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The Home Journal’s
SANDLOT
ON DECK
Today
Major League Baseball
■ Atlanta at Cincinnati, 1:20
p.m., FOX
BRAVES CORNER
PIRATES 3, BRAVES 2
Joe Randa has played many
roles in his career. Being a bench
player on one of the worst teams
in the majors hasn’t been one of
them until now.
Shawn Chacon limited Atlanta
to one run in five innings to win
his Pittsburgh debut, pitching the
Pirates to a 3-2 victory Thursday
and preventing a sweep by the
Braves.
Randa, making a spot start,
drove in two of the three runs
against Braves starter Tim Hudson
with a double in the first inning
and a single in the sixth. Randa
starts an average of about once
every four days, but is 16-for-36
(.444) in his last nine starts.
Chacon (1-0), a 19-1 loser to
Cleveland in his last start for the
Yankees on July 4, felt the same
way in his first start for his new
team. He gave up Andruw Jones’
RBI double in the first but allowed
only one more hit before being
lifted after throwing 79 pitches on
a 90-degree day.
Hudson (8-10) lost his sixth in
eight decisions for the Braves,
who were denied a three-game
sweep that would have been their
first against the Pirates since June
1-3,2001, in Pittsburgh.
- The Associated Press
IN BRIEF
CGSA begins iate
registration
Late registration for the Central
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 program
for new and re-newing golfers
Tuesday-Aug. 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.
WR Rec Department sets
softball signup dates
The Warner Robins Recreation
Department will hold team regis
tration for the 2006 Fall Softball
League, Monday and Tuesday.
Teams may register between
the hours of 8 a.m.-5 p.m. at the
department, which is located at
800 Watson Blvd. They will regis
ter the first 28 coed teams and the
first 21 men’s teams. League play
will be Monday through Thursday
for a 12-game season.
The entry fee is $348 per team.
The fall season will open Sept. 5.
Contact the department at 929-
1916 for any questions.
SATURDAY,
AUGUST 5, 2006
Buckarama set to make its annual visit to Peppy
Special to the Journal
The Georgia Wildlife Federation
will soon open the doors for the 23rd
annual Buckarama shows.
If you’re a hunter, ask yourself:
Since the Buckarama is about to
start, can hunting season be far
behind?
The Buckaramas, Georgia’s larg
est hunting shows, are, accord
ing to a release, “the go-to events
again this year for hunters from
across Georgia and throughout the
Southeast as they prepare for this
season’s venture to the forests.
“Hunters and other sportsmen
and women throng to Buckarama,”
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The Middle Georgia Shockers, a travel fast-pitch team with its fair share of Houston County players, huddle up
during the ISA World Series recently.
Fast>pitch squad wins World Series title
By DON MONCRIEF
Journal Sports Editor
The Middle Georgia
Shockers made a believer
out of head coach Ricky
Schnable.
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Kayla McNiel heads home to score in the final game as
Kristen Beattie heads to third.
Sports
AT A
GLANCE
What: Georgia Wildlife Federation's 23rd annual
Buckarama
When: Aug. 18-20
Where: Georgia National Fairgrounds and
Agricenter
the release reads, “to check out and
stock up on everything from camo,
ammo and other gear, to the new
est in technology to information on
outfitters and guides. White tailed
deer are the number one game spe-
SHOCKING!
The team, several of the
players being from Houston
County - quite a few rep
resenting Warner Robins
High School alone - recent
ly won the Independent
Softball Association’s World
Series championship at
Lexington S.C., and for 18-
and-unders.
It wasn’t that Schnable
was an unbeliever mind
you - even though the team
kept coming up with sec
ond or third-place finishes
at tourneys along the way
to the WS.
He had plenty of faith.
It’s just that his cup didn’t
actually run over until the
third game for seeding of
the World Series.
It was a 0-0 tie to the
Heartland Craze from
Lakeland, Fla.
But, “All of a sudden they
played fantastic defense,”
he said. “Actually, the first
two games (a 3-3 tie with
the Tampa Mayhem from
Seffner, Fla., and a 1-1 tie
with the Twilight Twisters
from Winter Haven, Fla.)
the defense was horrible.
