A photo finish was just icing on the cake.
Micah Owings' pitching is finally catching up to his bat.
Serena Williams fell to her knees on the grass, eyes closed, arms raised, and threw back her head.
Matt Grady, an experienced coach at the highest collegiate level, has been named assistant men’s basketball coach at Morehead State.
Head coach Donnie Tyndall announced Grady’s appointment this week. Grady comes to Morehead State with experience at the University of Louisville on two occasions, the University of Cincinnati, New Mexico State, Murray State, and St. Joseph’s.
Because it’s never too early to talk football — and the recent comfortable July weather puts you in the mood anyway — away we go.
I was looking over the 2009 high school schedules for area teams and there are some interesting games developing.
Excluding the typical rivalries, of which there are many, here’s a rundown of 10 games you may want to circle on the calendar.
Morehead State University’s basketball program is being investigated for alleged recruiting violations.
Officials at MSU have issued statements on the university’s Web site regarding the allegations, which claims an alumni of MSU recruited and paid for tuition for a men’s basketball player to attend a private school to help him meet qualifications for NCAA eligibility.
The Cliff Webb Memorial baseball tournament has taken several different directions this week.
Gene Bennett isn’t from Ashland but he was very much a part of the first Ashland Community Night in Cincinnati.
The sound of music won’t be the only thing emanating from Central Park this week.
When Phil and Dreama Webb went to the desert for spring training back in 2004, as they drove into Tucson, there was a giant billboard promoting the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Already longtime friends and competitors, East Carter’s Jeremiah Shearer and Lawrence County’s Travis Feltner added region champions to their list of common bonds this season.
The original plan was to win it with pitching.
But when starting pitcher Corey Miller left in the second inning with elbow tightness, the Ashland Post 76 bats needed to respond.
Tanner Alexander used the gas station as fuel for the finish as he placed first in the 14th annual Super Quik 5K on Saturday.
Dear All-Star parent:
First of all, congratulations on your son or daughter being named to an All-Star summer league baseball or softball team.
Kentucky is among four schools former Duke basketball player Elliot Williams has identified as possible transfer destinations.
Williams, a 6-foot-4 sophomore-to-be, was granted his release Wednesday from Duke.
When 17-year-old American Melanie Oudin concluded the biggest match of her life Saturday at Wimbledon, she had trouble finding the exit on cozy Court 3.
It's hard to blame Drew Rothenstine for thinking he was going to have a rough go of it in Friday's Eastern Kentucky Junior Golf Association event.
Rowan County High School football coach Shadon Brown is staying put.
The Milwaukee Bucks have picked guard Jodie Meeks in the second round of the NBA draft with the 41st pick, adding a sharpshooter on a team that's in need of scoring punch after trading Richard Jefferson to the San Antonio Spurs.
All of my colleague Mark Maynard’s recent writings about sandlot games stirred up a conversation between the two of us the other day.
Erin Frye’s college plans took an unexpected turn.
For the longest time, the Ashland Blazer swimming standout felt certain her path led to University of Louisville.
Frank Lumberg’s voice has been heard.
The Super Quik 5K in Flatwoods is the latest area road race to add a 75-over age category.
Kentucky Miss Softball winner Amber Riddle and Ashland standout Katelyn Miller form quite a combo as headliners on the 2009 All-Area Softball Team.
Fairview is filling its vacant girls head coaching job with experience.
Alice Lloyd College’s softball team just received an infusion of speed.
Boyd County outfielder’s Danielle Rakes signed this spring with the Kentucky NAIA school.
Last week’s column about playing sandlot baseball stirred some memories and drew interesting responses.
Everyone agreed that today’s young players aren’t allowed to be kids because of the time commitment involved in organized sports at every level, from youth league to high school.
The U.S. Open has been delayed until noon because of overnight rain that continues to saturate Bethpage Black.
Christy Martin, who has carved out an impressive women’s boxing career over the last 20 years, wants to go out with a bang in front of the home folks.
Martin hopes to have a four-fight card with bouts between Huntington and Pikeville.
First a 40-foot pine tree, then the tournament record.
Big things fell Friday in the final round of the Natural Resource Partners Bluegrass Junior.
Three-time All-Star Brandon Webb remains at home in Phoenix with pain in his pitching shoulder and won't see a Diamondbacks team doctor until after Father's Day.
A second consecutive Natural Resource Partners Bluegrass Junior boys’ championship is well within Justin Thomas’ reach
Chris Jennings is still chasing a pro football dream.
Instead of a rainy afternoon forecast, golfers received excellent scoring conditions Wednesday for the opening round of the Natural Resource Partners Bluegrass Junior.
Growing up in Ashland during the 1960s and 1970s, being involved in organized youth sports wasn’t the only way to participate.
