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SATURDAY,
JULY 8, 2006
OUR
SANPLOT
ON DECK
Today
Major League Baseball
■ Cincinnati at Atlanta, 7:05
p.m., TBS
BRAVES CORNER
Braves 8, Reds 7
ATLANTA (AP) - Atlanta’s
relievers had their biggest blowup
of the season Thursday night
but Cincinnati’s displaced closer
wound up taking the loss in a
matchup of struggling bullpens.
Jeff Francoeur’s two-out sin
gle in the 10th inning drove in
Chipper Jones with the winning
run as the Braves recovered from
a ninth-inning collapse to beat the
Reds 8-7.
Francoeur’s hit came off Todd
Coffey (34), whose stint as Reds
closer apparently ended with the
Reds’ trade with Seattle for vet
eran closer Eddie Guardado on
Thursday. Guardado is expected
to join the team Friday.
Coffey followed David Weathers
in the closer’s role. The Reds
relievers have a 5.28 ERA, 10
losses and 13 blown saves.
Despite rallying with five runs
in the ninth, the Reds lost their
sixth straight.
Ken Ray (1-0) earned the win,
pitching around two walks in the
top of the 10th. Jorge Sosa suf
fered the staff’s 17th blown save
in 35 chances as the Braves
couldn’t hold a 7-2 lead in the
ninth.
IN BRIEF
Youth center sets registration
The Robins Air Force Base
Youth Center’s sports registration
will be held July 15. Parents may
resister from 1-6 p.m. on that day
and from 3-6 p.m. the following
Monday-Friday.
Youth may register for cheer
leading ages 5-12, NFL flag foot
ball ages 5-10, tackle football
ages 11-12 and fall soccer ages
5-16.
Registration will continue until
teams are full. Also, the center is
currently accepting applications
for volunteer cheerleading/foot
ball/soccer coaches.
No experience is required.
Training will be provided though
the youth center. Apply in person
at Robins Youth Center or call
Ron Hayes at 926-2110.
Cross country series dates set
Warner Robins High School
head cross country coach David
Erpelding is hosting the Sixth
Annual Middle Georgia Cross
Country Summer Series at Pearl
Stephens Elementary School in
Warner Robins.
The races - two have already
been held - are open to everyone
and the following race is left: July
20: 5000 Meters.
The race is slated to start at
7:30 p.m. on the Thursdays listed
above. Awards will be given for
the top five in each age group
male and female. 14-and-under,
15-19 and 20 and over.
Runners register on race day.
Contact Erpelding at 328-3208 or
via e-mail at Erpelding@bellsouth.
net for more information.
The entry fee is $5. ’
HLCC to host clinic, more
Houston Lake Country Club will
be holding a Junior Golf Clinic
Tuesday-Thursday, 9:30-11 a.m.
all three days. Each clinic is lim
ited to the first 50 golfers to sign
up. The cost is SIOO for members
and $l2O for nonmentbers. The
club will also have a Junior Club
Championship July 27.
Call the Pro Shop at 218-5252
to sign up or for more informa
tion. In addition, the 25th Annual
Ron Stafford Invitational Two-man
Best Ball tournament sponsored
by Coca-Cola will be held July 22
and 23 at the course. Sign up is in
the pro shop.
WR Rec to hold registrations
The Warner Robins Recreation
Department will begin football and
cheerleading registration July 15
from 8 a.m.-1 p.m. Registration
will be held at the WRRD located
at 800 Watson Boulevard.
The fees are as follows:
Cheerleading - City of Warner
Robins, $75; county, $100; out of
county, $l2O. Football: City, SSO;
county, $103; out of county $177.
Call 929-1916 for more.
Ayer sets sights on second world title
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HHJ/Matthew Brown
Perry Horseshoe Pitchers Club member Buddy Ayer tosses during the club’s final
Spring season meeting Monday at Rozar Park.
Then again...
Parents get failing grade on Youth Sports Report Card
By MATTHEW BROWN
HHJ Sports Writer
The last thing anyone
attending school
wants to see is a
report card with bad grades.
It’s even worse when you
have to show this card to
your parents.
Recently, though, a
national coalition called the
Citizenship Through Sports
Alliance issued a report
card of its own ... aimed at
Bears' Brunson signs
with Mercyhurst NE
By MATTHEW BROWN
HHJ Sports Writer
Jamal Brunson has shown that it’s never
too late to give up on the dream of college
athletics.
The Houston County High School gradu
ate and former standout on the basketball
court of the Bear Den signed a national
letter-of-intent on Thursday to play college
hoops at Mercyhurst North East, a junior
college program located in Pennsylvania.
This is a bit of a blind situation for
Brunson, for he won’t make his first visit
to the Mercyhurst North East campus until
August. His recruiting was done through
an e-mail from the college’s head basketball
coach, a mailing of game tapes and an offer
and commitment over the phone.
“The coach told me I had an opportunity
See SIGNS, page 2B
Sports
parents ... and the grades
weren’t that good.
CTSA includes the NCAA,
Major League Baseball and
the National Basketball
Association among its mem
bers. Through a panel of
experts in the area of youth
sports, the coalition came up
with the first-ever National
Youth Sports Report Card.
What was discovered, on a
nationwide basis, is that par
ents are more interested in
— s, ——*■ ——
'We try to monitor the program. If you
do it right, you can weed out the
problems and get rid of the bad apples.
W 0 do have parents who take it too
seriously/
- Warner Robins athletic director Martha Ann Lumpkin
seeing their kids win games
and work their way towards
By DON MONCRIEF
HHJ Sports Editor
Buddy Ayer is returning
to the scene of the crime
- the site of his first attempt
at capturing a world title in
horseshoes.
Ayer will be contending
at the World Horseshoe
Pitching Tournament
Monday-Wednesday in
Gillette, Wyoming.
The first time he was there
back in 1996, “I pitched OK,
just not good enough to win,”
he said. He ended up in a
three-way tie for fifth and
based on ringer percentages,
fell to seventh overall.
last year I had two pretty good days
and one bad. You can't do that It's
whoever pitches the best for three
straight days/
- Perry Horseshoe Pitchers Club member Buddy Ayer
college scholarships than
on emphasizing the lessons
SECTION
B
Fellow Perry Horseshoe;
Pitcher’s Club teammate;
Rick Thompson, on the other
hand, fared much better. He >
- it was also his first try at;
a world title - captured his
first world title there.
Thompson, however, will
not be making the trip this
year. Neither will Shorty
Johnson although he’s
already paid his entrance
fee.
“He’s going to have knee
surgery (replacement)
instead,” Ayer explained.
“On both of them. He was
going to go but they got
See AYER, page 2B
sports can teach towards liv
ing a good and productive
life.
Part of the problem is
specialization, according
to Martha Ann Lumpkin,
athletic director of the
Warner Robins Recreation
Department.
She said when she was
growing up, kids played one
sport at a time depending on
the season.
See CARD, page 3B
Former Houston
County High
basketball
player Jamal
Brunson is
seated sign
ing his schol
arship with
Mercyhurst
North East in
Pennsylvania.
With him are
Bears head
coach Greg
Nix, his broth
ers Shawn
and Quency
Brunson, his
mother Sandra
Brunson and
grandmother
Earline Mace.
HHJ/Matthew Brown