NORFOLK, Va. – Three Centre swimming and diving individuals have earned Scholar All-America honors from the College Swimming Coaches Association of America (CSCAA), it was announced this week.

Senior Brad Nordin (Paintsville, Ky.) and sophomores Chloe Grove (Bucyrus, Ohio) and Annie Holmes (Louisville, Ky.) each garnered the award, given to students that have achieved a grade point average of 3.50 or higher and competed at the NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships.

Paintsville pitcher Jase Kinner heads to first base after connecting on a South Central pitch.

Paintsville captured the 2018 District 7 9-10 Year Old Division Championship at Prestonsburg Sports Park on Saturday and is now preparing to compete in the state tournament.

201 Speedway had a capacity crowd Friday night in the 2018 Paul H. Salyer Memorial Late Model feature. 

Drivers from all over the area came out to try and claim the $10,000 prize for the winner, but when the dust settled, it was Cross Lanes’ own Zack Dohm receiving the big check after dominating the field.

Johnson County captured the Cal Ripken Baseball District 3 12U Division championship on Friday, defeating Pike County 9-3 in the title game at Prestonsburg Sports Park. Two Johnson County pitchers combined to limit Pike County. Dawson Montgomery started on the mound for Johnson County before reliever Ethan McCarty closed out of the contest. Toby Kelly and Brady Adkins each hit a home run for Johnson County in the district championship-clinching victory. 

Kentucky 8, Tennessee 6

University of Kentucky athletics director Mitch Barnhart speaks at the Billy Johnson Stage in downtown Pikeville outside of the East Kentucky Expo Center during the Big Blue Caravan Friday afternoon. Players, coaches, cheerleaders and dance team members showed up to sign autographs and meet …

Paintsville head coach Landon Slone talks things over with the Tigers during a timeout Monday during the UPike summer basketball team camp where the Tigers faced off against Richlands.

Allie Wells just recently made school history at Johnson Central.

Wells finished as the 15th Region single runner-up in tennis and qualified of KHSAA Tennis State Tournament. 

Wells won her opening game match over South Oldham’s Molly Dean 6-7, 6-4, 11-9. The win at the state tournament was the first for Johnson Central for the girls’ program.

Johnson Central’s Reece Collins, Boat captain Kevin Collins and Kenneth Powers placed 16th out of 80 boats that competed in the State Bass Fishing Tournament. Two more Johnson Central Anglers were able to place as well with Dawson Burton and Jacob Spriggs coming in at 57th place.

Paintsville’s great season came to an end Saturday evening in Lexington.

The Tigers have had a successful season. Paintsville won the 57th District title and the 15th Region championship. 

The Tigers followed that with a 3-1 win over Christian County in the opening round of the Whitaker Bank/KHSAA State Baseball Tournament. 

Paintsville looked to repeat its showing in the 57th District championship Saturday afternoon against Johnson Central in the 15th Region championship game.

The Tigers did just that picking up a 5-2 win over the Golden Eagles.

Paintsville got things going early in the game with four straight singles. Tanner Smith got things started for the Tigers and was first to hit a single. John Walker Phelps followed with a single. Seth Williams drove home the game’s first run with an RBI single to score Smith. Ben Daniels followed the Williams single with an RBI single of his own to score Phelps and to give the Tigers an early 2-0 lead after the first half inning of play.

Pikeville didn’t waste anytime getting out to a quick start against Johnson Central Friday night in the 15th Region semifinals. 

Pikeville scored six runs in the first inning en route to a 9-0 win over the Lady Golden Eagles.

With the loss, Johnson Central finished the season with a 19-11 record and the 57th District title.

Paintsville and Shelby Valley remained gridlocked in the opening round of the 15th Region Tournament, until the bottom of the sixth inning when the Tigers scored four runs to pull out a 6-2 win.