Justin Thomas is coming off his greatest golf achievement as he begins defense of his Natural Resource Partners Bluegrass Junior championship today.
Josh Robinette and Jeff Meade, both rising sophomores at Ashland Blazer, played their way into their first Natural Resource Partners Bluegrass Junior on Monday.
Robinette shot a 75 and Meade earned his spot via a playoff at the end of the K12 Qualifier at Bellefonte Country Club.
Kentucky top scorer Jodie Meeks has decided to leave the Wildcats and remain in consideration for the NBA draft.
From 1950s model cars to fans dressed in white T-shirts and blue jeans, Dave Carter got what he needed from the Ashland community on Sunday.
The numbers keep increasing and past runners keep returning in tip-top form for the Run by the River in Russell.
The 32nd annual race that runs through downtown Russell and Worthington included 233 participants on Saturday morning.
That is 33 more runners than last year.
Golf stars of tomorrow often pass through Ashland via the Natural Resource Partners Bluegrass Junior.
Last June, the American Junior Golf Association event celebrated its 25th year at Bellefonte Country Club.
During that span, teen players such as Jim Furyk, Leigh Anne Hardin, Ben Curtis, Brittany Lincicome and Robert Damron used the Bluegrass Junior as a stepping stone to pro tour careers.
Indiana All-Stars coach David Wood couldn't have told anyone who Errick Peck was two months ago.
The fourth annual Northeastern Kentucky East/West Senior Bowl did not end the way East All-Stars coach Lee Evans had planned, but the experience was enjoyable as a whole.
“There was not a bad experience to the very end,” Evans said.
It’s a good guess that no Kentucky high school baseball team has ever won a state title with a .500 record.
Owensboro earned a chance Thursday to make history at Lawrence County’s expense. The 13-15 Red Devils — who won just six games in the regular season — eliminated the Bulldogs in a 3-2, 10-inning first-round squeaker at Applebee’s Park.
Ashland’s Kennedy Womack is living up to her lofty goal in the Joe Creason Kentucky State Qualifier.
Womack, the top seed in the junior tennis tournament’s Girls 14s division, won the championship Tuesday with a 6-3, 6-7, 6-1 victory over No. 2 Gabrielle Gerlach of Louisville.
The Kentucky All-Star experience is nearing its climax for Elliott County’s Ethan and Evan Faulkner, but the two local basketball stars prefaced the upcoming Kentucky-Indiana series with one final show in their home gym at Elliott County High School Thursday night.
Jonny Gomes sat in Cincinnati's clubhouse and watched the end of three different baseball games on TV while he waited for a rain delay to end.
Life has been hectic — yet good — for Donnie Tyndall since Morehead State’s run to the NCAA Tournament in March.
Tyndall has hardly stopped to collect his breath, being more in demand after taking the Eagles to the tournament for the first time in 25 years.
Grant McKenzie didn�t take any chances Monday in the Eastern Kentucky Junior Golf Association Walmart Tour season opener.
Amber Riddle’s thundering bat and staggering statistics could not be denied.
Ashland Post 76’s baseball team swept a doubleheader from Glen Este Post 72 at Glenn Este High School on Sunday in its season opener.
Ashland’s “Field of Dreams” documentary baseball project just got a Hall of Fame upgrade.
From Louisa to Lexington in Kentucky, from Gallipolis to Portsmouth in Ohio and Wayne to Barboursville in West Virginia, runners whose ages span eight decades are ready for the 32nd annual Run By The River, scheduled for 8:30 a.m. Saturday in downtown Russell.
Rowan County's Amber Riddle has been named the 2009 Kentucky Miss Softball by the Kentucky Softball Coaches Association.
There’s nothing like football in the middle of summer. That’s what the Northeastern Kentucky East/West Senior Bowl is selling anyway.
There used to be a television program on called “Fact or Fiction.”
Tee times
Bobby Lynch was a star from the time he was a young pitcher in Little League, being a part of the 1961 Ashland National Little League state champions.
Any way you slice it, one thing is readily evident: Pitching wins in baseball. And in sophomore Chandler Shepherd, Lawrence County has it in spades.
Any way you slice it, one thing is readily evident: Pitching wins in baseball, and in sophomore Chandler Shepherd, Lawrence County has it in spades.
Tyler Back’s walkoff home run to lead off the bottom of the eighth inning lifted East Carter to a 3-2 victory over Lawrence County in an elimination game of the Semi-State 8 baseball tournament at W.C. Hambley Athletic Center.
Just when you thought it was over.
After a three-year stretch of dominance in 16th Region basketball, Elliott County is getting one more shot at it. The entire cast won’t be intact, but Ethan and Evan Faulkner will be there.
Ashland made a strong showing in its first-ever Fast-
Pitch State Tournament on Friday.
