Newspaper Page Text
♦ SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 2007
2B
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ENI/Gary Harmon
Warner Robins senior Kristin Graham signs a softball scholarship with Virginia Tech as
her mother Toni looks on. Also looking on is Coach Daryl Fox, Demonette Head Coach
Brenda Arnett, her father Monty Graham and Coach Mark Gisseman.
GRAHAM
From page iB
Texas, all the states around
Georgia. I learned to play in
front of college coaches, to
play under pressure. There
was never a point this year
when I felt really nervous
out there. I just went out
there and played my game.
Playing all these years
taught me how to deal with
different situations.”
Graham’s high school
coach noted that she knew
she had a special talent from
Day 1 and also knew the part
of her game that needed the
most help.
“I never really thought of
her as a 9th grader,” said
Demonette coach Brenda
Arnett while addressing
Graham’s family, class
mates and other supporters
Wednesday at the school. “It
was hard for me to remem
ber that she was just a kid
... not as mentally as tough
as I wanted her to be. In
the last three to four years
we worked on mental tough
ness.”
Arnett said she and her
fellow coaches like the way
Graham turned out, well
enough to lead the pro
gram to its first two fast
pitch appearances (2006 and
2007) in the GHSA Elite 8
postseason tournament.
Graham’s growth in “men
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ENI/Gary Harmon
Warner Robins senior Tiandra Billings signs a basketball scholarship with Georgia
Southwestern Wednesday as her mother Tina looks on. Also looking on is Demonette
Head Coach Tom Mobley, Coach Tracy Fendley, Akira and Durand Cainion.
BILLINGS
From page iB
Cherie White. Still, she
didn’t relish the idea of leav
ing behind friends already
made at Perry High.
“That was real tough,”
said Billings. “When I first
found out that I was com
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tal toughness” led her to
realize several things: that
players will make errors and
pitchers will hang pitches
and give up home runs.
“The team’s there to back
you up,” she said. “You can
never get mad at your team
mates. They also pick you
up.”
In her assortment of pitch
es, Graham uses the drop
ball to get grounders along
with a rise ball, a change-up,
a curve ball, a screwball and
the fastball. She said this
past summer her heater was
clocked at 69 mph.
What else is there to learn?
She said at Virginia Tech she
expects to find a whole new
cast of situations she’s never
dealt with before.
“You can’t just go up there
and pitch every pitch,” said
Graham. “You really have
to think about what needs
to be thrown and make sure
you have the right spin every
time. College coaches aren’t
going to break down the
pitch for you. You already
have to know what you’re
doing.”
To keep her pitching
mechanics sharp between
now and the 2009 spring sea
son, which will be her fresh
man year at VT, Graham is
getting coaching from Stacy
Dixon of Pitcher’s Mound
based in Atlanta.
In high school games,
Graham also displayed some
ing to Warner Robins I was
devastated. I didn’t want to
leave all my friends whom
I grew up with. But now I
really love it here.
“I looked up to Cherie a
lot. I’ve known her since I
was real little.”
Now, Billings will not only
hone her game for Georgia
Southwestern, but also
fine hitting skills. She said
she will get to bat at Virginia
Tech and that the coaches
there will eventually train
her for a regular position to
stay in the lineup for games
she does not pitch.
Graham may have given
up basketball after her 9th
grade year, but last spring, as
a junior, she took up another
sport: soccer. She was goal
keeper on Warner Robins
High’s first region champi
onship team. Graham said
she played soccer in middle
school as a way to stay in
shape during off time from
softball.
It was Phil Daly who talk
ed Graham into joining the
Demonette soccer team. She
said she enjoys the chance to
play with her softball team
mates again.
“It’ll be the last time I get
to be with all of them,” said
Graham about the upcoming
spring season.
As for the future, Graham
has one plan set that will
bring her back home to
Warner Robins. She wants to
major in business at Virginia
Tech, and then return to
open a softball pitching
school. And then there are
those other aforementioned
goals.
“I want to be an All-
American,” said Graham. “I
want to make All-ACC. And
I would really like to go to
the World Series.”
take over White’s role as
a senior veteran leader for
a Demonette team looking
to get back into the Class
AAAAA state tournament.
“We have good ball play
ers this year as long as we
stay together as a team,” she
said. “I’m a senior so I need
to make sure I be a leader, be
vocal, lead by example.”
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SPORTS
Bears begin focusing on *OB
By MATTHEW BROWN
Journal Sports Writer
Houston County High football for 2007
is over at 1-9. It didn’t end, though, before
the Bears had one last long-shot chance to
knock off a playoff bound team in Region
1-AAAAA on that team’s home turf.
It was Nov. 9 at Coffee County High in
Douglas when the Trojans kicked a field
goal with between two and three seconds
left in regulation. That broke a 21-21 tie.
Bears head coach George Collins told the
team the only way to win would be to break
a run on the ensuing kickoff.
“With two seconds left there’s not a
whole lot you can do,” he said. “We started
lateraling the ball and it got knocked in the
.
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ENI/Gary Harmon
Houston County senior Tonia Williams signs a basketball scholarship with the
University of South Carolina Thursday as her father Vem Williams and her mother
Janice look on. Also looking on are Coach Maria Huelsman and Lady Bears Head
Coach Sid Baxley.
WILLIAMS
From page iB
school’s official website
that she signed three other
players from Georgia in the
fall early period and should
have one of the top recruit
ing classes in the nation.
“When she first stepped
on the court I said she’s the
best player we’ve ever had
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end zone. Coffee recovered, and thus the
30-21 (final) score.
“I think it’s a reflection of the coaching
staff the job they’ve done and also the job
of leadership and the attitude and charac
ter of the football team. We were 1-8 and
down 14 points at halftime and fought our
way back in it. We had a chance to go over
time where a lot of things can happen.
“Obviously, to finish 1-9 is not by any
stretch of the imagination any goal we had.
We had close ball games and got better
every week. I’m excited about the pros
pects for next year and the players we have
coming back.”
Houston County certainly got better
See BEARS, page jB
here,” said Houston County
High girls coach Sid Baxley,
who has had players sign
Division I from the Bears
program. “She’s proved
that many times, over and
over. Hopefully this year’s
going to be her best evpr,
and then she can go on to
college and have a great col
lege career.”
The coach added this was
the kind of moment that
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P.O. BOX 1910,
Perrv GA31069
HOUSTON HOME JOURNAL
could inspire other mem
bers of the team.
“We have two other
seniors, and if they do well
maybe they’ll get an opportu
nity to play someplace,” said
Baxley. “We have juniors,
sophomores and freshmen
who were in here watching
(Williams) sign and hopeful
ly getting those aspirations
that, ‘We want to do that in
the future, too.’”
Kids, send in
your Letter to
, Santa and we will
publish as many
t as possible on
i Saturday,
| December 15th
in the paper.