“(The entire season -
beginning around March -
up until that point) we just
didn’t have focus. Somebody
would miss a sign or some
body would miss a signal
- just a mental lapse. We
couldn’t quite get over the
hump.
“But in that third pool
game, I started believing
then. It was the most com
plete team effort in a ball
game I’ve ever seen.”
Still, with nothing but ties
to their credit, the Shockers
ended up seeded fifth. Not
that it mattered. They could
have been seeded 100th at
that point, however.
Submitted
cies in Georgia; with a healthy deer
heard and abundant habitat, our
state is the deer hunting capitol of
the Southeast.”
But, the release continues, there’s
more at the two Buckaramas held
every year, one in Atlanta and one in
Perry. Conservation Comer is a sig
nature feature of the Buckaramas,
showcasing critical information
about conservation and fostering
ethical hunting practices.
“Adults and young people alike
have a great opportunity to learn
about and see at first hand Georgia’s
diversity of wildlife and hear about
the effort to ensure the habitat
They faced off against Jax
Fusion from Jacksonville,
Fla., and beat them soundly
12-0. (Note; They weren’t
all from Florida, although
it was close. The only other
out of state team in that
division - the “B” division,
and there was also an “A”
division - was Dahlonega.)
“I think we had maybe
four hits in the first game,
five in the second and one
in the third,” Schnable said.
“But in the third, all of a
sudden they busted loose.”
Next, they went head-to
head with the No. 1 seed
Manatee Twisters from
Bradenton, Fla. They had
gotten a bye in the first
round.
In the second, they were
saddled with a loss because
the Shockers beat them 3-0
- thanks in part, Schnable
said, to (Demonette) Sam
Snipes robbing a hitter of a
home run - catching it over
the fence.
“It was just plays like
that the whole weekend,”
Schnable said.
That win put them in a
rematch against Heartland,
a game they won cour
tesy of (Demonette)
See TITLE, page 2B
conservation that will ensure our
wildlife doesn’t disappear forever.
Experts, displays and information
from state and federal wildlife agen
cies and a diverse group of nonprofit
conservation organizations will be
on hand to answer questions and
talk about wildlife issues.”
The Buckaramas directly sup
port the mission of hunters and
the Georgia Wildlife Federation in
sustaining critical natural resources
and its dependent wildlife.
Show visitors can get information
about the Camo Coalition - the most
effective voice for
See VISIT, page 8B
Oh broiber...
In Ini; Daw#
hast wia ever
Well, just got back
from a family visit
on the Georgia
coast, and let me tell you
about my
adorable
little
brother-in
law.
(Actually,
he’s 6-foot
-3 and about
four years
old than
me.)
I have
to give my
older (but
shorter) sister credit. She
brought your prototypical
die-hard fanatical Georgia
Bulldog fan into the family.
It makes it easy to pick out
Christmas presents and con
versation topics to pass the
time away.
So while we were picnick
ing and strolling along the
beautiful barrier island
known as Cumberland
(more on that later), we dis
cussed last year’s debacle in
the Sugar Bowl and Mark
Richt’s inability to lead
Georgia past the top rivals
Auburn and Florida.
I also decided to hit him
up on the topics of a certain
trivia contest about Bulldog
football I was unsuccessful
in getting anyone in Houston
County to partake. I’m not
about to give out the actual
questions here.
You had your chance. But
in this little dialogue with
the bro-in-law, an interest
ing topic of debate sprang
forth.
I said, “Arguably, the big
gest win in Georgia foot
ball history ...” Now, I had
my choice while he had a
few others. Therein lies the
point of debate: What are
the criteria that make a par
ticular win the biggest ever
for a sports team?
One would be an upset.
This family member - we’ll
call him Steve from here on
out because that’s his name,
though my sister likes to
say Stephen - pointed out
the win over No. 2 Texas in
the 1984 Cotton Bowl and
the upset of Florida in 1997
which ended a long suffering
drought for all of us against
Steve Spurrier’s Gators.
Another characteris
tic would be a comeback.
The Bulldogs have had
their share of those, like
the 2000 Outback Bowl
See BROWN, page 3B
Submitted
'Therein lies the
point ol debate:
What are the
criteria that
make a particular
win the biggest
ever for a sports
team?'
SECTION
B
m\
Matthew Brown
HDJ Sports Writer