Nathan Martin’s terrific high school tennis career has drawn to a close. Kennedy Womack is just getting warmed up.
A double-state champion sprinter and two premier hurdlers headline the 2009 All-Area Track and Field teams.
Johnson Central senior Andy Lewis blazed his way to state titles in the 100 and 200-meter dashes at the Class 2A State Meet.
It used to be the numbers were all that needed to be said:
Rain has postponed games Thursday and Friday in the Semi-State 8 high school baseball tournament.
Coach Dave Miller paused while reflecting on a 28-3 season that has carried Ashland’s softball team to a long-awaited appearance in the State Tournament.
My name is Mark and I’m an addict.
For 15th Region champion Lawrence County, the numbers are starting to get downright gaudy.
Former Alice Lloyd College baseball teammates Jeremiah Shearer and Travis Feltner are excited about a reunion of sorts.
East Carter, coached by Shearer, will meet Feltner’s Lawrence County team this week in the Semi-State 8 baseball tournament at Pikeville High School.
East Carter and Lawrence County opened the high school baseball season against each other on March 23.
More than two months and almost 70 games later, the Raiders and Bulldogs meet again in a best-of-three series with greater stakes.
East Carter and Lawrence County opened the high school baseball season against each other on March 23.
Brandon Rosen is leaving Centre College with more than a degree in government.
He’s also got a handful of baseball records, too.
For Raceland multiple-sport star Tyler Boyles, it wasn’t a matter of if he was going to play in college but which sport he would choose.
Boyles had offers in football from Georgetown College and basketball from Shawnee State University, Ashland University in northern Ohio, Kentucky Christian University and Thomas More.
Ashland has a big swinging youngster coming up.
Preston Ledford, the 8-year-old son of Dr. Loren and Amy Ledford, recently was the overall winner for the 7-8 year-old division of the Aquafina Pitch, Hit and Run Northeast Kentucky Sectional competition in Union, Ky.
Two coaches with area connections are among the 12-member class that will be inducted into the Dawahares/KHSAA Hall of Fame in 2010.
Longtime Russell football coach Ivan McGlone and former Ashland basketball coach Craynor Slone were among the honorees released Friday by the Kentucky High School Athletic Association.
Entries are now being accepted for the 32nd annual Run By The River.
Scheduled for 8:30 a.m. June 13 the 5K and 10K road races are sponsored by the Kiwanis Club of East Greenup County.
The trophy case is no longer bare for Ashland softball.
East Carter’s baseball team may never wear anything but its navy blue jerseys again.
East Carter’s baseball team may never wear anything but its navy blue jerseys again.
On the brink of making history, Ashland can now prepare for something it has never done before.
That is winning a 16th Region fast-pitch softball championship.
At times during Wednesday’s 16th Region baseball semifinal between East Carter and two-time defending champion Greenup County, the fog was so thick, you couldn’t see the outfield from home plate.
Jared Spicer had been in a mini-slump; he said he was late on too many pitches.
Jared Spicer had been in a mini-slump; he said he was late on too many pitches.
After Wednesday’s 16th Region baseball semifinal against Raceland, you can consider the hitting drought done. The Boyd County junior left fielder’s triple and two singles gave the Lions a 5-2 win at Allen Field.
The University of Memphis is responding to an NCAA notice of allegations accusing the men's basketball program of major violations during the 2007-08 season under John Calipari, a newspaper reported Wednesday.
Kentucky Wildcats recruit John Wall has pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor and entered a program for first offenders which could lead to having his record cleared.
Former Kentucky men's basketball coach Billy Gillispie sued the school Wednesday, seeking at least $6 million he says he is owed on his deal after being fired without cause.
Marshall University Football Coach Mark Snyder has released the following statement concerning football recruit A.J. Graham who was arrested and charged with robbery with a firearm in Tallahassee, Fla. on Tuesday.
If East Carter’s baseball players are caught yawning during their U.S. History or Biology finals today, at least there’s a good reason.
Boyd County threatened late but Rowan County held on and moved one step closer to defending its 16th Region crown. The Lady Vikings beat the Lady Lions 8-6 at West Carter Middle School on Tuesday night.
The game didn’t last quite as long as the rain delay.
Greenup County’s bats thundered for a 16-1 mercy-rule victory over Fairview on Tuesday night in the water-logged 16th Region Baseball Tournament.
Mandy Layne is the new girls basketball head coach at Russell High School after guiding Fairview’s program the past three seasons.
Heavy rains and lightening Tuesday evening caused a delay in excess of two hours in the region baseball tournament in Morehead.
Raceland provided plenty of excitement in its first appearance in the 16th Region Tournament in three seasons, setting up a matchup with Boyd County in the semifinals — a rematch of the 2006 championship game.
