SMITHVILLE — Mention Jaimie Kadlecek’s knee pads around the Smithville girls basketball team and you might get a few chuckles.
“Man, those things stink,” said head coach Robin Ramsay. “I have tried every year to get rid of those things, but she won’t let me. It must be a superstition thing.”
All kidding aside, Kadlecek’s knee pads are just an indication of her scrappy style of play.
The black covering on the front of the pads is wearing so thing there is nothing but a white circle.
They are, by all accounts, probably the most worn out knee pads on the team.
Kadlecek said she has had those knee pads for three years and don’t plan on getting new ones.
“I think it looks pretty cool,” she said.
As Ramsay points out, it shows how hard Kadlecek plays on the basketball court.
“She’s a very scrappy player who is not afraid to get physical,” Ramsay said. “She grew up a lot this season and started to use her scrappiness to lead our team.”
Kadlecek emerged as the leader of the Lady Tigers this season, leading the team in scoring in 18 games.
That’s a contrast to last year where Kadlecek and Blakelee Saunders shared leading in scoring.
“Your point guard is like your quarterback and Jaimie was our quarterback this year,” Ramsay said. “She is a quiet kid and doesn’t really like to tell other what to do, but she leads by example and she got better as the season went along.”
Kadlecek was the leading scorer in Bastrop County, averaging 11.4 points per game. She also led the county in steals with 110, which was 37 more than Bastrop’s Chelsea Moore, who was second.
She was second in assists with 104 behind Tiffany Wong, but was one of two guards in Bastrop County to average four rebounds per game or more.
Smithville will only graduate one starter and will return the core of a team that won it’s first playoff game since 2007.
That has Kadlecek really confident with her senior season ahead of her, despite going into a district with four other playoff teams.
“We have a lot of energy going into next season,” she said. “I think all of us are going to get stronger and be more determined.”
Kadlecek hasn’t made a decision on college, but said she does want to continue to play basketball.
“I am going to go wherever God leads me,” she said.
Whether Ramsay lets her get out of Smithville with her knee pads, however, remains to be seen.

Staff photo by Terry Hagerty/ Smithville guard Jaimie Kadlecek did it all from dishing the rock to scoring. Her overall balance on the basketball court makes her the 2010 All-Bastrop County Girls Basketball Player of the Year.

Player of the Year
Jaimie Kadlecek, Junior, Smithville

Stats: Bastrop County’s leading scorer, averaging 11.4 points per game. The Smithville point guard was second in the county in total assists with 104 and led the county in steals with 110. Kadlecek led the Lady Tigers in scoring in 18 games this season.

Coach Ramsay: Jaimie grew up a lot this year and used her scrappy style of play to lead this team. She got better as the year went on.

Offensive Player of the Year
Jasmine Simmons, Senior, Elgin

Stats: Simmons was the second leading scorer in Bastrop County with 10.4 points per game and was fifth in rebounding with 5.7 rebounds per game and had 61 assists and 48 steals. Simmons was a 1st team All-Bastrop County selection in 2009.

Coach Bowman:  I don’t know where we would have been this season without Jasmine’s contributions.

Defensive Player of the Year
Syndey Snell, Junior, Elgin

Stats: The two-time All-Bastrop County Defensive Player of the Year was the second leading rebounder in Bastrop County with 7.1 rebounds per game, slightly being edged out of the lead by Shelby McWhorter (7.4 RPG).

Coach Bowman: Sydney is, by far, one of the most underrated players in our district. She is a tireless defender and a tenacious rebounder.

Newcomer of the Year
Shelby McWhorter, Junior, Bastrop

Stats: In her first year on the Bastrop girls basketball team, Shelby McWhorter led Bastrop County in rebounding, averaging 7.4 rebounds per game with 244 total. McWhorter was also the second leading shot blocker with 17 total blocks. She also had 61 steals. McWhorter was an All-District 25-5A honorable mention selection.

Coach Bussinger: Shelby is a tough young lady.  She plays great defense and has great instincts for rebounding the ball. She does not have emotional highs and lows and does a great job of keeping the team focused.

Sixth-Man of the Year
Faith Ralph, Senior, Smithville

Stats: With limited playing time and abilities, due to her ACL injury recovery, Faith Ralph fought her way back onto the basketball court after spending most of the year on the bench cheering on her team. Ralph averaged 1.8 rebounds and 1.3 points per game in just 13 games.

Coach Ramsay: Faith was to us, what the 12th man is to the (Texas A&M) Aggies. She worked hard to get back and I am proud of her for that.

