Graduation on May 17

    Rossville High graduation will be Sunday,  May 17, at 5:00 PM.

Main St. Getting A Facelift

From the Capital Journal:

ROSSVILLE — Those coming to this year's Tall Corn Festival in Rossville may not recognize their old stomping ground.

By the time the festival rolls around in mid-August, the town’s one-block business district on Main Street will have a new look — the  result of a $658,053 downtown streetscape improvement project.

“Basically, it was time to do something with street improvements and sidewalks,” said Kenneth Wichman, mayor of the town of 1,157 residents.

Wichman said city officials learned about a federal streetscape improvement grant administered through the Kansas Department of Transportation in which federal transportation enhancement funds would be used to pay 80 percent of construction and materials costs, while the city would pay the remaining 20 percent plus engineering fees. 

The city hired BG Consultants, of Lawrence, to help with the grant application and create a design proposal, and residents were surveyed about their preferences for downtown improvements. The city was awarded the federal grant in spring 2013.

Wichman said the city will pay about $192,000 for the project, which includes $60,000 in engineering fees. Federal money will take care of the remaining $526,442.

Amino Brothers Co., of Kansas City, Kan., submitted the lowest bid for the renovation project, and demolition began on April 13.

“We’re currently working on the east side (of Main Street), and then we will do the west side,” he said.

The streetscape improvement project will replace curbs and guttering, and new sidewalks will be poured, Wichman said. Curbs will be set closer to buildings in order to widen Main Street.

Lampposts, measuring 12 feet, 7.6 inches tall, will be installed on each side of the street. The lampposts will have built-in speakers that can be used to narrate parades or play music during the Christmas holiday. Decorative pavers will surround the lampposts and feature planters with a built-in sprinkler system.

Five new park benches and five new trash receptacles will be placed along the street, and a new bicycle rack will be installed at the Rossville Community Library.

In addition to the streetscape improvement project, Wichman said, the city will be creating a park with a gazebo on the southern end of Main Street, and city and Shawnee County officials will work together to remill and re-asphalt Main Street.

Wichman said some downtown businesses also are considering upgrading their storefronts. Along with the library, the block is home to the post office, a coffee shop, a bank, a dentist’s office, Cotton-O’Neill Clinic, Rossville City Hall, an American Legion post, a hair salon, a barber shop, a drugstore/flower mart, a hardware store and other retail businesses.

3A Baseball Rankings On May 15

    The Kansas Baseball Coaches Assn were looking favorably on the Dawgs  in the May 15 ranking of 3A baseball teams.   The major changes were Council Grove and Silver Lake swapping places and Gypsum replacing Wellsville in the #10 slot.
     The top ten are:

1.    Independent
2.    Rossville
3.    Council Grove
4.    Silver Lake
5.    Burlington
6.    Humbolt
7.    Leon-Bluestem.
8.    Halstead
9.    Lakin
10.  Gypsum

Dawgs Win Mid-East Tourney

    The Dawgs won the Mid-East League golf tournament this year in very convincing fashion with a 28 stroke advantage over runner-up  St. Marys.

Team Standings were:
1.    Rossville         352
2.    St. Marys        380
3.    Silver Lake     418
4.    Riley County  419

Individual standings were:

1.  Colby Hadsall  81
2.  Paul Steinke     83
4   Alex Bird         92
6   Gabe Marney   96

Martin Bayless Passes Away

      Martin Eugene Bayless of Burlingame, born 12/17/1948 in Carbondale, Kansas, died 5/9/2015 surrounded by family.
      Memorial service: Sunday, 5/17/15, 2:00-4:00pm, Rossville United Methodist Church, 411 Pearl St. Memorial funds accepted at Envista Credit Union. Full obituary at: www.midwestcremationsociety.com

RHS Gets Softball Sweep At RC

    The Lady Dawgs added another win with a 13-4 night cap Victory at Rock Creek on May 12 though the outcome was in doubt for the first six innings.  A ten run seventh inning rally sealed the win for the visitors.
    Taylor Kirk led the batters with three hits.  Lauryn Shinn led RBIs with two.  Heidi Nitsch had two walks.
    Taylor Kirk was the winning pitcher going all seven innings allowing nine hits, getting five strike-outs and  20 first pitch strikes.

