Notre Dame enters district as the team to beat

Notre Dame, bumped up in classification by the new 1.3 multiplier for private schools, makes its debut in Class 3 competition today when Missouri launches district softball tournaments.

Notre Dame, which ended a run of 15 straight district titles by Kelly last season while a Class 2 school, will be the top seed in the Class 3, District 2 tournament when the six-team field opens play today at Notre Dame Regional High School.

Notre Dame (18-6) and No. 2 seed Windsor will receive first-round byes and will play in Friday's semifinals. Notre Dame will face today's St. Pius-Perryville winner at 4:30 p.m., while Windsor will meet the Herculaneum-Ste. Genevieve winner at 2:30 p.m. The tournament final will be at noon Saturday.

Kelly (15-4) will again be the team to beat in its Class 2 district at St. Vincent. District 1 includes St. Vincent, Principia, East Prairie, Career Academy and Crystal City, seeded in that order. Kelly and St. Vincent received first-round byes and will play in Friday's 4 p.m. semifinals. The championship is 10 a.m. Saturday.

Cape Girardeau Central (19-5) has been awarded the top seed in the Class 4, District 1 tournament in Poplar Bluff, Mo. The Tigers and (2) Hillsboro will receive free passes into Friday's semifinal round. Central could face rival Jackson (No. 4, 6-19), which opens at 6 p.m. today against (5) Farmington, in the semis. Hillsboro will play the winner of No. 3 seed Poplar Bluff and sixth-seeded Sikeston in the other semifinal.

In the Class 1, District 1 tournament at Naylor, Mo., the Delta Bobcats (5-12) enter as the No. 2 seed and receive an opening-round bye along with the top-seeded host. Naylor (14-3) will play the (4) Bakersfield-(5) Koshkonong winner at 1 p.m. Friday and Delta will follow against No. 3 seed Thayer or (6) Dora at 3 p.m. The semifinal winners will play for the title at 5 p.m. Friday.

VOLLEYBALL

Advance 15-15, Puxico 6-8

Advance (18-5-1) will play Bell City today for the championship of the Stoddard County Tournament after theHornets topped Puxico.

Dana Williams had 12 kills, eight digs, and four blocks. Leslie Rainey had nine assists.

Advance's JV squad (12-6) moved won 15-9, 15-11.

Bell City 12-15-15, Dexter 15-13-5

Bell City handled Dexter in three sets in the Stoddard County Tournament. Katie Niemczyk led the cubs with 17 kills and 14 digs. The cubs also recieved help from Sarah Scherer who had 17 digs, Sarah Metcalf who added 19 service points, and Whitney Abner, who had 19 assists.

In JV, Bell City upset No. 2 seed Advance 15-9, 15-11.

FOOTBALL

Central eighth grade falls

Cape Girardeau Central's eighth grade team scored two defensive touchdowns in a 16-14 loss to New Madrid County Central.

The Tigers' Robert Weir blocked a punt and returned it for a touchdown while Chris Moore stripped the ball from an Eagle runner and ran it in for six points. Jonathan Evans added a two-point conversion for the Tigers.