With the win, Paintsville (23-12) advanced to the 15th Region semifinals. The Tigers and Bulldogs were scheduled to play Thursday evening, but the game was pushed back to Friday because of rain. Last night’s contest, if played, finished too late to be included in this edition of the Paintsville Herald. For full 15th Region coverage of weekend action, see Wednesday’s Paintsville Herald.

PAINTSVILLE — Johnson Central pitcher Macy Daniel pitched a perfect game as the host Lady Golden Eagles shut out upstart Floyd Central 10-0 in five innings in the opening round of the 15th Region Softball Tournament on Wednesday. 

With the win, Johnson Central improved its record to 19-10 on the season and advanced to the 15th Region Softball Tournament semifinals.

Floyd Central ended its season with a 12-21 record with the loss. 

PAINTSVILLE — After plating a half-dozen runs in the 57th District title game against crosstown rival Johnson Central, Paintsville was limited offensively throughout the opening round the 15th Region Softball Tournament. Paintsville was held hitless on Monday as Lawrence County pulled away to win 6-0 in the opening round of the 15th Region Softball Tournament at Johnson Central.

With the loss, Paintsville ended its season with a 21-13 record.

Johnson Central soared to a win over Pike Central Monday afternoon to advance to the 15th Region Tournament semifinals after picking up a 5-1 win over the Hawks thanks to solid pitching by Trevor May and Tate Meade.

Johnson Central jumped out early in the top of the first when Ryan Sartin-Slone was able to score off a double by Blake Delong putting the Golden Eagles up 1-0.

Johnson Central and Paintsville bested 57th District rivals Sheldon Clark and Magoffin County to place themselves in the 57th District championship game Thursday night at Charlie Adkins Field. Paintsville proved that they were the top team in the 57th District by dismantling the Golden Eagles in an 8-1 game that never saw Johnson Central make a threat after the first inning.

The Tigers made their way to the championship after knocking off Magoffin County 12-2 Wednesday evening in the opening round of the 57th District Tournament.

The 57th district baseball and softball tournaments kicked off Monday evening and concluded with Johnson County having much to smile about as both Paintsville and Johnson Central’s softball teams won their respective games, as well as Johnson Central’s baseball team coming home with a big win after an exciting game.

Paintsville Lady Tigers 11, 

Sheldon Clark 1

Johnson Central was able to score first and hang with Boyd County, tying things up at 2-2 in the third inning, but the Lady Lions were too strong, pulling away to a 6-2 win against the Lady Golden Eagles

Things didn’t heat up until late in the game, but after Pikeville’s Drake Potter hit a two-run homer in the sixth inning, the Golden Eagles were able to come back to a 4-2 win over the Panthers thanks to Tate Meade’s walk-off home run in the bottom of the seventh.

Braxton Kelly was on the mound for the Golden Eagles throughout the first six innings, recording 10 strikeouts and holding the Panthers scoreless until the top of the sixth inning. Kelly walked Kevin Justice. Nathan Brown followed with a sacrifice bunt and Jackson Hensley hit a grounder to third base and was out at first for the second out. Drake Potter was up to bat next, and was able to hit a home run with Justice on second base, scoring two runs.

Paintsville’s Lady Tigers handed the Lady Patriots of Knott Central their sixth loss of the season Monday evening in Paintsville. 

Paintsville’s Jordan Mulcahy accounted for a big two-run home run in the bottom of the sixth inning to help the Lady Tigers to pull away to a 6-3 victory.

Tanner Mullet is going to Kentucky Christian and taking his golf skills with him. 

Mullet is a three-sport athlete at Johnson Central, participating on the Johnson Central golf, tennis, and wrestling teams. 

Mullet doesn’t just participate in those three sports, he’s shown he’s capable of going to the collegiate level of any of those activities. 

Pikeville’s softball team visited Johnson Central Tuesday evening looking to avenge a 5-3 loss that stretched out nine innings a month ago. The Lady Panthers were able to capitalize on errors by the Lady Golden Eagles to pull away to a 9-4 win.

