Month: September 2022

Monarchs’ Hall named post-season All-Star

The Monarchs’ Matt Hall has been named the American Association Post-Season All-Star pitcher. (Photo by John Ellis, Kansas City Monarchs)

The Kansas City Monarchs loaded their bus to Lincoln Tuesday to begin their Division Playoff series with newly named American Association Post Season All-Star starting pitcher Matt Hall.

It was the second award in two weeks for Hall, as he was named the Rawlings Pitcher of the Month last week by the American Association.

The Lee’s Summit, Missouri, native went 10-2 this season for the Monarchs in 14 starts with a 1.09 ERA in 82 innings. Hall notched 113 team-leading strikeouts and finished the year with five straight wins for Kansas City.

Hall, who also serves as the pitching coach for the club, yielded 10 earned runs and posted the lowest ERA for a single season in franchise history as well as the lowest opponents average against at .197.

The left-hander had an outstanding August, going 5-0 for the month in five starts, tossing five-of-six quality starts and going at least five innings in all of his starting nods. Hall threw 31 innings, giving up just three earned runs with 48 strikeouts. He had three games with at least 10 strikeouts and one on Aug. 20 in Lincoln, where he punched out 12.

Hall was named the Pointstreak Pitcher of the Week the first time this season for the week ending May 22 after making two starts and surrendering just one earned run in 11 innings with 12 strikeouts. Hall followed with three consecutive starts and with three consecutive wins, and he had his contract transferred to the San Francisco Giants on June 12.

Hall returned to the Monarchs on July 14 and allowed just three earned runs in 37 innings with 48 strikeouts while notching six quality starts in seven outings through Aug. 14. He was named the Pitcher of the Week for second time this season for the week ending Aug. 14. Hall went 2-0 for the week and tossed 14 scoreless innings, scattering five hits with 18 strikeouts.

Hailing from Lee’s Summit, Hall attended Lee’s Summit West High School and played collegiately at Missouri State University, where he was a sixth-round draft pick in the 2015 draft by the Detroit Tigers. Hall had his contract purchased on Sept. 11, 2018, and made his Major League debut on Sept. 15, 2018. He was traded after the 2018 season to Boston and appeared in four games for the Red Sox.

This season under Hall’s watch as pitching coach, the Monarchs had the lowest team ERA (4.40) in the league and set a franchise and American Association record for strikeouts (967) in a season.

The Monarchs will play the first game of the playoff series against the Lincoln Saltdogs at 7:05 p.m. Wednesday at Haymarket Park in Lincoln, Nebraska.

The game can be heard on the Monarchs Broadcast Network with the pre-game beginning at 6:35 pm and the video stream airing on aa baseball.tv.

Tickets to Monarchs games including any possible playoff games can be purchased by calling 913-328-5618 or by visiting monarchsbaseball.com.

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From entertainment to art, ‘The Art of Gaming’ highlights video games

Gaming Flyer/Poster

Video games make the transition from entertainment to art in the latest exhibit at the Kansas City Kansas Community College Art Gallery.

“The Art of Gaming” is on display through Sept. 23 at the art gallery, in the lower Jewell building at the main KCKCC campus, 7250 State Ave., Kansas City, Kansas.

Shai Perry, who curated the exhibit, said it was inspired by her stepkids, who were playing games online during the pandemic. Gaming was a way the kids communicated with each other, she said. Moms may not want their kids to have as much screen time, but it’s how kids are socializing today, she said, and the art show expresses these changes.

“I as curator have a series called ‘Art Is,’ where I take something you might not think is artistic and show people that it is,” said Perry, also the coordinator of the KCKCC Art Gallery. Creativity is part of everyday life, she added.

“We are creative every day in the way we decide what shirt and shoes to put on,” she said. Everyone creates, and the art show, “The Art of Gaming,” just expresses the creativity found around gaming.

The art exhibit has sparked the interest of students at the college, where there are members of a gamers’ club who have traveled to competitions and won awards. Some students have painted miniature characters to make them more realistic. Some college classes have scheduled tours of the art gallery.

Topics that have inspired art include tabletop games, old school games such as Sega and Mario, the NFL, and arcade games such as Pong, Duck Hunt and Tetris.

Some of the works are three-dimensional animation, while others are acrylic on wood platforms, some are drawings, others are acrylic on canvas and acrylic on paper.

Anthony Oropeza, a community artist who is an alumnus of KCKCC, has works in the exhibit. Another community artist with works on display is Darryl Woods, who works with kids’ art summer camps and whose works are loved by kids, she said. Oropeza is known for sports art, and Woods has done many superhero art pieces.

Other students and community artists who have works on display in the exhibit include Bekon Flory, Ben Lee, Christopher Guthrie, Damont Jordan, Emma Conforti, Ian Young, Joseph Sanchez, Julianna Johnson, Micki W. Hill, Oscar Alvarez-Alonso and Raven Harmon.

The art show opened Aug. 15, at the beginning of the school year, and runs through Sept. 23. There will be a closing reception from 4 to 7 p.m. Sept. 23. The art gallery is free and open to the public. Perry suggested that visitors make an appointment at 913-288-7408 to make sure that the gallery is staffed and it is open at the time they want to visit.

Ribbon-cutting

Superintendent Anna Stubblefield spoke at a ribbon-cutting ceremony Wednesday morning for the Alfred Fairfax Academy, 2226 N. 85th St., Kansas City, Kansas. Formerly the Fairfax Learning Center, the school was renamed after Alfred Fairfax, the first Black state legislator in Kansas. A restorative high school, Fairfax Academy is designed to offer an alternative high school educational experience for KCKPS students who are not reaching their full potential. (Photo from Kansas City, Kansas, Public Schools)
A ribbon-cutting ceremony was held Wednesday morning for the Alfred Fairfax Academy, 2226 N. 85th St., Kansas City, Kansas. Formerly the Fairfax Learning Center, the school was renamed after Alfred Fairfax, the first Black state legislator in Kansas. A restorative high school, Fairfax Academy is designed to offer an alternative high school educational experience for KCKPS students who are not reaching their full potential. (Photo from Kansas City, Kansas, Public Schools)