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Softball Makes it Two Straight

September 1, 2011 By Leave a Comment

The Lady Tigers softball team picked up a big COC road win Thursday, with a 4-1 victory at Ozark. It was the 2nd straight win for Republic, who trounced Hillcrest 21-0 earlier in the week.

Coach Mike Thorne called junior Stephanie Eckhoff’s performance the best game she’s ever pitched. She allowed just four hits in seven innings against an Ozark team that had been undefeated.

Freshman second baseman Taylor Gold had the biggest hit of the game with Republic trailing 1-0 in the fourth inning, when she slugged a bases-loaded triple. Rachael Michaelis followed Gold’s triple with an RBI double of her own to give the Lady Tigers a 4-1 lead, and that was enough for Eckhoff.

The win improves Republic’s record to 4-1, 1-0 in the COC.

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Softball Returns 7 Starters in Thorne’s Final Season

August 15, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Softball coach Mike Thorne goes into his final season at Republic with high expectations. The team returns seven starters from last year’s squad, which finished 21-7. That includes last year’s starting pitcher, Stephanie Eckhoff. And shortstop Payton Appleberry is back, and will move behind the plate this season.

I sat down with Thorne before a preseason practice to talk about what’s coming up this fall. You can listen to the interview below. (And, as always, you can get new episodes of the Tiger podcast automatically on your phone by subscribing with the Republic Tiger Sports Radio button on the right side of the page.)

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Thorne Is Hall-of-Fame Bound

July 13, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Republic softball coach Mike Thorne will be inducted into the Missouri State High School Softball Hall of Fame. Thorne will go into the Hall with two other coaches during a ceremony in Columbia on July 30.

“It’s a big honor,” Thorne said. “It just means I’ve had a lot of good players. A lot of good assistant coaches. I called both (my assistants) yesterday and thanked them, because they’re a big part of it.”

Thorne has had two assistant coaches in his time at Republic. Kara Carr assisted for six seasons, and Jim Huson has been Thorne’s assistant for the past 11 years.

Thorne’s career record is 320-140 in 18 seasons. He has won 8 COC titles and 11 district titles. He also took the Lady Tigers to back-to-back Final Fours in 2008 and 2009. Republic finished 3rd and 4th in the state during those two years.

2011 will be Thorne’s final softball season as head coach. He has already announced he’ll retire as head coach after this year.

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300!

August 24, 2010 By Leave a Comment

IMG_3921The Republic Lady Tigers softball team handed coach Mike Thorne his 300th career win Tuesday, with a season-opening 7-0 victory over Cassville. [Read more...]

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Final Four Wrap-up: Interview with Mike Thorne

October 24, 2009 By Leave a Comment

The Lady Tigers softball team finished fourth in the state.  Hear what coach Mike Thorne had to say after a rough weekend in St. Joseph, and about his two graduating seniors, Hailey Johnson and Amanda Davis.

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State Semifinals: Preview with Mike Thorne

October 22, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Two grand slams in two games have put the Lady Tigers into the state semifinals. In our semifinal preview, Coach Mike Thorne says his team has a lot of momentum heading into tomorrow’s game against Kirksville — but will have its hands full with Kirksville pitcher Jackie Bishop, who has shut out her opponents 19 times this year.

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