Paris softball was eliminated early in the postseason by Salisbury but feels good heading into the future.

The Lady Coyotes finished their 2022 season 12-4 (3-5 in the Lewis & Clark Conference) to reach double-digit wins and the most in a single season since the 14-10 team in 2012. Paris also shattered a record that had stood since 1985 by collecting 192 hits, besting the previous record of 157. Five Lady Coyotes also earned postseason awards: senior Rachel Shoemyer, sophomore Kennedy Ashenfelter and freshman Sophia Crusha as all-conference and all-district and freshmen Reese Sutton and Emma Ashenfelter as all-district.

“Overall, it was a really good season,” head coach Collin Huffman said. “We won more games than any team had in a long time, and we did it with a very young team. We bring back every starter minus our centerfielder for the next two years.”

Shoemyer was named second team all-conference and all-district after finishing with a .312 batting average, .384 on-base percentage, 18 RBI and 15 runs scored. Kennedy Ashenfelter was Paris’ go-to pitcher this season, with her sister Emma Ashenfelter behind the plate, and earned third team all-conference and first team all-district for her 184 strikeouts, 2.64 ERA and 12 wins in 140⅓ innings pitched, and her .329 average, a .387 on-base, 22 RBI and 14 runs scored. Crusha was third team all-conference and second team all-district after finishing with a .350 average, .398 on-base, 19 RBI and 17 runs scored.

Football

Turnovers turn into 26-7 loss for Paris at Scotland County

Paris needed to make a comeback, but Scotland County’s defense was the one coming back toward the Coyotes’ offense Friday.

After trailing 6-0 at halftime on Friday at Lewis and Clark Conference and district foe Scotland County, the Coyotes threw three interceptions that were returned for touchdowns and finished with five turnovers overall to lose 26-7.

Drew Williams led the Paris offense by running for the ball for 160 yards — out of 190 yards of total offense for the Coyotes — on 29 carries with a touchdown in the fourth quarter. Owen Totten made it tough for Scotland County of offense — 176 yards of total offense — leading Paris with 17 tackles and six tackles for loss. Gunnar Fountain followed with 12 tackles, Gatlin Fountain had 11 tackles — three for loss — and Clayton Duncan finished with 10 tackles.

Head coach Joseph Utterback said Williams was Paris’ guy on Friday night and is happy he had a big night even if the Coyotes struggled overall offensively.

“I was really proud of the way he ran the ball,” Utterback said. “This will be one to remember for him. Our O-Line made up of Owen Totten, Gunnar Fountain, Donald Jones, Ian Farrell, Evin Riechmann, and Reid Ragsdale did a tremendous job leading the way for Drew Williams to run the ball and our defense did a great job getting stops the entire game.”

Utterback said a long opening kickoff was the first low moment for Paris. Brady Shivers prevented the score by making the tackle at the Coyote 30, but Scotland County (1-6, 1-3 L&C) scored early in the first quarter on a 12-yard touchdown run. Starting with about eight minutes left in the third quarter, defenders started running some scores in the endzone.

The Coyotes were down 13-7 going into the fourth quarter after the first interception returned for a touchdown, but they were burned by two more in the fourth quarter when they tried to quickly to get back in the game, Utterback said.

“Unfortunately we had a turnover and from there we had to speed things up a bit,” Utterback said. “When you are down two scores there is only so much you can do and unfortunately when we put the ball in the air we turned the ball over a few more times.”

The loss in Paris’ sixth straight, and the Coyotes (1-7, 0-5 L&C) will be looking to end the losing streak before districts in their final regular season game Friday at home against conference foe and reigning Class 1 runner-up Marceline (4-4, 4-4 L&C), who edged Westran 13-12 in Huntsville in Week 8 and have won four straight.

“I know we have a lot of stuff to figure out, but I really wish I could have found a way to get our team more prepared Friday night,” Utterback said. “The good news is that we have another chance to go out and compete on Friday against a Marceline team that is on a hot streak. I know they have a new head coach and they started out kind of slow but that they have figured some things out the last few weeks and have been winning.”

Cross country

Kinnaman, Tullius, Chapman continue to medal for Paris in Salisbury

Three Paris runners have earned much hardware in the cross country’s program debut season.

That didn’t change Monday as Mairyn Kinnaman, Alexandra Tullius and Landen Chapman all finished in the top 20 of the Robert Kelsay Invitational on Monday in Salisbury. Kinnaman finished third in the girls 5,000 meters with a time of 22:03.01, Alexandra Tullius wasn’t far behind with a seventh-place time of 22:39, and Chapman finished 12th in the boys 5,000 meters with a time of 19:29.7.

David Elzea just missed the top 20 with a 21st-place time of 20:32.9, and Brayden DeOrnellas was right behind him in 22nd with a time of 20:33.1. Schuyler County’s Asher Applegate finished 20th with a time of 20:01.60.

Glasgow’s Addison Barringhaus won the girls’ race with a time of 21:17.4, and South Shelby’s Noah Wilt took first in the boys’ race with a time of 17:42.2.