Coach of the Year
Jackie Bowman, Elgin

Stats: When Jackie Bowman took over the Elgin girls basketball team five years ago he had just 14 girls on the roster. In five years, Bowman got the Lady Cats back into the playoffs for the first time in 17 years and things keep looking up for the Elgin basketball program. While the Lady Cats may not have had a winning record (15-17), a trip to the playoffs makes the 2009-2010 girls basketball season a successful one.

FIRST TEAM
Hillari Raemsch, Jr., Bastorp
Led Bastrop with 9.4 points per game and shot 32 percent from the 3-point line

Tiffany Wong, Jr., Elgin
Led Bastrop County with 120 assists to go with her 5.1 points per game

Blakelee Saunders, Jr., Smithville
Averaged 7.9 points and 4.4 rebounds per game. Shot 31 percent from the 3-point line

Ariel Vinklarek, Sr., Smithville
Averaged 4.0 points and 4.5 rebounds per  game to go with 38 steals.

Wilnesha Roberson, Jr., Bastrop
Fifth leading scorer in Bastrop County, averaging 7.3 points per game.

ALL-DISTRICT TEAMS

DISTRICT 25-5A
CO-MVP
Adesuwa Ebomwony, Jr., Pflugerville; Courtney Duever, Sr., Westlake
Newcomer of the Year
Nancy Walling, So., Pflugerville

First team
Vanessa Winston, Jr., Akins; Danielle Lofton, Jr., Akins; Kelly Gramlich, Jr., Anderson; Selena Hernandez, Jr., Austin; Hillari Raemsch, Jr., Bastrop; Kali Jerrell, Sr., Connally; Brittany Roberts, Sr., Connally; Christie Mooney, Sr., Pflugerville; Curteisha Woods, Jr., Pflugerville; Hannah Coley, Jr., Westlake; Cherrell Mays, Jr., Westlake

Second Team
Shante Walker, Jr., Akins; Dezanae Smith, Sr., Akins; Mary Claire Pollard, Anderson, So., Alexis Rendon, Sr., Austin; Chelsea Moore, Jr., Bastorp; Gina King, Sr., Bowie; Genea Rucker, Sr., Connally; Jasmine Dukes, Sr., Connally; Dymesheon Hyder, Jr., Pflugerville; Kayla Ball, Sr., Westlake

Honorable mention: Amber Jackson, Jr., Bastrop; Shelby McWhorter, Jr., Bastrop

DISTRICT 17-4A
CO-MVP
Angeleigh Davis, Sr., Hays; Joslinn Douglas, Sr., Del Valle
Defensive Player of the Year
Chrissy Arias, Sr., Hays
Newcomer of the Year
Keyana Darling, So., Manor

First team
Ashley Crayton, Sr., San Marcos; Kaylin Monroe, Jr., Manor; Isis Johnson, So., Lockhart; Branna Garza, Sr., Lehman; Ashley Rankin, Sr., Hays; Jasmine Simmons, Sr., Elgin; Sydney Snell, Jr., Elgin; Summer Postell, Jr., Del Valle; Jessica Peralez, Sr., Del Valle; Monique McElveen, Jr., Del Valle

Second Team
Madelynn Swinney, So., San Marcos; ALi Gonzales, Jr., San Marcos; Kayrin Monroe, Jr., Manor; Renne Vallejo, So., Manor; Desi Wynn, Sr., Lockhart; Tory Hill, Jr. Lockhart; Kerry Robinson, Sr., Lehman; Ashley Magallanez, Sr., Hays; Desarae Couthren, Sr., Elgin; Jametria Green, Jr., Del Valle

Honroable Mention: Tiffanie Hart, Sr., Elgin; Tiffany Wong, Jr., Elgin

DISTRICT 25-3A
MVP
Kayla Winkfield, So., Giddings
Offensive Player of the Year
Jaimie Kadlecek, Jr., Smithville
Defensive Player of the Year
Valerie Marrs, Sr., La Grange

First team
Jenna Meuth, Sr., Giddings; Jordan Masek, Sr., Giddings; Mariah Scott, Sr., La Grange; Breanna Homer, Fr., La Grange; Blakelee Saunders, Jr., Smithville; Brittney Krchnack, Sr., Sealy; Brandy Hskey, Sr., Columbus

