Girls Soccer, Baseball Teams Both Fall Short

The SJCS girls soccer team stayed even with Christ Church through a scoreless first half, but the host Cavaliers broke through in the second half and defeated the Knights 2-0 Saturday in the Class 3A Upper State final.

Christ Church took the lead three minutes into the second half. St. Joe's needed just one to tie throughout most of the half, but the Cavaliers added an insurance goal with nine minutes remaining, making it an uphill climb for the Knights.

The Knights ended another outstanding season with a 14-6 record. They've reached the state's final four each of the last six times the state playoffs have been contested, including state championships in 2021 and 2022.

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Baseball

The Knights struck first, but Chapman scored three runs in the second inning and went on to a 4-1 win over the visiting Knights in the winners' bracket of the Class 3A Upper State tournament Saturday.

St. Joe's (18-9) will host Southside Christian (28-2-1) in an elimination game at 4:30 PM Monday. The Sabres stayed alive with a 6-2 win over Powdersville in the losers' bracket game Saturday.

Against Chapman, Henry Dryden led off the game with a double and moved to third on a single by Jackson Campbell. Dryden scored on Quinn Walsh's sacrifice fly.

Cade Alt started for St. Joe's. He allowed three runs (two earned) in 1 2/3 innings. Liam Okuley gave up only a run on two hits over the final 4 1/3 innings.

The Knights outhit the Panthers 6-4 -- Dryden and Campbell each had two hits -- but were unable to produce any more runs.

The winner of Monday's game will advance to Wednesday's Upper State championship at Chapman and have to beat the Panthers twice.