RHS    1   0   0   1   0   1   10      13   13   2
RC      0   0   0   1   1   0     2        4     9   4

RHS Gets 14-4 Softball Win

    The Lady Dawgs blasted the Rock Creek with 21 hits on the way to a 14-4 win in the first game of their double header on May 12.
    Taylor Kirk led the barrage of hits getting four and sending home six RBIs.
    Amanda Hill was the winning pitcher going all seven innings getting eleven strike-outs and seventeen first pitch strikes.

RHS    2   0   0   0   8   0   4      14    21    1
RC      0   1   1   0   1   0   1        4      4    3

Rock Creek Sweeps To Title

From the Capital-Journal:

WESTMORELAND — Rock Creek went into Tuesday’s showdown with visiting Rossville for the Mid-East League title knowing full well that ace Caleb Rogge would be available only on a limited basis, if at all.

If there was pressure on Mustang starters Justin Reiss and Shiloh Schaake to deliver, the duo hardly let it affect them. Reiss held an explosive Bulldawg attack to just three hits and one run in five innings in a 3-1 Mustang win in the opener and Schaake scattered eight hits through five innings as Rock Creek punctuated the sweep with an 11-2 win in the nightcap.

The victories gave Rock Creek its second straight league title — the Mustangs also swept Rossville late for last year’s crown.

“Shiloh and Justin came out and did their job,” Rock Creek senior Jackson Goodmiller said. “I’m proud of the way they are buckling down and getting the job done.”

Rogge did make an appearance, working the final two innings of the opener and striking out four of the seven hitters he faced. But his relief duty was just a bonus after Reiss was solid through the first five, striking out five.

The only run Reiss allowed came on a throwing error in the third, briefly tying the game 1-1. But Rock Creek came right back in its half of the inning, taking the lead on Nick Beyer’s RBI single. Goodmiller singled home an insurance run in the fifth.

The Mustangs constantly put pressure on Rossville’s infield with a sharp small-ball game and the Bulldawgs didn’t respond well. After committing two errors in the first game, Rossville had four more in the second.

Coupled with a few mental lapses defensively and on the base paths, the mistakes were just too much in the title tilts. Rossville’s 12-game winning streak ended with the sweep.

“This is stuff we’ve worked on since day one — covering bases, how to field bunts, where to play — just day one stuff,” Rossville coach Richard Thomas said. “They’ve got our number right now, got us three times at the end of last year. We’ve got time to correct some things and the nice thing is we’ve got a make-up on Thursday and get right back out on the dirt, which could be the best thing for us.”

The Bulldawgs took a 2-0 lead in the first inning of the second game on an RBI single from Nick Reesor and an RBI groundout from Corbin Horak.

Rock Creek chipped away with single runs in the first (Alex Feldkamp RBI single), third (Goodmiller RBI single) and fourth (Connor Greening RBI single) before breaking the game open with a six-run fifth. Rossville committed two errors in the inning, but Goodmiller, Beyer, Greening and Reiss all had RBIs in the big inning before the Mustangs tacked on two more in the sixth to close out the win and sweep.

“We stayed mentally hooked both games,” Goodmiller said. “Our goal was the get up on them early and make them fight for it. Game two was a bit opposite and we had to find our groove and fight back, but we did and just took the game away.”

ROCK CREEK 3-11, ROSSVILLE 1-2

Rossville 001 000 0 — 1 3 2

Rock Creek 011 010 x — 3 8 1

Woodcock and Reesor. Reiss, Rogge (6) and Feldkamp. W — Reiss. L — Woodcock. S — Rogge. 2B — Rock Creek: Beyer.