It was an offensive outpour at Johnson Central Tuesday night.

HAZARD — Both Paintsville and Perry Central were strong on the pitcher’s mound Monday in Hazard, but the Commodores were able to mount a come back, scoring three runs in the bottom of the sixth to pull out a 3-1 win over the Tigers.

Tanner Smith started things off for the Tigers with a single to center field. Ben Daniels was up next and struck out. Smith was able to steal second and third. Seth Williams got hit by-a-pitch putting him on first to put runners on the corners with one out. Matt Baldwin was up to bat next. Williams made an attempt to steal second, but was picked off at first. On the next play, Smith was able to score a run, while stealing home putting the Paintsville Tigers up 1-0. Baldwin grounded out to first base on the next play for the third out.

Fans at Charlie Adkins field in Paintsville were treated to a great game Thursday evening when the Pikeville Panthers came to town to take on the Paintsville Tigers. The Tigers came out ahead late in the game to pull of a 4-3 win over the Panthers.

Things got intense right out of the gate when Pikeville’s Kevin Justice hit a leadoff single to left field. Nate Brown was up next to bat, and hit an insiade the park home run. Paintsville’s J.W. Phelps was running for the catch, but made contact with the wall and was down for awhile. This allowed both Justice and Brown to score putting the Panthers up 2-0 just two plays into the game. 

The Lawrence County Bulldogs made their way out to Charlie Adkins Field in Paintsville after a close 12-11 win over the Tigers in Louisa over the weekend. The result would be different this time as the Paintsville Tigers came out on top with a 5-4 win thanks to four runs scored in the bottom of the third inning. 

Lawerence County was the first to get on the scoreboard. Peyton Cyrus was the first up to bat and after a couple of foul balls, was able to reach on a single. With Brad Parks up next, Cyrus was able to steal second. Parks struck out. Austin Roe followed with a walk, but not before Cyrus was able to steal home off of a wild pitch. 

Johnson Central jumped ahead of Paintsville early and never looked back as the Golden Eagles picked up a 9-2 win Tuesday over 57th District rival Paintsville. 

Photo courtesy of Kimberly Trador

The lake was covered with 79 different boats.

The reason for all the boats out on the lake was the 2018 KHSAA Bass Fishing Region 4 Tournament. 

Johnson Central had three teams to qualify for the KHSAA Bass Fishing State Tournament. The Golden Eagles team of Seth Jackson and Joseph Burchett topped the long list of entrants, winning the overall Region 4 championship. 

INEZ — The Golden Eagles won on the road in Inez against 57th District rival Sheldon Clark Tuesday night. After being tied 3-3 in the top of the fifth inning, the Golden Eagles pulled out a 9-3 win.

LEXINGTON — Former University of Kentucky guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is set to visit Eastern Kentucky as part of his signing tour.

After moving into the starting lineup for Kentucky on January 9 in a Southeastern Conference game versus Texas A&M, Gilgeous-Alexander averaged 16.4 points, 5.7 assists and 4.6 rebounds over the final 22 games of the 2017-18 season. He scored 29 points in the Southeastern Conference championship game. The explosive Gilgeous-Alexander averaged a team-best 21.0 points, 6.7 assists and 5.0 rebounds while shooting 55.3 percent from the floor on his way to being named the SEC Tournament Most Valuable Player.

Paintsville’s Matt Combs tags out Pike Central’s Seth Conn Saturday afternoon. The Tigers were able to take a late 9-4 lead and hold on for the win. With the win, the Tigers move to 10-4 on the season and will be in action again tonight as they host Magoffin County at 6:00 p.m.

It took a while for things to heat up, but when it did, Johnson Central was able to capitalize as the Golden Eagles got on the scoreboard in the bottom of the fifth and ultimately picked up a 3-0 win over the Magoffin County Hornets in 57th District action.