at home with back-to-back games against Charleston and Puxico. They defeated Charleston 11-0 in 5 innings and beat Puxico 19-0 in 3 innings.
"It was a good start to our season," stated coach Brad Botch. "Sara did a good job throwing strikes and our defense was very solid behind her. We hit the ball pretty well today, especially as cold and nasty as it was outside. Big week next week with 4 games and a tournament next weekend. We'll see what we're made of quickly, but I'm proud of the girls for starting off well. They practice hard and should expect success."
Coach Botch is helping the Mules this spring while head coach Cendyl McGowen is away on maternity leave.
Botch isn't new to coaching the softball team. He coached the softball team in 2002 and 2003 and then again from 2012 - 2019.
Against the Charleston Lady Jays Piper Schoemehl 2-2, 3 runs, 5 stolen bases, Abby Powell 2-3, 2 RBIs, Anna Eaton 1-3, 3b, 1 RBI, Gracie Cluck 2-2, 2 runs. Sara Guzman was on the mound for Bernie and allowed only 2 hits, 0 runs, 4 k's and had a complete game shutout in 5 innings.
Against the Puxico Indians Piper Schoemehl 1-1, 3 BB (walks), 4 stolen bases, 4 runs, Mackenzie Powell 1-2, 2 runs, Gracie Cluck 2-2, 2 runs. Cluck also finished a complete game shutout with 0 runs, 1 hit and 2 strikeouts in three innings.
The Bernie softball team (2-0)will be in back in action on Monday, March 21st traveling to Risco. First pitch at 4:45 p.m.
