Nathan Emrick swore he wasn't going to cut his younger sister, Lacy, any slack.

After both the Griggsville-Perry and Cobden softball teams won regionals, the Emricks were on a path for a brother-sister showdown if both teams reached the semifinals of Class 1A state tournament.

So Lacy, Griggsville-Perry's sophomore pitcher, asked Nathan, Codben's first-year head coach, how he'd handle the situation.

"I told her, if we were the home team, she was going to take a pitch right in the middle of the back in the first inning," Nathan said. "Then, we were going to start out bunting and keep bunting every at-bat."

And exactly how did the little sister react to that?

"She laughed at me," Nathan said.

All joking aside, it would have been emotional torment for both to go head-to-head, although it would have assured them at least one family member would play for a state title.

As it is, the pressure is all on Nathan.

Cobden will play Dupo at noon Friday in the state semifinals at the EastSide Center in East Peoria as the Appleknockers attempt to defend their 2008 state championship.

Emrick was an assistant coach a year ago, and as he said, "I got to relax and hang out." That's not the case these days as the practice schedules, travel plans and organizational duties fall completely on his shoulders.

"I have great assistant coaches and great players who I don't have to ask a lot of," said Emrick, a 2000 Griggsville-Perry graduate who played baseball for Southern Illinois University and the Quincy Gems. "These girls come to practice ready to work."

It shows. The Appleknockers are 30-4 and have won 21 straight games, including 12 shutouts.

"Winning is always fun," Emrick said.

Especially when you keep it in the family. One of his assistant coaches is his wife, Krystal, who was a four-year varsity letterwinner as an outfielder for the SIU softball team

"It's nice sharing these moments with her," Emrick said.

Come Saturday, be it in the championship or third-place game, his entire family will get to see him coach for the first time.

"It's something I'll treasure," Emrick said.

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In the case of the Bishop Kelley boys soccer team out of Tulsa, Okla., it truly is the mirror image of its coach.

The Comets put up goals the way Donivan Bradshaw once did.

Bradshaw, the former Quincy High School standout who was inducted into the school's Hall of Fame in 2007, led Bishop Kelley to the Oklahoma Class 5A state championship with a 1-0 victory over Booker T. Washington.

It capped a 17-1 season in which the Comets outscored opponents 75-6 and erased the disappointment of losing to Washington in last year's state title game. Bishop Kelley has won titles in three of the last five years.

"On Saturday evening, I was asked which was better -- the self-
gratification of knowing it was me that coached them to this title or the looks on their faces when they won," Bradshaw said. "That's the easiest answer I've ever given. The looks on their faces was priceless and, to me, that's the best fulfillment I can receive as their coach."

Bradshaw helped QHS to a fourth-place finish at the state tournament in 1995, setting a single-season school record with 45 goals.

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Basketball fans don't have to wait until November to get their fix.

The Quincy High School boys basketball team will hold its annual summer shootout Saturday at Blue Devil Gym and the QHS gym. The round-robin event features nine teams, with games beginning at 9 a.m. and being played every hour until 6 p.m.

Among games of note, QHS and Quincy Notre Dame will meet at noon at Blue Devil Gym, while the Blue Devils will face Bartonville Limestone and Division I recruit Donivine Stewart at 4 p.m.

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The Sheridan Swim Team has a new coach yet again.

Paul Murphy has been hired to replace Brendon Pienaar, the South Africa native who could not get his work Visa renewed after one year as Sheridan's coach. Murphy comes from Danville, Ky., where he was head coach of the Danville Aquatic Club and an assistant coach at Centre College, an NCAA Division III school. He resigned June 2.

Murphy, who will join the Sheridan team June 15, has coached swimmers at every competitive, including Jeff Commings, an All-American at the University of Texas and world record holder at the Masters level.

As a collegian at South Carolina State University, Murphy earned All-American recognition in the 100- and 200-yard breaststroke events.

-- mschuckman@whig.com/221-3366