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April 25, 2018
Phone: 770-867-6397
Fax:706-621-4115
sthompson@barrownewsjoumal.com
Section B
★★★★
Baseball
WBHS wins 2nd straight region title
Bulldoggs to host Dunwoody in first round of state playoffs, starting Thursday
By Scott Thompson
Sports Editor
For the second straight season, the
Winder-Barrow High School base
ball team has won the GHSA Region
8-AAAAAA championship and this
one was extra-special for coach Brian
Smith.
The Bulldoggs rallied for a 4-3
win at Lanier on Friday in the rubber
game of a three-game series to lock
up the crown.
Winder-Barrow will host Dun-
woody. the No. 4 seed from Region
7, in the first round of the state play
offs, beginning Thursday with a dou
bleheader at 4:30 p.m. at the Charles
W. Maddox Baseball Complex. The
if-necessary third game is scheduled
for 5:30 p.m. Friday.
It's the first time the program
has won back-to-back region titles
since 1979-1980. And unlike last
year, this one didn’t come easy for
the sixth-ranked Bulldoggs (19-10,
11-4 region) who had to replace
seven starters — including two MLB
draftees, a professional signee and a
half-dozen college players off a 30-4
team from last season — and battle
through a whole host of injuries and
sickness to come out on top.
“This is just very special,” Smith
said. “Not only the fact that we
were very young and inexperienced
coming into the season, but all the
adversity. Guys having mono, the flu,
elbow injuries, nicked-up players just
being sick and not healthy. The roster
has been changing so much from day
one to the middle of the season to
now, and there have been a lot of peo
ple involved to get us to this point.”
And most of the heavy lifting has
been done by underclassmen. Only
one player in the regular starting line
up for the Bulldoggs lately — catcher
Jackson Melton — is a senior. The
rest is a mix of juniors, sophomores
and highly-touted freshman Brady
House.
“It’s a new group, but they’re really
buying into that mindset of accepting
their role and doing whatever they
have to do to help the team,” Smith
said. “We’re just still trying to learn
and get better and build off of the
good things.
“We feel like we’re getting hot
right now and have built up some
depth to help contribute.”
See WBHS on Page 4B
WALKING IT OFF
Winder-Barrow’s Trace Wells scores the final run
on a walk in a run rule-shortened 10-0 victory over
Lanier on April 18. Photo by Scott Thompson
Softball
Soccer
QUICK THROW OVER
BCA catcher Lindzie Owen tries to pick a runner
off first base Thursday during the Knights’ GICAA
quarterfinal series against Peachtree Academy.
The Knights swept the series and advanced to the
state semifinals. Photo by Kyle Funderburk
BCA flies through first-
round double-header
By Kyle Funderburk
MainStreet Newspapers
Most softball dou
ble-headers last about four
or five hours including the
break between games. Not
Bethlehem Christian ver
sus Peachtree Academy,
however. The Knights cut
that down to about two and
a half hours with a pair of
dominant victories Thurs
day evening in the quar
terfinals of the GICAA
playoffs.
The Knights (12-1)
advanced to the semi
finals and will travel to
Woodstock to take on The
King’s Academy. A dou
bleheader was scheduled
for Wednesday at 4 p.m.
with an if-necessary third
game Thursday.
If the Knights advance,
they would host the state
championship Saturday.
BCA won the first game
Thursday 18-1 in just two
and a half innings and won
game two 16-1 before the
end of the third inning.
BCA had 15 hits in both
games.
“Our girls came out and
hit today.” BCA coach
Michael Clarke said.
“We’ve been preaching
attack the ball and sit back
and wait on it. So, don’t
make errors in the field
and you can get scores like
this.”
Their offense got going
almost immediately. Jadyn
Goddard smacked an RBI
triple to right field. A
strikeout on the next at bat
put the offense in jeopardy,
but a pair of RBI singles by
Hannah Still and Kaleigh
Roseland extended the lead
to 3-0. Mycah Baker broke
the game open with a two-
run home run to bring the
score to 5-0.
Clancy Bourbeau had no
issues getting through the
second inning, and that led
to BCA putting the game
away early in the bottom
of the inning. Olivia Mor
gan started the rally with
a lead-off single. Lindzie
Owen followed with a
walk and Goddard cleared
the bases with a double
down the third base line.
She scored on Bourbeau’s
single up the middle. Still
and Roseland reached to
load the bases, and Baker
and Callie Birt walked in
two runs when they were
hit by pitches. Anna Foil
hit a single to shortstop to
drive in another run. At this
point. BCA led 11-0 with
no outs, still in the second
inning.
Morgan singled to the
shortstop. One run scored,
but Peachtree Academy got
some mercy with an out at
third base. Owen wasn’t
feeling merciful however.
She smashed a ball over
the fence in right-center
field to extend the lead to
15-0. The Knights added
three more runs on a dou
ble by Roseland and a sin
gle by Baker to stretch the
margin to 18-0. Peachtree
made a little noise in the
top of the third inning with
a pair of two-out singles
and an RBI double. But
they needed three more
runs just to prolong the
See BCA on Page 3B
Playoff heartbreaker
COMING UP WITH THE SAVE
Apalachee senior goalkeeper Emily Brooks stops a shot during a GHSA Class AAAAAA first-round
playoff match against Dunwoody on Tuesday at R. Harold Harrison Stadium. Apalachee lost 2-1 in
overtime and saw its season come to an end at 11-5-1. Photos by Kyle Funderburk
Lady Wildcats fall in
overtime in first round
By Kyle Funderkurk
MainStreet Neivspapers
The Apalachee girls soccer team’s great season
came to a crushing end Tuesday night.
The Lady Wildcats, the No. 2 seed from GHSA
Region 8-AAAAAA, hosted Dunwoody in the first
round of state playoffs, but they needed more than
home-field advantage to overcome the No. 3 seed
from Region 7. They lost 2-1 in overtime after allow
ing a goal just 50 seconds into the second overtime
period.
Apalachee (11-5-1), which entered the match
ranked No. 8 in AAAAAA, struggled with posses
sion for most of the match. Dunwoody clogged all
passing lanes and always seemed to get the favorable
bounce. Despite that, the Lady Wildcats only trailed
1-0 with five minutes left in the game. The only goal
they allowed was from a corner kick midway through
the first half.
With five minutes left in regulation, Skylar Gordon
had the ball inside the box with the keeper away from
the goal. Taylor Salvaggio ran to the top of the box
and yelled for the ball. Gordon made the pass and
Salvaggio drilled the shot into an almost empty net
for the equalizer.
That goal re-energized the Lady Wildcats, who
controlled the ball and had a few chances to score
the game-winner.
But regulation ended with the match tied 1-1
instead. The Lady Wildcats continued to maintain
possession for the first overtime period, but they still
couldn’t score. Dunwoody began the second over
time with the ball, and less than minute into the peri
od, the visiting Wildcats (9-7-2) scored on a bouncer
that Emily Brooks couldn’t stop.
It was the first time in program history the Lady
Wildcats had hosted a playoff match.
Dunwoody advances to the second round to face
Creekview next week.
IN POSITION
Above: Apalachee’s Andrella Delacruz fights for
possession against a Dunwoody player Tuesday.
Below: Keiry Bonilla dribbles the ball into the box.