On April 19, the Iola Mustangs were clinging to a 2-0 lead in Osawatomie during the baseball season with ace Ethan Scheibmier on the mound. Scheibmier had been lights-out the entire game as he was out-dueling Emporia State-commit Derek Manes, but the Iola ace was tiring near the end of the fifth inning. Osawatomie No. 2 hitter Cody Hazlett tried to capitalize on this and lined a ball into the right-center gap. Luckily for the Mustangs, senior center fielder Brett Taylor had his pitcher’s back. Taylor ranged deep into the gap and robbed the Trojans of an extra-base hit and kept the Mustangs’ lead at 2-0. Iola went on to win the game 4-2 and improve their league record to 8-0 at the time. For more images and moments that defined the 2016 calendar-year in sports turn to pages B4 and B5. Also honored on those pages are the year’s best ‘single-game performance’, ‘best team’, ‘best moment,’ and ‘best upset’. REGISTER/JON DYKSTRA
2016 Play of the Year