Second game

Rossville 200 000 0 — 2 8 4

Rock Creek 101 162 x — 11 11 2

Th. Horak, Bradshaw (5), Morris (5), Dyche (6) and Reesor. Schaake, Zenger (5) and Feldkamp. W — Schaake. L — Th. Horak. 2B — Rock Creek: Nider.

Records — Rossville, 12-3; Rock Creek, 17-2.

Track Team At Riley Co.

    The Rossville track team combined with St. Marys to compete at Kaw Valley in the Riley Invitational.  The Kaw Valley girls team came in 6th of 11 teams and the boys came in 4th of 11 teams.  The complete results can be read at:
http://www.kawvalley.k12.ks.us/schools/rjshs/athletics/track/15/15_riley.pdf

Rattlers Release Roster & Schedule

ROSSVILLE, KS - The Rossville Rattlers of the Mid-Plains League are happy to announce their 2015 Schedule and Roster.

The Rattlers  will kick off their 4th season at home on Thursday May 27th at 7:00 PM versus the defending MPL Champion Junction City Brigade.

This year's roster is made up of players from 8 Division I, 9 Division II, 10 Junior College, 2 High School, and 1 NAIA program.

"We have a pretty young team this year, but we love the level of talent we have going into the season," said Rattlers GM David Streeter. "We have some of the top high school players in Shawnee County playing for us and we are excited to see how we match up in the Mid-Plains League."

The Rattlers will be once again be coached by Tobi Cowdin, Bruce Cowdin, and T.J. McGreevy will serve as pitching coach.

The Mid-Plains League is beginning it's second year of operation, with 7-teams from Kansas and Missouri. The league recently added Liberty, Missouri for this season and is building  off a very successful first season. The league will feature a 36-game regular season, with all 7-teams making the postseason. The MPL will once again put on an All-Star Game on July 5th in at Rathert Stadium in Junction City. The opponent this summer will be the Puerto Rico Collegiate Baseball Club.

Lady Dawgs Win Easy At OC

    The Lady Dawgs  had an easy win at Osage City on May 5th.

Ro      3   0   0   0   8     11    10    1
OC     0   0   0   0            0      1    2

    Taylor Kirk, Heidi Nitsch and Britnee Zemek each had two hits.  Kirk led the RBI column with two.
    Amanda Hill pitched the four innings of the "mercy rule" game.  She had 10 first pitch strikes and seven strike-outs.

RHS Boys Ranked #2 in 3A

    The Kansas Baseball Coaches Assn has given the Dawgs their due in the May 9 ranking of 3A baseball teams.  The top ten are:

1.    Independent
2.    Rossville
3.    Silver Lake
4.    Council Grove
5.    Burlington
6.    Humbolt
7.    Leon-Bluestem.
8.    Lakin
9.    Halstead
10.  Wellsville

Dawgs Defeat Nemaha-Central

The Dawgs defeated Nemaha-Cenral 7-5 in a non-conferance game on May 7

Ne.Ce.    0   0   2   0   0   3   0     5
Ross        0   2   2   3   0   0   -     7

   Tegan Hammer and Corbin Horak led the batters with two hits each.  One of Corbin's was a home run.  Ethan Woodcock  had a double.  Christian Roduner led the RBI column with two.   Nick Reesor made it on base three times with two walks and one hit.
    Tucker Horak was the starting pitcher going five innings with allowing 3 walks and getting ten strike-outs. He allowed three hits and two earned runs in his five innings.  Jacob Bradshaw pitched the last two innings  getting one strike-out while allowing two hits, two walks, and one earned run.
.

Perry-Lecompton Golf Tourney

Below is the team's standing at the Perry-Lecompton Invitational golf tournament on May 7.

1.    Wanegi

2.    Maur-Hill

3.    Basehor-Linwood

4.    Rossville

5.    Perry-Lecompton

6.    DeSoto

7.    Jeff West

8.    Atchison

9.    Mill Valley

10.  St. Marys

11.  Immaculata

12.  Tonganoxie

Paul Steinke of Rossville was the second high individual and Gabe Marney came in 13th.