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WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 2006 2B I W» Bj mP- Nil ■ff 81/ Jl »• ft " ' m ’ Submitted Tiftarea Panther Invitational medalists Hunter Wojohn, Caroline Amos, Mallory Eubanks, Barrett Stanley and Jimmy Mehserle display their winnings. Westfield results of the Blue and Gold Invitational held Sept. 20 at Mount de Sales Junior varsity boys - Westfield placed eighth overall Place Time Jimmy Mehserle 17 11:21 Barrett Stanley 18 11:21 Gabe Gattis 26 11:40 TraeTolleson 39 12:12 Ryan Sichelsteil 58 13:36 Hamilton Way 75 14:57 Junior Varsity girls - Westfield placed sixth overall Caroline Amos 15 12:00 Ellen Grier 22 12:24 McKinley Walton 44 13:31 Courtney Hamsley 48 13:54 Erin Walker 52 14:04 Sarah Kate Johnson 57 14:49 Varsity boys - Westfield finished sixth overall Jacob Parnell 1 18:33 Hunter Wojohn 21 21:01 zack Hamsley 36 22:12 Hank McCord 42 22:26 Will Walton 50 23:08 Jared Howard 65 24:30 Thompson Way 70 25:46 Jeremy Stubbs 79 28:00 Will O'Neal 80 28:09 Varsity girls - Westfield finished sixth overall Mallory Eubanks 10 23:15 Leigh James-Artigas 17 24:36 Callie Brown 51 29:41 Kim Campbell 60 31:05 Elizabeth Stokes 66 33:03 Westfield results of the TiftArea Academy Panther Challenge held Saturday Note: According to head coach Wendy Bryan, this ~ 0 jP~ ! zxmL /S SgW? «*r' «*■• Jm '-'*. -• iffllHpl ! ■. gfc , ■; y ->, / 1 :-:'i •- Mbs'. *■'s&■'''' ‘ .»,/■jjaPlggi xa^^rm^msgaßSm Submitted Blue and Gold Challenge medalists Mallory Eubanks and Jacob Parnell show off their win nings. CLINCH From page iB could have had more. His lineup only struck out twice and hit several hard soft- CLEATS OA GAWt? TAB- POOM PEEKG OP- ) OA MY-I POM'T WAAT TO TAIAK Xi I POA'T UMPEPyiwiT 7/ / I FOUAP TMIG PLACE OMUWE // I AMP IT WAG LIGTEP AG A V 'GTAff' AOTEL. \ sipMvsfl r | a, was about a 4-mile run for the varsity as opposed to the standard 3.2 mile run. JV ran about 2 miles as opposed to the standard 1.5.) Junior varsity boys - Westfield placed second overall Place Time Barrett Stanley 6 13:33 Jimmy Mehserle 7 13:43 Thompson Way 11 14:15 Gabe Gattis 13 14:30 TraeTolleson 15:30 Ryan Sichelsteil 16:53 Hamilton Way 18:48 Junior Varsity girls - Westfield placed fourth overall Caroline Amos 2 14:21 McKinley Walton 16:47 Courtney Hamsley 17:30 Elizabeth Stokes 17:52 Callie Ray 18:56 Sarah Kate Johnson 19:00 Varsity Boys - Westfield finished second overall Jacob Parnell 3 24:52 Hunter Wojohn 11 27:57 Zack Hamsley 13 28:23 Hank McCord 15 29:23 Will Walton 19 30:13 Evan Grantham 20 30:47 Jared Howard 34 32:37 Jeremy Stubbs 36 34:37 Will O’Neal 37:37 Varsity Girls - Westfield finished fourth overall Mallory Eubanks 3 29:19 Leigh James-Artigas 10 31:05 Erin Walker 38:27 Callie Brown 38:28 Kim Campbell 41:15 balls that went right into the Eagles’ gloves. Westfield left 10 runners on base. “The potential was there to do a lot more damage,” said Culverhouse. Mason Moreland and Jenni If rneiee^A\ PAP! j/ (c) 2006 BiU Hinds Dist by Universal Press Syndicate 02006 by Kjo| FcMtitj Symbcyn lat WbfM ngbu ragrvari 1 - ■■. <■>.,«»• «■ * ; Submitted Tiftarea Panther Invitational medal ists Leigh James-Artigas displays her medal. Greer, both sophomores, each had two hits. The Hornets have one other home softball game sched uled this week. On Thursday, they face George Walton in the regular-season finale. 7 4CK/ WYATT, V- —t kT TAAT YOO>^)|-I^__]^ cam jack come ISK / . www goc6rmcs.com e-mail: Cieatsmail@aol com J !i -a r—m .v i* , r ■ 1 ■. n— lC~% SPORTS Braves fans giving team free pass for poor season It’s that time again. Time to lament the Atlanta Braves’ post season plight. Time to forecast another pitching collapse. Adam Van Brimmer Morris News Service October. As usual, the Houston Astros will end Atlanta’s season. Only that game is Sunday, and it’s the regu lar-season finale, not the Game 4 or 5 of the National League Division Series. The Braves were math ematically eliminated from the playoffs two days ago. Sunday’s 9-8 loss to Colorado also ended their chances of finishing with a winning record. And the saddest part is nobody cares. The fans are giving the team a pass. How many of you toma hawk choppers have said “Well, the string of 14 division titles and playoff appearances had to end sometime” in the last few weeks? Where’s the outrage? Why is no one demanding accountability from man agement or the veterans? Baltimore Oriole fans staged a walk-out to protest their team’s pathetic plight last week. Red Sox fans show up at Fenway these days just to boo. DEFENSE From page iB substitute for game speed. We are four games into the season, and we still have a long way to go as far as guys getting game-type reps.” For these new Northside starters, they have already been through the fire of the two county rivalry games, Houston County and Warner Robins. Then there was the North Clayton game against the school that produced former Georgia quarterback D.J. Shockley. The Eagles are 4-0, so somebody’s doing something right on that side. “Right now, our biggest problem is we’re just not being consistent,” said Kinsler. “We’ll do little things right, do what we’re being coached to do, then we’ll turn around and take a couple of steps backwards. What we’re really pushing for right now is continu ing to get better every week regardless of whom we’re playing. We hope we’re developing good habits by getting good reps, and we’re trying to keep from taking those steps backwards.” The inconsistency was evi dent when the Eagles went from giving up no points to the Warner Robins offensive unit on Sept. 8 to the 21 points registered by North Clayton. “We weren’t as focused on doing the little things right,” said Kinsler. “Against Jones County we tried to get refo cused. The hardest thing PERRY From page iB four wideouts and adjust ed well to Keye’s absence using the inside receivers. The Devils ended up with 247 yards through the air. “Defensively, I felt we took 10 steps back Friday,” said Scott. “We missed 23 tackles. Me personally I don’t think I put our kids in a position to be success ful. I told the kids after the game that loss was on me, that I wouldn’t punish any kid for any mistake. We as Yet the Braves’ suppos edly passionate fan base is more excited about the hot stove league happenings ~ like the signing of closer Bob Wickman and the picking up of John Smoltz’s contract option -- than it is disap pointed in the team’s finish. Atlanta is in fourth place in the National League East and can finish no better than third. The Braves have to win their remaining six games to break even at 81- 81. Evidently an October choke is much worse for fans than season-long asphyxia. Maybe that is human nature. Braves fans never got their hopes up this sea son, so they could not be dis appointed with the team’s finish. And then there is the Braves faithful’s excuse list, which could rival Santa’s inventory in length. ■ The team is for sale. ■ Payroll has been cut. ■ All those ill-timed inju ries. ■ The veterans are too old. ■ The youngsters are too young. ■ The bullpen is too ... much bull and not enough pen. ■ The umpires are against us. ■ All those early road games put the team in a hole. ■ Pitching coach Leo Mazzone left. ■ The Royals broke up John Schuerholz’s brain trust by hiring away Dayton Moore. * Somebody vomited on this keyboard. Disregard the last item. That’s me talking, not the Time to complain about Bobby Cox’s playoff manage rial skills. Except that hour is not com ing this now is keeping them focused all the time on how impor tant the little things are. “We got to see our young guys go in (at Jones) and do some of the things we’ve been coaching them to do. Those young guys did a good job most of the second half to keep the shutout.” Now Northside must focus on a Dutchtown team that has just three wins since 2004, the year the school opened its football program. The Bulldogs are visiting McConnell-Talbert Stadium on Thursday for Northside’s second game in the Region 4-AAAA B sub-region. “The thing that’s impressed me the most is that their guys ... they’re not real big but they play hard from whistle to whis tle,” said Kinsler. “We try to impress upon our guys that these guys are playing and they love the game. Their backs run hard. They have a No. 2 who plays at receiver and