2007-2008 Season Review

CONGRATULATIONS TO BRIAN HAMILTON FOR BEING NAMED TO THE DIVISION II BASEBALL ALL-STAR TEAM!  BRIAN WAS NAMED 3rd BASEMAN AND WAS ONE OF ONLY THREE PLAYERS FROM OUR CONFERENCE TO MAKE THE TEAM.  THIS IS QUITE AN HONOR FOR BRIAN AND VILLA MADONNA ACADEMY.  WE ARE VERY PROUD OF YOU, BRIAN! WAY TO GO!

Head Coach: Rob Sawyers
Number of years coaching this sport at Villa: 1st year
Number of years this sport has taken place at Villa: 12 years
Assistant Coach: Brian White

Student Participants/Roster:

Record: 6-13
Records Set/Highlights This Season:
 - Brian Hamilton's 2 Homerun game in a 15-3 win against Deming
 - Ryan Schroth throws a complete game over Heritage.  It was a 7-2 Conference win.

The 2008 season for Villa Madonna baseball marked the first year for head coach Rob Sawyers and his assistant Brian White. The baseball team was lead by senior Brian Hamilton who made outstanding plays in the field. Brian made a diving catch to give the Lightning a 6-5 victory over Silver Grove in conference play.  Brian also hit .450 with 4 homeruns, 1 triple and 19 RBI.  Sophomore Ryan Schroth had 3 wins and struck out 35 batters. Ryan threw a complete game over Heritage giving the Lightning a 7-2 conference win. Sophomore Zach Trinkle led the team in saves with 2. The Lightning went 5-3 in conference play, good for 3rd place.

2006-2007

Under the guidance of coaches, Noah Welte, Dave Meier, Scott Ringo, and Jeff Jordan, the Villa Madonna Blue Lightning made a historic run into the school’s record books.  Highlighting a school best 17 wins and 11 losses was the program’s first ever 34th District Tournament crown.  That title came by virtue of an 8-2 home win against Ludlow in the opening round of district play, which was the first district win in school history.  Then two days later, the Blue Lightning then secured their place in the school history by downing Lloyd for the third time on the year, 4-2, to bring home the championship. 

Villa concluded their season with a hard fought 5-1 home loss to St. Henry in the team’s first ever trip into regional play.  After a 4-7 start, they won 13 or their last 17 games Leading the way for the Blue Lightning in the field all season was solid pitching as the staff combined for team ERA of 2.81.  Anchoring the staff were the performances of senior Kyle Herbstreit and junior Geoff Lamping.  Herbstreit led the region with 98 strikeouts while turning in a 7-4 record with a 2.25 ERA.  Lamping emerged as the number two starter while posting a 5-1 record with an impressive 1.70 ERA.  At the plate, Villa was paced by the efforts of their 1-3 hitters:  junior Chris Ruth, Herbstreit, and sophomore Brian Hamilton.  Ruth led the team in runs scored (29), stolen bases (19), and tied for the team lead in hits (33) while finishing 2nd in batting average (.367).  Herbstreit finished with a .366 batting average and led the team in both doubles (8) and RBI (28).  Hamilton finished as the team leader in batting average (.388) and on-base percentage (.440) as well as tied for the lead in hits (33) and coming in second with 17 stolen bases.

At the Villa Madonna High School Sports Banquet, the team was recognized and several players were honored for their contributions and performances on the field.  Lamping and Herbstreit were recognized for combining to toss 3 no-hitters on the season.  Herbstreit threw 2 (April 24th at Calvary Christian; May 17th at Walton-Verona) and Lamping threw 1 (May 5th vs. St. Patrick).  Coach Dave Meier was also acknowledged for earning his 100th career victory on May 9th – a 7-6 victory in 8 innings against Lloyd at Northern Kentucky University.  Bringing home the hardware for the Blue Lightning that evening was senior Kyle Harris (Most Improved), senior Mitch Ford (Most Valuable Player), and senior Kyle Herbstreit (Blue Lightning Award).Also earning post season accolades were Ben Lonneman (34th District All-Tournament Team), Geoff Lamping (34th District All-Tournament Team), and Kyle Herbstreit (34th District All-Tournament Team and 9th Region All Tournament Team).Ending their careers in dramatic fashion will be seniors: Kyle Herbstreit, Kyle Harris, Kevin Slaughter, Mitch Ford, and Ben Lonneman.  These seniors have set the bar for all other Villa teams to meet going out as 34th District Champions and the winningest class in school history with 57 career victories in their four years.Congratulations to the Villa Madonna Blue Lightning on a record breaking season and also to the five seniors for all of your hard work and dedication to make this season such a success!

2005-2006

Record:  16 wins, 13 losses - This is the most wins ever topping the 
previous 14 win season established in 1997.  It also represents the second 
consecutive winning season.  Last year, the baseball team finished 13 
wins, 12 losses.

MVP:  Darek Sanford
MIP:  Nick Hamilton
Blue Lightning:  Matt Ringo

All-Conference Nominations:  Ben Lonneman - 3B, Nick Hamilton - DH, Darek 
Sanford - P/SS, Matt Ringo - P, Mitchell Ford - OF
At this time, the All-Conference team, nor the All-Region team, has not 
been announced.

The season ended with a tough 2-1 loss to Scott in the first round of the 
District tournament.  Congratulations to the seniors for a successful 
season and career.  They finish with 50 wins over the last four years.