Dustin Ward has been the sports editor at Daily Statesman in Dexter, Mo., since August 2013.

Ward graduated from Southeast Missouri State University in 2010 with a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism and a minor in psychology. He also has 21-hour concentration in environmental science, social studies and education.

Ward started following sports in southeast Missouri when he was five-years-old in 1991. In the 2009-10 basketball season, he watched 84 varsity basketball teams play a total of 147 varsity games. He has also attended the state basketball, baseball and volleyball tournaments the last three seasons. His favorite baseball memory is watching the St. Louis Cardinals defeat the Texas Rangers in the 2011 World Series.

Ward completed an internship in the summer of 2010 at semoball.com. During the internship he had the opportunity to visit and photograph the athletic facilities at all 58 semoball schools. He also researched the district and state championship histories of 55 schools and used the Cover it Live application to cover the Senior Babe Ruth state baseball tournament. After the internship he served as sports editor at Daily Dunklin Democrat in Kennett, Mo., from 2011-2013.

Portageville softball team advances to final four & volleyball and football district tournaments set

Posted Thursday, October 23, 2014, at 1:24 PM

DUSTIN WARD - dward@dailystatesman.com
The Portageville softball team celebrates after securing a 1-0 win against Bowling Green Saturday in a Class 2 state quarterfinal at Portageville.

A dream became reality Saturday afternoon for the Portageville softball team when it booked its first trip to the state final four in school history with a 1-0 victory against Bowling Green in a Class 2 state quarterfinal.

Portageville standout Taylor Tiffany struck out 17 in a seven-inning no-hit performance in the circle. The only Bowling Green hitter to reach base against Tiffany was Lauren Meiz, who drew a one-out walk in the top of the third inning.

Bowling Green starting pitcher Madison Ingram nearly matched Tiffany's performance. Ingram struck out 10, walked three and allowed one hit in a complete-game loss.

Portageville tallied its only run in the bottom of the sixth inning when No. 9 hitter Destiney Crossno drew a leadoff walk on a full-count, moved up a base on a sacrifice bunt by Hanna Cook that resulted in the second out of the frame and later scored from second base when No. 3 hitter Kelsi Miller hammered the first pitch she saw past the third base bag and into left field for the only hit of the game.

Portageville (23-6) squares off against Pleasant Hope (22-6) in a Class 2 state semifinal Friday at 2 p.m. at Killian Softball Complex in Springfield, Mo. The other state semifinal between Fatima (20-7) and North Platte (27-1) also takes place Friday at 2 p.m. at Killian Softball Complex. The Class 2 state championship follows Oct. 25 at 4 p.m. at Killian Softball Complex.

A complete story on the game is available at this link: State Quarterfinal Story

An updated Class 2 state tournament bracket is available at this link: View Bracket Here

A photo gallery of Saturday's game is available at this link: View Photos Here

The Missouri High School Activities Association released district tournament brackets for high school football Saturday evening.

The higher seeded team will host all district games.

View brackets involving teams from the southeast Missouri region below:

Volleyball district tournament brackets remain available below: