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The Home Journal’s
SANDLOT
ON DECK
Today
Major League Baseball
■ Atlanta at Pittsburgh, 12:35
p.m., TBS
BRAVES CORNER
BRAVES 4, PIRATES 2
PITTSBURGH - Sure, the
Pirates aren’t the Mets, but the
Braves will take a pitching perfor
mance like the one John Smoltz
delivered Tuesday at any point
in time.
Danys Baez, picked up Friday
from the Los Angeles Dodgers,
worked a quick, scoreless eighth
for his first hold as a Brave in
his second appearance. Bob
Wickman gave up an unearned
run in the ninth, but collected
his third save in three tries since
he came over July 20 from
Cleveland.
Smoltz (9-5), now just one
victory from becoming Atlanta’s
first 10-game winner, had help
from his bat-wielding friends, too.
Adam Laßoche hit solo home
runs in the third and sixth innings
to continue his torrid play.
Laßoche has nine home runs
since the All-Star Break (16
games), including three multi
homer games. The second shot
Tuesday - his 22nd of the year
- went 429 feet to right-center
field and looked like it had a
chance of making the adjacent
Allegheny River.
Snell (9-7) gave up four runs
on nine hits in seven innings.
Maybe the 24-year-old picked
up some tips from the old man
across the way.
The 39-year-old Smoltz gave
up a pair of doubles to Freddy
Sanchez and Jeromy Burnitz in
the fourth that resulted in the only
run against him, but he navigated
through the Pirates' lineup with
ease much of the night.
He struck out seven, didn't walk
any batters and gave up six hits,
four of which were singles.
Smoltz hasn’t lost since June
13, a span of nine starts. He’s
won five of his past six outings.
It’s the third time he’s allowed one
or fewer runs and gone seven
plus innings in the past six starts.
- R. Travis Haney, Morris
News Service
IN BRIEF
CGSA begins late
registration
Late registration for the Centra!
Georgia Soccer Association
began today. All children ages
4-19 are invited by the organiza
tion to, according to a release,
“join the ‘spectacular’ game of
soccer.’’
Online registration can be
found at www.gasoccer.org/cgsa
or those interested can go by their
office during the hours of 11 a.m.-
3 p.m. Monday through Friday.
Contact CGSA Association
Administrator Bette Dillon, at
478-987-2455 or email her at
playcgsa@alltel.net for further
information.
Landings sets dates for
Linkup2golf program
The Landings golf course will
be holding its Linkup2golf pro
gram for new and re-newing
golfers Aug. 8-31. The group will
meet Tuesdays and Thursdays
9:30-10:30 a.m. for early classes
and 5:30-6:30 p.m. for evening
classes.
The cost is $129 which
includes clubs. Call Bill Goggin
at 923-5222. Or e-mail him at
Bill@goggingolf.com. Check out
website at www.goggingolf.com.
Rec volleyball signups
set; cheerleaders needed
The Warner Robins Recreation
Department will begin registra
tion for volleyball Aug. 14. It will
run from 8 a.m.-5 p.m., and is
open to girls and boys 13-18.
The age control date is Aug.
31. A birth certificate is required
upon registration unless it is cur
rently on file. Participants must
also have the required fee at the
time of registration. Registration
fees are as follows: $25 for city
of Warner Robins residents, SSO
for county residents and SBS for
out of county residents. Call 929-
1916 for more information.
THURSDAY,
AUGUST 3, 2006
Welcome to: ‘Camp Not This Year
Late start puts Demon tradition on hold
By MATTHEW BROWN
Journal Sports Writer
No sooner than everyone
settles into the month of
August than a pair of impor
tant dates pop up for all
loyal high school football
fans to remember.
Wednesday, Aug. 2, (yes
terday) was the first day
that, as the Georgia High
School Association yearly
by-laws book puts in, prac
tice is allowed in helmets,
shoulder pads, mouthpieces,
shoes, and shorts only. That
will be the case through
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ENI/Gary Harmon
Perry player Maria Patterson connects during practice at the school Tuesday. That day marked the official opening
for Georgia High School Association teams. Houston County, Warner Robins and Northside all followed suit with
practices. As far as Westfield, head coach Rodney Culverhouse said his Georgia Independent School Association
squad began practicing Monday. The Lady Hornets will also be the first to start playing games when they compete
- per their norm - in the Freedom Park Tournament in Macon beginning Aug. 12.
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Tasha Harris takes her hacks.
WR National Leagues World Series run ends
By DON MONCRIEF
Journal Sports Editor
Warner Robins National
League’s started off great
and ended up, well ... not
so great.
The team, representing
the state, opened up the
Dixie Youth World Series in
Alexandria with a 2-1 win
over Virginia Saturday.
That was the good news
for the local 15-and-under
All-Stars.
Sunday was a different
story.
The-team faced Tennessee
in a 2 p.m. game and lost
15-0. Then they took on
host Alexandria at 8 p.m.
Sports
It's the first time I can remember. It's
been good to get the kids by themselves
and concentrate on football.'
- Warner Robins head football coach Bryan Way, on the Demons, for
the first time since around the mid-19605, not being able to go away
for football camp
Friday, then on Monday it
will be time to break out the
full pads.
In Houston County, there’s
another highly-anticipated
date this week. School begins
in all the public schools on
Well connected
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Perry fast-pitch head coach Jeff Sans tosses to Crystal Greer from the
“safety zone.”
ENI/Gary Harmon
’They'll always be state champions.
Nobody can take that away from them/
- Warner Robins National League coach Mark Goodman, on the
league’s 15-and-under All-Stars
and lost again, 10-0.
The combined losses
knocking them out of the
tourney.
“Alexandria scored five
quick runs and we just
never came ba'ck,” said
coach Mark Goodman, who
equated the girls’ play in
the tournament as similar
to the Braves’ most years.
“The bats just went cold.”
Friday.
The prep football season
itself, which last year start
ed on Aug. 19, doesn’t begin
until Sept. 1.
One thing is dubiously
missing from this equation:
Still, there were high
lights, Goodman said,
such as Most Valuable
Player awards going to
Casie Goodman for her
play at third in the first
game, Jessica James for
her defense in game two.
“She was just outstanding,”
Goodman said. “Some of
the catches she made in left
field were unbelievable.”
the time-honored tradition
Qf the football camp.
Be it at the school itself or
at an out-of-town location,
football players are bunched
together for a week that not
only involves regular prac
tice (mostly twice or three
times a day) but also includes
an atmosphere aimed at
building bonds amongst the
players. After all, your only
human contact during that
week is with your team
mates and coaches.
However, a season start
ing later also means official
ENI Gary Harmon
And finally, an MVP going
to Stephanie Stephens for
her fielding in right in game
three.
Overall, “How do you
downplay the World Series
appearance itself,” said
Goodman, adding that out
of the 12, “all” of them
should be back. “(Plus), it’s
like I told the girls.
“They’ll always be state
champions. Nobody can
take that away from them.
“I was proud of their
appearance. I think the
girls had a lot of fun and
enjoyed themselves. I think
they came away with a posi
tive experience.”
SECTION
B
practice starting later.
The start of school at the
start of the month doesn’t
allow any time for a sleep
away camp.
Perry High School head
coach Andy Scott isn’t con
cerned about not having a
camp like last year.
During the summer, the
Panther coaches held vol
untary workouts with what
Scott called “great participa
tion.”
With so many players
out, he said the summer
See CAMP, page 5B
Lightning mike
nn at IBC WS
By MATTHEW BROWN
Journal Sports Writer
The Georgia Lightning,
a traveling baseball team
mainly composed of Houston
County baseball players,
gained three wins plus a
little bit of respect on its
recent trip to the IBC World
Series in Clearwater, Fla.
The final record for the
Lightning was 3-3 with one
win coming against a local
based club that finished
third overall.
All of the Lightning wins
were come-from-behind
efforts.
What kept this team from
finishing above .500, accord
ing to manager Randy Willis,
were some untimely break
downs with the gloves.
“I don’t want to say we
were disappointed, but we
felt we gave three games
away,” said Willis. “Our
defense let us down. We
pitched well and hit the ball
pretty good.”
The Georgia Lightning
may have had some rea
son to feel overwhelmed in
this World Series. The team
played in an 18-and-under
division, but of the 16 play
ers bn the Lightning roster
12 are 17 years old and the
other four are 16.
See IBC, page 8B
Let's form 2
new leagues
When my stepson
has imbibed just
the right amount
of liquid refreshment, he
comes up with some excel
lent ideas.
His latest could solve the
steroid
issue for
ever.
Jim sug
gests that
we create
separate
Olympics
for com
petitors
who use
enhance
ments and
another for
I
Joe Sersey
HDJ Correspondent
“From Left Field”
eleanopioe@stt.nel
athletes who prefer au natu
ral.
That means 100-meter
world champion Austin
Gatlin wouldn’t have to
worry about testing positive
for excessive testosterone or
other prohibited steroids.
Imagine: a track and field
athlete is accused in a dop
ing scandal. Where have
we heard that before? Oh,
yes, Marion Jones and Tim
Montgomery.
Both of those athletes were
coached by Trevor Graham
who now coaches Gatlin.
Gasp! What a coincidence.
Gatlin is accused of
using the same stuff as
Tour de France champion
See SERSEY, page 5B