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mP>KJ| y L ,fw m ■I \ ___ n. >v \V:|MLr .L. - * -m tHB im Wl Ml flMfl| Hyi »■ i„ HOUSTON HOME JOURNAL HoCo dominates 'key' Area match; preps tor Coeety Champioeship Special to the Journal The Lady Bears volleyball team, according to Head ~ Coach Tony Jones, had an important Area 2-AAAAA <: playdate Saturday - playing in the heat of the Rumble • Gym at Warner Robins. The Lady Bears first match was with Morrow High School which came in statis tically tied in the area with • an area record of three wins and no losses. The Lady Bears and Lady V v-, mr dam * fH M v M % t **£ p, 4%c * * » JIL !%•?* hHHHKP \v BBgikj* Jttßr *. '»l tflfijfear" \ K j£BK[ '(BW * • i \ An; • Jr** ENI/'Gary Harmon Westfield’s Jamie Marshall slides in safely at second in the team’s game against John Milledge Monday at home. JMA powers past Lady Hornets By MA TTHEW BROWN Journal Sports Writer After going four straight complet ed games without giving up a run, Westfield’s softball Hornets allowed seven runs in a row Monday in a 9-3 non-region home loss to John Milledge Academy. Now 7-7 on the season, Westfield faces a key Region 3-AAA road contest Thursday against Southland Academy in Americus. This is the same Raider team the Hornets edged 1-0 in Perry last week to take a 2-0 record in league play. On Monday, John Milledge had hits from all nine spots in the batting order (including some safeties by pinch hit- Inside; NS goes 4-2 at Fast-pitch Classic at North Cobb Lowndes edges HoCo; WR blasts Lady Vikings By MATTHEW BROWN Journal Sports Writer With all runs scored against them unearned, Houston County High lost for the second time in Region 1-AAAAA softball competi tion Saturday when Lowndes High prevailed 5-3 in Warner Robins. The Bears had four defen sive errors in the game, and each one led to scoring for the visiting Vikettes from Valdosta. Houston had five hits at the plate and had a pair of unearned runs itself on two errors by Lowndes in the fourth inning. Mustangs had some fierce matches last year, Jones said, adding he expected this match to be the same. “I had heard from some of the other coaches in the area that Morrow wanted to knock us out of first place,” said Jones. The match did not live up to the Lady Bears expecta tions, however, as Houston County defeated Morrow in % two games with scores of 25- 19 and 25-23. “We added another dimen- ters) for a game total of 11. The Trojans also knew what to do with runners in scoring posi tion as five of the nine runs scored on ground ball plays. With the score tied 2-2 after three innings, John Milledge took the lead for good with two runs in the top of the fourth. The visitors loaded the bases using the bottom part of the batting order (two singles and a walk) and took the lead 4-2 on consecu tive grounders to second base. The contest got away from Westfield in the fifth as the Trojans scored five Ko u r t ny Thomas drove in the game’s first run with a bases-loaded sacrifice fly in the home first. Kaitlyn Carriker and Sarah Ling each had one out hits to Lowndes 3, Houston County 2; Warner Robins 10, Lowndes 0 help fill the bags, but the Bears left the other two run ners on base. Lowndes tied the game in the third inning as one hit and two errors put Vikette runners on each base. With re H jA M Match 1 - Houston County 25, Morrow 19; HC 25, Morrow 23 Match 2 - Houston County 25, MLK 11; HC 25, MLK 17 Match 3- Houston County 25, Warner Robins 16; HC 25, WR 15 sion to our offensive scheme, Jones added about the Lady WESTFIELD HORHITS John Milledge Academy 9, Westfield 3 one out, the Bears infield mishandled a bunt, and with two on the home team could not convert a groundout. That proved the most crucial as Lowndes got the tying run on a force out tag. There was more trouble in the top of the fourth as, with one on and one out, the Houston infield dropped another force out. Lowndes had two in scoring position with two outs, and both came home as leadoff hitter Sadie Scarborough slapped the ball to left for one RBI. The second run came in as Scarborough got caught in a rundown, which allowed her Bears’ play, “and we had some huge play by our setter Morgan (Hollars) and all of our hitters Cat (Catherine) Goodman, Adrienne Pate, Leah Justin, Athina Smick and Devon Preston. The scheme could not have worked without the key pass ing of Dhwani Patel, Brittany Zuniga and Megan Owens.” The Lady Bears then played the MLK Lions. This match was not ever in doubt, Jones said, as the Lady Bears jumped out to a 10-point times on five hits. Just like in the fourth, the first three hitters all reached base. The Hornets missed a chance at a force out at home on a high throw (5-2), and then a ball