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THURSDAY,
SEPTEMBER 28, 2006
The Home Journal’s
SANDLOT
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ON DECK
High school
Softball
Today
■ George Walton at Westfield,
4:30 p.m.
■ Houston County at Lee
County, 6 p.m.
■ Peach County at Perry, 6:30
p.m.
■ Jones County at Northside,
5:30 p.m.
Friday
■ Northside at Brookwood
Invitational (through Saturday),
times and teams to be deter
mined
Saturday
■ Northside at Brookwood
Invitational (through Saturday),
times and teams to be deter
mined
High school
Cross country
Saturday
■ Northside and Warner Robins
at Mercer Invitational, time to be
determined
High school
Volleyball
Today
■ Perry at Houston County, 5
p.m.
Saturday
■ Martin Luther King at Houston
County, 11 a.m.
High school
Football
Today
■ Dutchtown at Northside, 7:30
p.m.
Friday
■ Perry at Henry County, 7:30
p.m.
■ Houston County at Warner
Robihs, 7:30 p.m.
IN BRIEF
Booster clubs to hold
4 quartets for cancer
Warner Robins and Houston
County’s booster clubs will
be heading a fund-raising
effort sponsored by the Rally
Foundation called 4 quarters
4 cancer at Friday's game. All
money collected will go directly
to funding research to cure and
prevent childhood cancer.
Perry’s boys track team to
sell Fair tickets
The Perry High School boys
track team will be holding a
fund-raiser. The group will be
selling a three-day student pass
(ages 11-18) for the Georgia
Nationa Fair. The tickets are for
gate admission and cost $lO (a
savings of $8).
The pass is good for Oct. IQ
-12. Tickets can be purchased
at the Perry High School front
office.
The last day to buy will be
Friday. Money raised will help
buy uniforms and equipment for
the team. Contact Cassandra
Dixon at 988-6299 for more.
Houston County YMCA to
hold spruce-up day
The Houston County YMCA
has set a spruce-up day for
Saturday.
During that time will get
together to update the interior
of the building. The time will be
from 7:30 a.m.-2 p.m. and the
organization is looking for 50
volunteers to help out.
A continental breakfast will
also be provided. The facility is
located on the corner of Moody
Road and State Road 96.
Call 922-2566 for more infor
mation.
Museum to host Georgia
Invitational golf tourney
The 17th Annual Museum of
Aviation Foundation Georgia
Invitational Golf Tournament will
be held Thursday-Friday at the
Pine Oaks Golf Club at Robins
Air Force Base.
The total value of prizes and
giveaways is more than $30,000.
Golfers receive a commemora
tive golf shirt, a Thursday night
traditional “Plantation Supper,"
luncheon buffets and a barbe
cue awards dinner. The single
player fee is $250. Sponsors
and players can sign up by call
ing the Museum of Aviation at
478-923-6600.
Graham leads Warner Robins past lift County
Northside falls to Dutchtown
By DON MONCRIEF
Journal Sports Editor
If there is a kink in Kristin
Graham’s armor, and that’s
about like saying you could
break into
Fort Knox, it
would be the
first inning.
Reach her
then or don’t
reach her at
all.
That said
then it was
pretty criti
cal for Tift
County, when
WARNER ROBINS
Warner
Robins 8, Tift
County 0
it put two runners on in the
first, to put some numbers
on the board.
It couldn’t. Warner Robins
went on to win 8-0. Graham
went on, after giving up a
single and walk back-to
back, to strike out the next
seven Lady Blue Devil hit
ters. In all she fanned 16 of
the 23 she faced. She gave
up one hit and walked two.
ENI/Gary Harmon
Westfield’s Shae Horsting lunges for a high throw at third in Westfield’s game against Sherwood Tuesday at
home.
Westfield locks up region
By MATTHEW BROWN
Journal Sports Writer
Westfield left no doubt as
to who was going to win
a seventh-straight region
champion
ship in soft
ball this
week.
After shut
ting down
Sherwood
Christian 4-
0 Monday in
Albany, the
Hornets and
WESTFIELD
HORNETS
Westfield 8,
Sherwood 0
pitcher Kelsey Gilliam con
tinued to put zeros in the
Eagles’ side of the score
book Tuesday in Perry.
With the 8-0 victory in six
innings, Westfield wrapped
up the 3-AAA champion
ship with a final 5-1 league
record in the regular sea
son. The string of region
titles for the school goes
back to the 2000 season, the
last in slow-pitch softball.
The Hornet offense had
13 hits, several of them com
ing in the infield. Westfield
only had three hits and two
runs through four innings.
There were several instanc
es of indecision on the part
of the Sherwood defense in
the last two innings, and
the home team took full
Sports
The rest of Tift County’s
runners - minus one that
reached on a error - popped
up, flied out or grounded
out.
Only twice did a runner
reach second and both of
those were erased via strike
outs that ensued.
As for the Demonettes,
they didn’t waste their
opportunities in the first.
Katie Farinelli lead off with
a single. Lauren Graham
attempted to bunt her over
and turned that into a single
and then Kristin Graham
hit the first-pitch she saw to
the fence, it actually hit at
the base of it, in left.
That brought in one.
Amber Conlon’s sacrifice fly
brought in another to give
Warner Robins a 2-0 lead.
Conlon singled home
Farinelli to make it 3-0 after
three before the Demonettes
put four more on the board
in the fourth.
Maci Brown' started
See GRAHAM, page iB
advantage to invoke the
run-lead rule.
Mason Moreland, bat
ting again in the leadoff
position, had three infield
hits. Two hits each came
from Daryl Ann Thompson,
Hanna Jones, Gilliam and
Audrey Clearman. Jones,
with two sacrifice flies,
drove in three runs total.
Clearman also had three
RBI.
Gilliam had eight strike
outs in six innings and
allowed three hits. Two of
those safeties came in the
first inning after she struck
out the first two Sherwood
batters. She was also quite
an active fielder with three
assists and three putouts.
Westfield staked a 2-
0 lead in the home first
inning, which started with
a Moreland hit and an error
on Thompson’s sacrifice.
Gilliam was able to bunt
both runners over, and
they scored on Clearman’s
ground ball to the shortstop
and Jones’ first sacrifice
fly-
The Hornets could not
score after two Eagle errors
in the second, but was show
ing good glove work in the
field. After Gilliam walked
the first hitter of the top
of the third, she fielded the
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Journal/Don Moncrief
Warner Robins leadoff hitter Katie Farinelli rounds third in the second inning of the
Demonettes’ game at home against Tift County Tuesday. She eventually scored. In fact,
she did so three times on the day.
bunt and got the out to the There was another bunt
shortstop Jones at second. See REGION, page 2B
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ENI/Gary Harmon
Lady Hornets first baseman Audrey Cleamon stretches
for a throw at first.
SECTION
B
Lady Panthers
blast Central
By MATTHEW BROWN
Journal Sports Writer
No rain ... everybody
showed up ... finally Perry
High School got to play some
softball.
The Panthers went to
Macon
Tuesday
and crushed
Central High
12-2 in five
innings to
improve to
4-2 in Region
4-AAA. Erica
Smith struck
out five
to get the
A
PERRY
PANTHERS
Perry 12,
Central 2
win. Both runs by Central
were unearned after Perry
errors in the first and fifth
innings.
Crystal Greer and Ashley
Craddock each had two hits
to pace the offensive attack.
This game represented the
first time Perry was able
to complete a softball game
since beating Southwest-
Macon at home on Sept.
14. At West Laurens on
Sept. 19, that game went
into the fifth inning before
rain forced a postponement.
Two days later the Panthers
went to Macon thinking they
would be in action against
Northeast, only no umpires
showed up.
“We’ve just been getting
after it in practice, playing
some simulated games with a
pitching machine or I would
pitch,” said head coach Jeff
Sans about how the team
has handled all the inaction.
“Of course there’s nothing
like a real game. We came
out (Tuesday), and for the
first three innings we were
real flat. We were getting
hits, but they weren’t solid.
Then by the fourth inning
we started hitting well.”
To make up for some of the
lost action, Perry (14-7 over
all) was slated to return to
West Laurens and start that
game over on Wednesday.
See BLAST,page iB
"We've just been
getting after it in
practice,
playing some
simulated games
with a pitching
machine or I would
pitch."
- Perry head fast-pitch softball
coach Jeff Sans