West Jessamine

The West Jessamine baseball program will be hosting a baseball camp July 11-14 from 8:30-10:30 a.m. For more information and to sign up, contact coach Jody Hamilton at 859-230-6157.

West Jessamine girls' tennis region results First round Kristen Desrochers (West Jessamine) def. Kaylee Hicks (Woodford County) 6-0, 6-3 Sydney Sampson (West Jessamine) def. Gabby Morguelan (East Jessamine) 6-1, 6-3. Katie Mitchell/Bailey Ludt (West Jessamine) def. Deaton/Bishop (Lexington Catholic) 6-1, 4-6, 7-6 (7) Colby Haley/Ashley Haley (West Jessamine) def. Ritchie/Salyers (Scott County) 7-6 (4), 6-2 Second round Hannah Harris (LCA) def. Kristen Desrochers 6-1, 6-1 Nicole Miracle (Scott County)

The West Jessamine girls' soccer team will play Madison Central on Monday night at 8 p.m. at Madison Southern in the semifinals of the Region 14 tournament. On Sept. 26, the Lady Colts beat Central 6-0 at home. On Thursday, West won the 27th District by edging Lexington Catholic 1-0. Lexington Catholic will play Madison Southern at 6 p.m. on Monday.

The George Rogers Clark girls softball team got back on track with a 9-6 victory over West Jessamine in a makeup up game Wednesday at Cardinal Heights. The Lady Cardinals (14-19) trailed 1-0 after the first two innings, but scored three times in the third inning to claim the lead. Clark then crossed the plate with five runs in the fifth inning to break the game open. The victory snapped Clark's two-game losing skid. The two teams were scheduled to play Monday, but the game was rained out and moved to Wednesday.

West Jessamine used a 17-2 run in the first quarter to overtake Somerset on Tuesday night and never relinquished lead, winning 80-70. Down 11-4 after nearly five minutes of play, West Jessamine used a three minute and 45 second run to overtake the Briar Jumps and take a 21-13 lead into the second quarter. West was red-hot from the field in the first quarter, sinking 9-of-10 shots. The one miss - a layup by Daulton Peters - was collected by DeShawn Eubanks, who gave the ball back to Peters, and he found the basket on his second try. Peters led the Colts with 20 points.

“East week on three! One, two, three, East week!” And with that, West Jessamine headed for the locker room trying to move past a 72-18 thrashing at Anderson County. The loss was the Colts' most lopsided of the season and biggest loss since a 77-0 loss to Lexington Catholic in 2007. The loss on Friday dropped West to 0-8 on the year with only East Jessamine (5-2) and Woodford County (4-3) remaining on its schedule. West was never in Friday's game, trailing by 21 after the first quarter.

Had the season ended Monday, Lexington Catholic would have been the No. 1 seed heading into the 27th District tournament, but West Jessamine's 2-0 upset of the Knights on Tuesday night shakes things up a little bit. “This is a huge win,” West coach Brock Sutherland said. “We've been struggling; we've won one of our last six games with two tough losses in the district at our place. To come in here ... and to beat them is just a huge win for us. It can change our confidence and turn our season around.” West Jessamine (6-5-1)

For the second year in a row, West Jessamine has lost a key player to a major injury. Last season, senior Bradley Strait was lost during in the middle of the season due to a wrist injury. In his absence, Will Henderson emerged as the point guard of the future. On Friday against Mercer County, Henderson went down with a ankle injury, and it's not yet known when he will return. Saturday's game against South Oldham was the Colts' first full game without the sophomore. Although West prevailed 76-68, Henderson's absence was notable in things as simple as getting the ball across midcourt.

To say that West Jessamine survived Boyle County on Tuesday night may be a bit of an understatement. The game went to overtime with the Colts prevailing 73-69, but it was really what happened late in the fourth quarter that has West glad it escaped with its health in addition to the win. The Colts led by as many as 17 points during the first half, but Boyle was able to claw its way back into the game with some timely three-point shooting, volatile...

For the second time this season and fourth time in two years, the East Jessamine boys' basketball team defeated rival West Jessamine. On Friday, night the Jaguars (20-4 overall, 5-0 district) beat the Colts (15-10, 3-2) at West, 71-60. West controlled the game for much of the first quarter, leading by as many as five points thanks to some good distribution on offense. Chase Fain, Robby Irgang, and Jeff Ziemann all scored baskets in the final minutes of the quarter to help West  go on a 7-0 run and take a 13-8 lead.