hit over the drawn-in infield plated two runs. Two more groundouts later, Milledge was in control at 9-2. Even in the beginning, the Trojans put the first three runners on base and scored runs on a double to center and a Westfield error. Mason Moreland led off the Hornet half of the first with a double and Jamie Marshall followed with a walk. Both scored as eighth grader Christine Campbell doubled to tie the game 2-2. See PO WERS, page yfl teammate to break for home and beat the tag (3-1). But the Bears quickly pulled even at 3-3 when Erica Vasquez followed Thomas’ one-out walk with a bunt that Lowndes mis played. Thomas scored as the Vikettes dropped a two-out pop-up. April Collins doubled deep to centerfield for the tying RBI. In the fifth, Lowndes opened with a walk and a hit to right by pitcher Lauren Revels. On that safety, Houston commit ted its fourth error, and the visitors had the lead for good. A sacrifice fly one out later See BLASTS,page ioB WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 2007 lead before losing the serve. Houston County went on to win in two games 25-11 and 25-17. The final match was against cross-town rival Warner Robins. The Lady Bears won that match in two games as well with scores of 25-16 and 25-15. After the match Jones said he was glad that the team was on with their serves and that was the key to defeating the Demonettes. The wins brought Houston Panthers return to action with Jackson By MATTHEW BROWN Journal Sports Writer Even head coach Andy Scott may have a little redemption on his mind this weekend when Perry High takes on a Region 4-AAA north sub-region neighbor on Friday. The 1- 1 Panthers, coming off an early bye week, must deal with the Jackson High Red Devils on the road in a rematch of last year’s one-point heartbreaker for Perry at home. Jackson’s football program dealt with a tougher than normal off season when one' of its star players, John Keye, was killed in a car acci dent just before he was to sign a college scholarship with the University of Kentucky. The Red Devils, which went 10-2 last year, opened the 2007 season with some high quality Westfield hosts for Homecoming By DON MONCRIEF Journal Managing Editor Westfield Head Football Coach Ronnie Jones wish es it were basketball sea son. Whoa! Wait a min ute. Let’s rephrase that. Westfield Head Football Coach Ronnie Jones wishes “Homecoming” was “during” basketball season. Now, now before you start calling him a party pooper, put yourself in his shoes. The team is coming off its first loss of the year - 20-12 to Tattnall - which by the way, Jones added he doesn’t often heap praise on a losing effort but in this particular case For Houston County it's Parkview of 'old' By DON MONCRIEF Journal Managing Editor “They look like the Parkview of old.” For anyone who knows football, there’s no need to quantify that statement by Houston County Head Football Coach George Collins. But, just in case, he’s referring to a team that won four state champion ships - 1997, 2000, 2001 and 2002. That’s the County to 18-7 overall with a perfect nine 9-0 record in Area 2-AAAAA. The wins should also give the team the top seed for the Area Tournament to be held at Luella High School in October, Jones said. The Lady Bears are also 4-0 against county opponents leading into their next play date, which is Saturday’s County Championship to be held at Houston County High with action starting at 8 a.m. competi tion from Class AAAAA. Scott used Perry’s bye week to watch Perry at Jackson, Friday, 7:30 p.m. Jackson play East Coweta amid last' Friday’s rain storms. “As far as the level of competition, they’ve played a lot better people than we have,” said Scott. “They’re not a very big football team, but they are very fast. They are probably the best tack ling team I’ve ever seen. They are very hard-nosed, aggressive.” With all of the Division I talent Jackson had last year, including Georgia bound end Neland Ball, Perry still took the Devils to the wire with a last-minute touchdown See ACTION, page ioB he said he was going to make an excep tion. “I’m proud of their effort,” •:.; s • Brentwood at Westfield, Friday, 8 p.m. Jones said. “It was a dif ferent type of circum stances (the weather, the late start time, the 10- minute quarters), but to be honest, we did a good job on defense. We got hurt on two or three big plays but that was it.” That in the books, and now at 2-1 overall, Jones and company need to turn their attention See HOSTS, page ioB Parkview of old. That’s the Panthers of today, the ones that will be mak ing a trip Parkview at Houston County, Friday, 7:30 p.m. to McConnell-Talbert Stadium Friday for a 7:30 p.m. kick-off. It’s not the same See HOUSTON, page ioB 3B