Drake Lansman

Sterling baseball player Eli Penne is the Sauk Valley Athlete of the Week, presented by Loescher Heating and Air Conditioning. He pitched a one-hitter in a 2-0 win over Dixon in the regional semifinals. Here is a Q&A with Penne, who will attend UW-Plateville.

The Forreston baseball team got off to a tough start and just could not get over the hump in a 10-7 loss during Wednesday’s Class 1A Forreston Sectional baseball semifinal matchup against Galena.

Sterling had multiple athletes named All-Western Big 6 Conference in baseball, softball and girls soccer.

Fulton's Braedon Meyers pitched a two-hitter in a 5-0 win over Orion as the Steamers won a fifth straight regional title. Forreston also won a Class 1A regional title after beating South Beloit 22-2.

Despite things not going Newman's way for most of the game, the Comets baseball team still battled its way back and brought the tying run to the plate before falling 9-7 to Boylan in the Class 3A Belvidere Regional final. 'We never gave up.'

This year's Fulton softball team raised the bar after the Steamers finished in the Sweet 16 for the first time and won back-to-back regional titles. Fulton fell 8-2 on Friday to a Dakota team that took fourth at state last year.

Belle Curley of Fulton softball is the Sauk Valley Athlete of the Week, presented by Loescher Heating and Air Conditioning. She led off with four hits in the win over top-seeded Morrison to help the Steamers win back-to-back regional titles for the first time. Here is her Q&A.

Newman junior Joel Rhodes and Sterling sophomore Aron Rivera both went 1-2 on Thursday in singles play to wrap up the season at the IHSA state tennis meet. Sterling's Micah Peterson and Jacob Prevo fell after a close doubles match in consolation.

Chase Dykstra pitched a perfect game with 15 strikeouts to send Fulton baseball to Saturday's regional final. Forreston baseball won, Eastland beat Milledgeville and Oregon softball fell against North Boone in Wednesday's Sauk Valley roundup.

Embracing being pushed up a class, the Newman baseball team won its Class 3A postseason debut after an 8-0 regional semifinal win at Belvidere. Michael Morse and Liam Nicklaus pitched the combined shutout, and Garet Wolfe had four RBIs.

The IHSA boys track and field state meet takes place Thursday through Saturday at Eastern Illinois University in Charleston. Here is the full list of state qualifiers from the Sauk Valley area. Dixon is chasing a state trophy in 2A and Morrison is the defending 1A champion.

Milledgeville made one last furious rally before falling just short against Dakota in an 8-6 loss in the Class 1A Eastland Sectional semifinals.

Fulton's Zoe Kunau picked quite the moment to launch her first career home run. Kunau hit a two-run walk-off blast to send the Steamers into Friday's Class 1A Eastland Sectional softball final against Dakota.

Rock Falls senior Kayla Hackbarth is the Sauk Valley Athlete of the Week, presented by Loescher Heating and Air Conditioning. She had a season-best discus throw at the state track and field meet, where she took 13th. Here is a Q&A with her.

Morrison's Noah Robbins and Gage Wilson each had three RBIs in a 10-0 win over Stark County to open the baseball postseason. Bureau Valley and West Carroll also advanced to the regional semifinals in Monday's Sauk Valley Roundup.