July 04, 2025
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Storm’s baseball/softball regional championships came as big surprises

Bureau Valley 25-year anniversary sports series

By Kevin Hieronymus
The Bureau Valley Storm won their only baseball regional championship in 2009, upsetting rival Princeton. Team members are (front row, left to right) Sam Lowers, Zach Wallace, Caleb Baker, PJ Baker, Eric Ringle, Brandon Clark, Tyler Kennedy, Lane Danielson; and (back row) assistant coach Don King, Peter Elliot, John king, Paul Elliot, Tyler Rumbold, Ryan Hix, Tevis Mott, Michael Weidner and head coach John Matlick.

The Bureau Valley Storm won their only baseball regional championship in 2009, upsetting rival Princeton. Team members are (front row, left to right) Sam Lowers, Zach Wallace, Caleb Baker, PJ Baker, Eric Ringle, Brandon Clark, Tyler Kennedy, Lane Danielson; and (back row) assistant coach Don King, Peter Elliot, John king, Paul Elliot, Tyler Rumbold, Ryan Hix, Tevis Mott, Michael Weidner and head coach John Matlick. (Photo)

Editor’s note: This is the final installment in a series looking back on the 25-year history of Bureau Valley High School sports.

MANLIUS — Bureau Valley High School has built a rich sports tradition in its 25 years, winners of one state team championship and runner-up finish in football, three state medal performances in basketball, a state appearance in volleyball, multiple state track and cross country champions and medalists, and numerous conference championships across the board.

Storm baseball and softball have not enjoyed that success as a whole.

Each program has won just one regional championship, both coming by complete surprise, with no conference championships hanging on their banners.

The Bureau Valley Storm won their only baseball regional championship in 2009, upsetting rival Princeton. Team members are (front row, left to right) Sam Lowers, Zach Wallace, Caleb Baker, PJ Baker, Eric Ringle, Brandon Clark, Tyler Kennedy, Lane Danielson; and (back row) assistant coach Don King, Peter Elliot, John king, Paul Elliot, Tyler Rumbold, Ryan Hix, Tevis Mott, Michael Weidner and head coach John Matlick.

The Bureau Valley Storm won their only baseball regional championship in 2009, upsetting rival Princeton. Team members are (front row, left to right) Sam Lowers, Zach Wallace, Caleb Baker, PJ Baker, Eric Ringle, Brandon Clark, Tyler Kennedy, Lane Danielson; and (back row) assistant coach Don King, Peter Elliot, John king, Paul Elliot, Tyler Rumbold, Ryan Hix, Tevis Mott, Michael Weidner and head coach John Matlick. (Photo)

Baseball

Longtime BV staffer Craig Johnson was the first of five Storm baseball coaches. He said building the program was truly starting from scratch.

“First year, I think we had only two or three players on the varsity that had played baseball for at least three years. A couple had played Legion ball for Princeton so it was a real struggle. We scheduled late and I believe only played (13) games,” he said.

“The second year we were a lot more competitive, had a group of dedicated seniors in John Watson, Jason Wilt, Chris Smith, Jeremy Andersen. We kept improving and had our first winning season in 1999 (14-12) with a solid group of seniors and juniors who had been in the program for three and four years.”

Johnson’s sidekick, Bret Helms, aka as the “General,” took over as the Storm skipper in 2001, and three years later directed BV to its best record in school history, going 18-10. The No. 7 seeded Storm, however, fell to No. 21 Streator Woodland 7-4 in its first regional game in the semifinals.

Helms stepped down after the 2005 season, only to make a brief two-year return in 2016 and 2017.

Present BV superintendent Jason Stabler ran the Storm ship in 2006 and 2007. The 13-15 Storm were two outs away from winning their first regional, but fell to Savanna, 10-9.

New BV teacher John Matlick led the Storm to a 15-10 record in his first year in 2008.

The next year, the Storm dipped to 11-15, but won their first and only regional championship, upsetting a highly touted Princeton club 7-5 on John King’s late go-ahead home run tagged as the “Shot heard around Bureau Valley.”

Matlick said King became a BV legend for his homer.

Ryan Schisler has been head coach since 2018.

Five Storm have received BCR Player of the Year honors — Axel Dunn (1998), Jeff Egan (2000), Kevin Thomas (2006), Brett Monson (2007) and King (2010).

The Bureau Valley softball team won their only regional in program history in 2006. Team members are (front row, from left) Taryn Hasbrook, Nicole Nora, Katy Olds, Andrea Barnett, Maddie Morris, Abby Buckman, Rachel Whiteside and Heidi Jamison; and (back row) coach Brian Humphrey, Christa Gonigam, Brianne DeVenney, Breelyn McMahon, Abbie Buysse, Lauren Eckberg, Melissa McDonald and Kelsey Rich. (Photo contr)

Softball

The Storm softballers have won just one regional championship and it came as a complete surprise on their home field in 2006 in Brian Humphrey’s first year as head coach.

The No. 19 sub-sectional seed, BV upset No. 4 Princeton 4-3 in the semifinals and then No. 6 Putnam County 7-6 in nine innings for the title.

“I should have retired after that one,” joked Humphrey. “I think both Princeton and Putnam County were 19- or 20-win teams that year and we were like 19th out of the 20 teams rated at sectional and only had six wins going into regional. Those were two wild games.

“Christa Gonigam, one of best hitters, had a trip planned to Florida and didn’t play sectional. Of course, they didn’t think we’d have a chance to win regional.”

BV lost to No. 1 St. Bede 5-1 in the sectional semifinals.

The Storm had its winningest season on the softball diamond in 2011, going 15-11. They knocked off top seed Princeton 1-0 in the regional semifinals, but fell to Riverdale 4-0 in the finals.

Like Helms in baseball, Humphrey returned for a second stint as softball coach from 2017-19. In all, he coached 13 seasons.

Greg Sayler has been head coach since 2020, the first year canceled by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Danny Kolb, a former big leaguer, was head coach for one year, 2016.

Storm softball has been a family affair for the Phillips family with four sisters — Anna (2011), Emily (2013), Ashley (2016) and Laura (2018), and the Kepners with three sisters — Darcy (2016), Dana (2016) and Darla (2022).

Anna Phillips (2010/11) has been a two-time BCR Player of the Year with Heidi Wager winning in 1998 when she set the school home run record with five, which was tied this year by current BV senior Tyra Sayler.