some quarterback, and he’s a good athlete. If we’re not focused, he can hurt you when he gets out in space. “We’re going out with the attitude that we’re trying to make ourselves better every week. We’re getting ready for Dutchtown, and we’re getting our techniques bet ter, our efforts better and keep building towards down the road.” The most glaring differ ence on Northside’s defense is the size on the line of scrimmage. Last year, there was the height of Sam Robinson at one end and the bulk of Omar Smith and coaches made some adjust ments at halftime and we held them to seven points in the second half, but it wasn’t enough.” He also has some special teams concerns. Jackson ran back a kickoff for a touchdown and ran one over midfield in the fourth quar ter to set up its only score after Perry tied the game 21-21. He said placekicking is another area where the team needs loads of work. Though Perry missed a field-goal try in the third quarter, Jackson had one blocked and almost HOUSTON DAILY JOURNAL fans. And my sickness has nothing to do with the list - although the bullpen can cause nausea - and every thing to do with those who came up with the excuses. Come on, Braves fans. You have spent this short century moaning and groan ing about marginal success. Show some disgust in fail ure. You blame Cox for post season follies but excuse him because he is so adept over the course of a season. What about now? Schuerholz is a personnel genius, but isn’t he the one who has failed to successful ly address the bullpen issues since Smoltz moved to the starting rotation in 2005? BrianMcCann and Chipper Jones are the only Braves batting better than .300. Andruw Jones is the lone player with over 100 RBI (although Jeff Francoeur will get there). Smoltz is the only pitcher who was in the opening-day rotation with an ERA under 4.00. So go ahead, blast away. Don’t be fair-weather crit ics. Show more backbone than your team did this sea son, at least. Call your sports-talk radio shows. Pepper your Internet message boards with ven omous posts. Heck, drive to Turner Field, buy a $5 standing-room ticket and boo, long and loud. It’s that time again - whether the Braves are in the playoffs or not. Adam Van Brimmer is an Atlanta-based writer for Morris News Service. E-mail him at adam. vanbrimmer@morris.com or telephone him at 404-589- 8424. Sante Jones at the tackles. Kinsler said regardless of that, from a coaching stand point you try to teach tech niques that work best to their advantage. The start ing lineup could be deemed undersized, but there is some girth on the bench. “We do have some younger players we can bring in, like (sophomore) Abry Jones, who’s a really good-sized rover tackle,” said Kinsler. “Then we have Anton Williams (sophomore), who has a little more size at nose. So we have some size to put in there, but the only problem is it’s inexpe rienced size. Hopefully we can make up for it with good technique and trying to use leverage to our advantage so the size isn’t a factor.” First-time starters such as seniors Marcus Hill and Damon Lopez on the line and sophomore Eric Fields and senior Isaac Wilson at linebacker are showing the capacity to make plays. Kinsler said Hill, for a nose guard, is one of the fastest players on the team. “Some of the things we do on defense are geared towards a lack of size,” said Kinsler. “We haven’t always been real big. Most of the time we’re overmatched size-wise. Hill and Fields have used their quickness and their strength to their advantage. “One of the things we do in the offseason is work with the weights and get our kids stronger. They may not be physically big, but they are as strong as they can be.” returned for a touchdown. Again, though, it was a pen alty flag for blocking in the back that squelched that celebration. “At no point did our kids quit,” said Scott. “There was never any panic. When (Jackson) scored, and we got the ball back with five minutes to go, we knew we were going to take the ball down and score. We were trying to take as much of the clock as we could and score at the same time, and we did that. You can’t ask more of our offense to do what they did.”