Page 10 - Friday, March 24, 2023
The Jenkins County Times
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3/23/2023 8:37:51AM
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Under the Bleachers
We are two days into spring, flowers are blooming, trees
are budding, the grass is green, and we are less than two
weeks away from MLB’s Opening Day! March Madness is
nearly in the books as the tournament is down to 16 teams
remaining. The Master’s golf tournament is soon to take
place just up the road in Augusta. Before long, we will be
previewing fall sports and football season! Until then, enjoy
the springtime weather and the sneezing!
The first weekend of March Madness has ended. There
were plenty of dramatic upsets. For only the second time
in history, a number sixteen seed (Farleigh Dickinson
University) beat out a number one seed (Purdue University)
and for only the 10 th time in history, a fifteen seed
(Princeton) defeated a number two seed (Arizona). These
two dramatic games were enough to “bust” every bracket.
After the first two days of tournament action, there were no
perfect brackets remaining.
Speaking of perfect brackets, there has never been a
perfect bracket according to CBS Sports. The NCAA ran
the statistics and the chance for a perfect bracket is 1 in
9,223,372,036,854,775,808 (if you just guess or flip a coin).
1 in 120.2 billion (if you know a little something about
basketball). If you were hoping for a perfect bracket, your
chances were slim; I hope you did not bet on it too much! In
our household, we all put our bracket in, with the
winner choosing a night out at a restaurant. Among the six
of us, the word “under the bleachers” is that I am losing
terribly. There are still two weeks left of competition!
The World Baseball Classic will have its championship
game on Tuesday, March 21 st. The United States will play
Japan for the title. The United States won the quarterfinals
in a dramatic way over Venezuela and then defeated Cuba
by a lot. Then Japan provided the greatest excitement. In the
9 th inning, they hit a two-run double leading to a walk-off
win. They were losing the whole game, tied only for a brief
time. This was perseverance at its finest. They were down to
the final outs and losing and yet fought until the end for the
win. Persevering to the end is hard, being patient to finish
the work is even harder.
In many areas of life, there are two words that most of us
stmggle to hear. Those words are patience and perseverance.
Few of us can say we have mastered both with perfection.
Athletes hear these words often. Both on and off the field,
coaches yell out, “Finish strong,” or the
famous, “be patient/take your time.” One of the most famous
speeches given at an awards banquet still has a line used in
athletics given by Jim Valvano. While he was fighting the
biggest battle of his life, his battle with cancer, he said to the
crowd, “Do not give up, don’t ever give
up.”
There are times that athletes and coaches on the field would
rather go “under the bleachers” or maybe even far, far away
from the bleachers and the field if they could. Giving up or
hiding seems to be the best option. Yet, finishing is what is
required. Life is very similar. I am certain
many of us can say that at some time or another, we have
thought giving up sounded like the best option.
Hebrews 12:1-2 says, “Therefore, since we are surrounded
by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every
weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us mn with
endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the
founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was
set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is
seated at the right hand of the throne of God.” The cloud of
witnesses mentioned is those who have already finished the
race and won (died), and their testimony of a completed
race encourages us and pushes us to likewise finish the race.
We are called to run unto the end, which is hard to do. Yet,
our eyes are fixed on Jesus, who is our ultimate goal and
prize. We run without giving up in this life.
Just like athletes cannot just walk off the field of play
during the competition, as believers in Christ, we too cannot
stop running the race. Run with endurance. Or, as Paul told
Timothy, “Fight the good fight of faith.” Let us all run until
the end. You cannot go and hide “under the
bleachers,” take it from me writing to you from, “Under the
Bleachers.”
The Jenkins County War Eagles have played four games
since Wednesday, March 15. In that time, they went 2-2.
Opponents during this stretch included Swainsboro, EBA,
and regional power ECI. First, the War Eagles played Class
A, Division 1 Swainsboro on Wednesday night the 15 th .
The War Eagles had the bats going in this game and defense
and pitching were strong. The War Eagles finished with ten
hits and only allowed three hits. Gavin Underwood was on
the mound and had 9 strikeouts in 6 innings of pitching.
Scoring for the War Eagles.
Scoring came as Tyler Williams hit a single, driving in
Lanier, a sacrifice fly by Gray Amerson in the top of the 4 th
scoring Lane Waters after he hit a triple, and a ground ball
by Gauge Oglesby scoring Baker Jenkins also in the 4th. It
would take Swainsboro until the bottom of the seventh to
finally get a run on the scoreboard. The score of the first
game was 3-1 in favor of the War Eagles.
The script flipped in game two of the night on Wednesday.
This time the War Eagles struggled to get a hit, and
Swainsboro found a way to not only hit but to also score.