Second team
Sarah Frazier, So., Bellville; Rebecca Allison, So., Columbus; Caroline Owen, Fr., Sealy; Magen Weinheimer, Jr., Smithville; Hallie Garlick, So., La Grange; Meagan Bradley, Sr., Giddings; Cassidy Melcher, Jr., Giddings

Honorable mention: Ariel Vinklarek, Sr., Smithville; Taylor Homuth, Jr., Smithville; Taylor Weldon, Jr., Smithville

ELGIN — With a fresh new No. 3 ranking in the Class 4A Texas Girls Coaches Association poll, the Elgin Lady Cats are staying focused.
It appeared to be all focus on Tuesday night as Elgin defeated rival Manor 11-0 in 4 1/2 innings.
Freshman pitcher Lauren Slatten picked up the win on the mound, recording 12 strikeouts in the shutout.
Slatten didn’t walk a batter and gave up just two hits to the Lady Mustangs.
Head coach Amanda Wolf said she felt her team was a little flat at the plate tonight, but was overall pleased with the effort.
Wolf, however, said she wasn’t going to talk about the ranking.
“These girls know what it takes and we are looking at it one game at a time,” she said. “We have been going and going and I thought we did a good job of putting it all together.”
Elgin (16-2, 2-0 District 17-4A) had a hard time in the first couple of innings getting used to Manor’s pitcher and her speed on her pitches, which was not as fast as the Lady Cats were used too.
Elgin did manage to get a couple of good touches on the ball while getting used to the speed.
Shelbi Swenson plated Megan Moore with an RBI-double in the first inning.
Kelsey Markham drove in Morgan Schultz  in the second and Bailey Alanis scored put the Lady Cats up 3-0 going into the fourth inning.
Slatten continued her dominance from the mound, striking out the side then Elgin’s bats woke up in the bottom of the inning.
Markham led off with a double and Kaci Olson was walked to set up Swenson’s second double to score Markham.
Hillary Adams got on base on a walk to load the bases and Alanis was walked to bring home Olson.
Schultz then hit her second double to drive in Swenson and Alanis, but it wasn’t over yet.
Schultz, Markham, Moore Chelsea Everage rounded out the eight-run inning.
Slatten closed out the game by striking out the first two batters and getting the third to fly out to Kelsey Markham to end the game by a mercy rule.
Wolf said after the game she was giving her team the day off on Wednesday.
“They’ve earned it,” she said.

A second inning surge was all it took for the Pflugerville Panthers to defeat the Bastrop Bears 7-2 Tuesday night at Bear Field.
The Panthers scored their first four runs in the top of the second, taking the wind out of the Bears’ sails early on.
Cade Staton answered in the fourth inning by launching a line drive into left field for a triple, where a balk brought him home to put Bastrop on the board.
A Bryan Reyes single would be the only other hit Bastrop would have in the game.
The Panthers managed to put three more runs on the board before the game was over, but pitching is what won the battle. Pflugerville allowed only two hits in the entire game and logged six strikeouts.
Bastrop will play in the Austin Tournament beginning Thursday.
— Logan Herzog

Contributed photo by Larry Overall/ Right fielder Justin Froncek slides safely into third base and then scored on the overthrow in the third inning Tuesday at Bear Field.

The Akins Eagles spoiled senior night for 10 Bastrop players, defeating the Bears 3-1 in the final home game of the season.  
The Eagles’ talons drew first blood in the contest with only three minutes ticked off the game clock.
The goal didn’t break the sprits of the Bears or the boisterous Bear faithful in the stands.
Akins would again find the back of the net in the latter moments of the first half on a Bastrop backline blunder that left keeper Fernando Garcia out of position and the Eagles with an effortless goal.
The second half turned ugly as tensions flared, for both fans and players, after Garcia was penalized with a red card for unsportsmanlike conduct.
Akins continued to pour it on Bastrop, scoring for a third time in the 28th minute.
The only Bastrop goal would come from a determined and brilliant effort from senior Christopher Vela, who battled his way valiantly through the Atkins defense in the final minutes of the contest.
The Bears will end their season Friday at Burger Stadium when they take on Bowie. Kickoff is scheduled for 7:45 p.m.
— Marcus Vela

Softball
Tuesday
Pflugerville 7, Bastrop 2
A&M Consolidated 15, Elgin 7
Smithville 8, Thrall 6

Baseball
Tuesday
Connally 2, Bastorp 0
Elgin 11, Manor 0

Girls soccer
Tuesday
Bastorp 5, Akins 0

Boys soccer
Akins 3, Bastrop 1

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