In a game that sealed his team's fate for the postseason, West Jessamine baseball head coach Jody Hamilton entered a prestigious club. The Colts (23-10), heavily favored against first round district opponent Burgin, won 15-0 in five innings to earn their 11th-year head coach his 800th all-time victory. “It's hard to put in words,” Hamilton said after being honored with a plaque on his achievement. “You look back over 31 years and it gets pretty emotional. You look at the great people I've met, coaches I've coached against and the kids that I've coached, the kids that I've seen play or coached against; they're so many things that come back - memories, it's just fantastic.” Win No. 800 made Hamilton just the seventh coach to enter the Kentucky High School Athletic Association record books for having 800 or more victories.

East and West Jessamine softball's Monday night rout's have yet again pitted the foes against one another. The Lady Colts (13-21) opened the 46th District softball tournament with a 17-1 win over Mercer County in five innings. West's 10-run explosion in the first inning provided the Lady Colts an early opportunity for the onset of the mercy rule with defensive aid. Through the following two innings, the Lady Titans failed to score while West tacked on an additional three runs in the third.

Every area baseball and softball team will play an elimination game today as postseason play begins with the start of district tournaments. All six Advocate-area district baseball and softball tournaments get under way today with semifinal doubleheaders. Five of them are scheduled to conclude Tuesday, with one carrying over to Wednesday. The top two teams in each district advance to the 12th Region tournaments. Both the baseball and softball regionals will be played at Rockcastle County next week.

Abby Wiggins had a good day Friday. Just hours after the defending champion in the 100-meter hurdles set a personal record in that event but came in third, the West Jessamine senior came back even better, setting a new state record as she took the state championship in the 300-meter hurdles in Louisville. Wiggins ran the 300-meter hurdles in 44.77 seconds, almost a half-second better than the four-year-old 2A state record of 45.25. "That's what I've worked for this year - I wanted to win the (300)

Tennis players from East and West Jessamine schools took to the courts of Shillito Park and Lexington Christian Academy last week where they participated in the 11th Region tournament. East eighth-grader Casey Kibler, the tournament's No. 8 seed, advanced the furthest of any of the school's entrants, losing in the third round to LCA's No. 3 seed, Christen Puckett, 3-6, 3-6. “Her work ethic and drive are such that she has a great tennis career ahead of her,” East coach Vonda Horton said.

Ed Jones is no longer the principal at West Jessamine High School. Reached by phone Thursday morning, superintendent Lu Young said Jones' last official day as principal at the school was Tuesday. Jones had been suspended with pay since April 29. Young said she could give no information on whether Jones had resigned or not. "I can't comment on any of the details of the personnel action," Young said. A letter from Young to Jones obtained through an open-records request notified Jones on April 29 that he was suspended with pay. No reason for the suspension was included in the letter except the statement that Young had found a "justifiable need for an investigation of (Jones')

Micah Miniard of Boyle County threw a no-hitter Monday, but the Rebels' offense couldn't support him in a 1-0 loss to No. 8 Woodford County at Versailles. Miniard was matched against Clinton ace Clinton Hollon, who held Boyle to one hit. Both Miniard, a junior who has committed to Western Kentucky, and Hollon, a senior who has committed to Kentucky and is expected to be selected in the major league draft next month, threw in the 90s in the game as about half a dozen pro scouts looked on. “Micah was put on a big stage tonight going against Hollon, and he held his own to say the least,” Boyle coach Kyle Wynn said.

West Jessamine baseball has a knack for drama. Monday's doubleheader sweep of Garrard County at home featured two wins that came with help from clutch batting in the bottom of the seventh inning. Game one's 5-4 win came on a single by sophomore Troy Merida that passed beyond the grasp of Garrard's right fielder, scoring junior Daulton Peters and freshman Tucker Greer. “We finally caught a break,” said West head coach Jody Hamilton. “We have not been catching many breaks lately.” The Colts held a 3-1 lead until the fifth when junior Jarred Jones allowed an RBI single up the middle and a sacrifice fly later in the inning that scored a runner from third.

The principal of West Jessamine High School has been suspended since April 29 as the school district conducts an investigation of his alleged actions. Ed Jones was suspended with pay April 29 pending the result of the investigation, according to a suspension notification obtained Friday by The Journal through an open-records request. Superintendent Lu Young said Monday morning that Jones was still the principal at West High. Young sent an email to all West High teachers April 29 stating that Jones would be "out of the building for a short period of time.

West Jessamine softball's turnaround continued Thursday with a 3-1 win over district opponent Mercer County. Between collegiate signings and their recent play on the diamond, it's safe to say these 'girls are on fire,' as goes the song by musical artist Alicia Keys (and head coach Michelle Baker). The Lady Colts have emphasized those lyrics as they are riding the momentum of seven wins in their last 11 games heading into the district tournament. “It's exciting for them,” coach Baker said.