Swainsboro scored ten mns through 5 innings and ended
the game early. The War Eagles finished with one hit on
the game.
Friday night brought about a showdown with a team from
the GISA, Edmund Burke Academy. EBA would take the
early 2-1 lead ending the first inning. However, the War
Eagles added three in both the third and fourth innings.
However, in the fifth EBA would push across three runs
getting the game to 7-5 heading to the top of the 7 th .
Jackson Lanier was on the mound for the War Eagles and
threw a tremendous game and as he entered the 7 th was
nearly at 100 pitches for the night. Lanier struck out 9 for
the game.
In the top of the 7 th inning, EBA pushed across one run.
With two outs and a runner on second. Gauge Oglesby
came in to pitch. With a 3-2 count, Oglesby was able to get
a strikeout and hold on to the win. The War Eagles won 7-6.
Tuesday night, the War Eagles were back at home against
regional power and top-5 ranked ECI. In the first three
innings, the War Eagles and the Spartans were tied. ECI
began the game with a run in the top of the first, but Jenkins
County scored two in the second off a two-run homerun by
James Allen. In the top of the fourth, the Bulldogs started
hitting. They would score four in the fourth, one in the fifth,
and four in the seventh. The War Eagles did bring the game
to 8-6 in the fifth inning. Jackson Lanier scored on a double
by Tyler Williams. Then with Williams on second Gavin
Underwood put one over the left field wall for his third
home mn of the season.The War Eagles would not be able
to get any more mns and ECI would win 12-6.
The War Eagles will travel to ECI on Friday night for a
doubleheader. They will be back home on Thursday of next
week as they host Portal at 4:00 and at 6:00.
Jackson Lanier,
a senior for the
Jenkins County War
Eagles leaps for a
ball during the War
Eagles ’ victory over
EBA. Lanier had
an amazing outing
against the Spartans
from the mound with
9 strikeouts and
pitching 112 total
pitches for the game!
(photo by Anna Kate
Hearn)
Baker Jenkins, a senior for Jenkins County rounds first base in a
recent game for the War Eagles. Baker is playing first base and
pitching for the War Eagles this season! (photo submitted)
The Jenkins County Middle School War Eagles will have three games
this week. They have begun a very tough regional schedule. They lost to
Screven County on Monday, will face the Gamecocks again on Wednesday,
and will be on the road Thursday to Portal. In the picture Riley James is
shown catching earlier in the season, (photo by Heather James)
Asbury Nominated for the
Positive Athlete Award
Recently, Caleb Asbury, a junior at Jenkins County High
School was listed among 200+ athletes from the state of
Georgia who was nominated for the Positive Athlete Award.
Positive Athlete is a program that operates currently in
Georgia and in Western Pennsylvania. Nominees are entered
into a chance to win scholarships of various amounts that is
announced later.
The following is said
about the Positive Athlete
Program: “Positive Athlete
is a recognition program that
celebrates high character,
high school student-
athletes and coaches who
have overcome difficult
circumstances, given
back to their schools and
communities in a significant
way, or just have an
infectious positive attitude
that makes everyone around
them a better person.” The
Positive Athlete operates on
8 principles and those are
optimistic, puts team first,
encouraging, respectful,
admits imperfections,
true heart for others, and Caleb Asbury was recently
embraces service announced as a nominee for the
^ , , , • . 11 Positive Athlete Award. He was one
Congratulations to Caleb o/fflore than 200 aMetes m the
Asbury on being nominated state of Georgia nominated for this
for this award. award! (photo submitted)
Chad Waters is shown running the pitching machine on Monday night at
practice for his baseball team at the Jenkins County Recreation Depart
ment. Opening Day will be Saturday, April 1 st as the 2023 Recreation Ball
Spring season gets underway! (photo by Brad Asbury)
Coach Matt Williams kneels with two of his players on Thursday as his 6
th and 7 th grade War Eagles traveled to Screven County to face the Scre
ven County Christian Academy. The youngest of the War Eagles won both
games, (photo by Bethany Asbury)
Head Coach of the War Eagle baseball team, Zac Clark, stands ready at
3 rd base on Friday night vs EBA. Coach Clark and the War Eagles will
have their first test Tuesday night in regional play as they host ECI, they
will then travel to ECI on Friday night for a doubleheader, (photo by Anna
Kate Hearn)
Gray Amerson prepares himself to go up to bat on Friday night against
EBA Spartans, (photo by Anna Kate Hearn)
By Brad Asbury, Sports Editor
for
Iiii: Times
pastorbradasbury@gmail.com
BUSY BASEBALL WEEK
WA
P
