The 2008 spring sports season for Greene County teams came to a conclusion last Saturday when the Shakamak Lakers were crowned Class A state champions at Victory Field.

The season was filled with outstanding team efforts and individual performances from area athletes. There was plenty of exciting action to choose from on just about any given night.

Having only two sports writers to cover all the action the spring schedule brought us was total chaos on many nights, but covering the events and interacting with the athletes and coaches was a total treat for this sports writer.

I am sure that I will fail to mention some of the many highlights from this past season, so feel free to e-mail me with whatever I happen to leave out or post a comment on what you feel should be mentioned.

So without further delay here we go, in no particular order.

* The Bloomfield Lady Cardinals softball team captured their first sectional championship since 1995 and finished the season with a 14-6 record. The Lady Cards ended their sensational season with a heart-breaking 2-1 loss in 10 innings to Brownstown Central in the first game of the Forest Park Regional.

The ladies figure to be contenders in upcoming seasons as well, as they will lose only two players from this year's championship team to graduation. Head coach Jessica Lauderdale's squad will return one of the area's best players inside the circle in the form of Shelby Gott. The incoming junior hurler pitched every inning of every game for the Lady Cards and shattered the school record for punchouts in a single season.

* Another area fireballer on the softball diamond that will be returning next season is Union's (Dugger) Ashli Scott. The freshman helped lead the Lady Bulldogs to the championship game of the Class A sectional and obliterated the school single-game record for strikeouts with 27 against Bloomfield in a 14-inning game. Scott also had an 18 punchout game against Sullivan in a seven inning contest.

* On the links, Kent George of Linton-Stockton recorded a hole-in-one at the Phil Harris Golf Course against Terre Haute South. George also recorded an eagle two holes prior to his first ace, and finished his nine hole round with a 3-under par score of 33.

The Miners also placed third in the Owen Valley Sectional to qualify for the Washington Regional before ending a great season.

* The track season featured the conclusion of two outstanding careers. Lindsey Stevens of Eastern Greene and Anthony Witt of Shakamak ended their highly decorated high school track careers on the biggest stage, the state finals.

Stevens, who holds the school record in the 100-meter hurdles, 300 hurdles and long jump, qualified for the state meet in both hurdle events. The senior captured the school's first regional crown for any female athlete or program by winning the 300 hurdle event at the Bloomington North Regional. Stevens will attend IU in the fall and mentioned that she will not compete on the track at IU for the time being.

Witt, who finished third at the 2007 Cross Country State Championships in the fall, also ended his track and field career with a third-place finish at the state meet in the 3,200-meter run. The third-place finish was the first time that Witt had been defeated on the season in the event.

Witt holds the school standard in the 3,200 as well as the 1,600 and will continue his career at Grand Valley State University in the fall competing in cross country as well as on the track.

Witt's teammate, Drew Gambill, also ended his season at the state meet as he competed in the 800. Gambill just missed the podium stand with a 10th place effort and set a school record in the process. Gambill, who also ran beside Witt at the state meet in the fall, will be back for two more seasons.

* The Linton-Stockton girls track and field team also had a great season as they captured the Tri-River Conference and Southwestern Indiana Athletic Conference crowns and remained undefeated on their home turf. The SWIAC crown was the 11th straight for the Lady Miners.

* Action on the baseball diamond provided some great moments as well, other than all the success from the Lakers.

Eastern Greene won its first baseball sectional since 1991 and also won its first regional crown in school history, before falling to South Ripley in the Class 2A Mooresville Semistate.

The T-Birds ended the remarkable season with a final record of 16-9 and shared the SWIAC title. Of their 16 wins, one came over the Shakamak on the Lakers' home field and a pair of 1-0 wins. One was over SWIAC foe Linton-Stockton in which senior Ryan Wilcoxen tosses a one-hitter, and the other came in the regional championship win over Covenant Christian. Wilcoxen was the star of that game as well with a three-hitter and hit a solo homer for the only run of the game.

According to head coach Brad Bates, Eastern Greene baseball is back on the map.

* Union (Dugger) also made headlines with a 53-0 win over Eminence. Yes, that is correct, 53-0. The Bulldogs exploded for 31 runs in the first inning. The inning featured one player hitting for the cycle. Wesley Marshall went 4-for-4 in the record breaking first inning, with a single, double, triple and home run.

The 53 runs was a state record, and their 40 hits for the game also set a state standard among other records.

* The Bloomfield netters also had a record-breaking season with a school record 17 wins. The Lady Cards suffered three defeats on the season, two of which came against Loogootee. The Lady Lions blanked the Lady Cards 5-0 in their regular season match-up, but the Lady Cards came ready to play for their sectional tilt, with a narrow 3-2 loss which ended their historic season.

The Lady Cards only other loss on the season came against Northview, who was crowned Class 4A sectional champions.

The spring sports season was an enjoyable one, and I am sure that many more memories were experienced aside from the few that I mentioned. It was a pleasure watching all the exciting action and hopefully the fall season, which is only less than two months away will provide more captivating moments.

My only regret was there was not more time to be able to make it to more games and events.

Travis David is a sports writer for the Greene County Daily World and can be reached at (812) 847-4487 ext. 20 or at tdavid@gcdailyword.com