December 20, 2025 Local Stories in and Around St. Joseph, Illinois

Panthers start season strong

The St. Joseph Panthers softball team began play for the 2020 season on August 17th when they welcomed the Mahomet-Seymour Bulldogs in for a pair of games to open the reduced slate of games. The Panthers outlasted the Bulldogs 12-5 in the first games while needing just three innings to dispatch their guests in the second game, 15-0.

Timera Blackburn-Kelley was in the circle for the Panthers in the first game, striking out 12 batters while also scoring two runs on offense. Chayse Palmer and Ashlyn Miller also scored twice for St. Joseph, who had several girls see action in the game. In the second game against the Bulldogs, Adalyn Jannusch scored three runs to lead the Panthers on offense, while on defense, seven of the nine Mahomet-Seymour batters were retired via strikeout.

The Panthers traveled to Unity for their first road contest of the season this past Wednesday, and were defeated 15-5 by the Rockets, as Blackburn-Kelley once again was in the circle. She didn’t fare nearly as well in this game, as Unity scored early and often against the Panthers. Blackburn-Kelley, Palmer, Miller, Mackenzie Atwood and Jannusch scored runs for St. Joseph in the loss.

The Panthers rebounded nicely from the loss to Unity by defeating Champaign St. Matthew 18-3 on Monday at The High School of St. Thomas More in Champaign. Amelia Huckstadt took to the circle for St. Joseph and had a good outing, striking out nine batters in the game. Timera Blackburn-Kelley led the attack on offense, scoring four runs, while Chayse Palmer and Ashlyn Miller each scored a pair of runs. Sara Kearney also scored a run for the Panthers, who improved to 3-1 with the win.

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