SPORTS
DawsonNewscom
Wednesday, March 16, 2022
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Tigers secure series win over W. Hall
14-2 victory sets strong opening to region play
By Rio White
riowhite@dawsonnews.com
A solid pitching performance
by Davis Glass and an opportu
nistic offense led the Dawson
County High School baseball
team to a 14-2 rout of West Hall
in five innings on Wednesday,
March 9.
In the opening three-game
series of region play, the Tigers
won on the road earlier in the
week with a 9-1 victory over the
Spartans before hosting the sec
ond game on Wednesday. The
Tigers then went on to win the
final game of the series 7-2 at
West Hall on Friday, March 11.
The Tigers were able to score
14 runs on just seven hits, due to
a combination of walks and
errors committed by West Hall.
“Good teams will take advan
tage of what teams are giving
you,” head coach Dwayne Sapp
said. “If they make mistakes you
gotta capitalize and score on
them.. .and we did tonight.”
Dawson County established
momentum from the first inning
by showing patience at the plate,
forcing a pair of walks. With the
bases loaded, Brandon Cramer
hit a fly ball into right-center
field that was dropped, allowing
two runners to score.
That first inning would be
indicative of the rest of the
game, as the three West Hall
pitchers combined for 10 walks
and the defense had three errors.
On the mound, Glass would
find success in his first three
innings before running out of
momentum in the fourth. He
struck out seven batters and
gave up two runs on two hits.
“I felt really good with the
curveball...[West Hall] weren’t
really touching it,” Glass said.
“It was moving really good
tonight and it’s been main pitch
throughout the season.”
The second inning would see
See Baseball |2B
Davis
Glass
winds up
to pitch
during
the game
against
West
Hall. He
threw
seven
strike
outs in
just three
innings.
Rio White
Dawson
County News
Get to know senior tennis players
Photos by Rio White Dawson County News
Blake Smith prepares to hit a forehand shot against her White County opponent. Smith enjoys the indi
viduality of singles tennis and how it allows her to hone in on her skills.
Strong showings by Smith, Swafford contribute to team success
By Rio White
riowhite@dawsonnews.com
This season, the Dawson
County High School ten
nis teams have found suc
cess in both singles and
doubles competition.
Several seniors have been
part of that success,
including Blake Smith on
the girls team and Ben
Swafford on the boys
team.
Smith began her tennis
career in eighth grade,
briefly trying out soccer
her freshman year before
returning to tennis as a
sophomore.
She was drawn back to
tennis in part due to the
sense of personal account
ability that comes with an
individual sport. Her skills
on the court have been
See Seniors 13B
Ben Swafford awaits the serve of the White County doubles team. Swafford
has been able to steadily improve his tennis skills through his longtime
friendship with doubles partner Connor Scroggins.
Pit stop mishap
dooms Elliott
at Phoenix
By Rio White
riowhite@dawsonnews.com
For much of the last 200 laps of the Ruoff Mortgage
500 at Phoenix Raceway, Chase Elliott found himself
running in second place behind either Ryan Blaney or
eventual event winner Chase Briscoe, even occasional
ly leading the race.
With just over 20 laps to go, a late caution gave all
the drivers a late chance to fuel up and make adjust
ments.
While most of the drivers came out of pit road
smoothly, Elliott’s crew faced issues that caused him
to lose four spots and come back onto the track in
sixth position.
From there, Elliott could not improve on that posi
tion and had his chances at victory end for good with
around 10 laps left, as his own car faced mechanical
issues that caused him to briefly spin out and cause
another caution flag.
While Elliott initially dropped down to 18th after
that incident, he would gradually work his way back to
finish 11th at Phoenix. He led a total of 50 laps.
Elliott will look to bounce back at the Folds of
Honor QuikTrip 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway next
Sunday, March 20.
Hartley earns
All-State spot,
looks forward to
career in music
By Rio White
riowhite@dawsonnews.com
Dawson County High School senior trumpeter
Palmer Hartley is no stranger to the big stage of
high school ensemble performances, having been a
member of the Georgia Music Educators
Association All-State band on multiple occasions.
This time around, Hartley placed the cherry on
top of his illustrious career by earning one last All-
State spot — having also earned first chair at the
All-District event earlier this year.
Over three grueling days in Athens from
Thursday, March 3 to Saturday, March 5, Hartley
See Hartley 13B
Senior night sweep forTigers tennis
By Rio White
riowhite@dawsonnews.com
A total of nine seniors
on the Dawson County
High School boys and girls
tennis teams received rec
ognition on their Senior
Night matches against
White County on
Thursday, March 10.
Both teams won all of
their singles and doubles
matches against the
Warriors.
On the boys team, the
seniors were Zach Friday,
Lane Perry, Connor
Scroggins, Ben Swafford
and Tristan Talley. The
seniors on the girls team
were Kelci Folsom, Sadie
Pruitt, Blake Smith and
Mackenzie Stover.
“I feel really good about
how far everybody has
come since they started,”
boys head coach Logan
Allen said. “Overall, the
senior class has really
improved. They’ve all
taken ownership of what
they need to improve on...
and it has been really fun
watching them grow.”
The first three matches
on the boys side finished
with straight set victories
without a game being
dropped. Friday and soph
omore Chase Cofield won
their singles matches and
the doubles team of
Scroggins and Swafford
kept in sync to complete
one of the quickest match
es of the evening.
On the girls side, sopho
more Marlee Gaddis also
dispatched her opponent
with a 6-0, 6-0 victory
while the doubles team of
Stover and junior Avery
Beaty won 6-1, 6-0.
At the same time, junior
Kayleigh Moon faced what
would become the longest
match of the night with a
6-3, 6-2 win over her
opponent.
She began the match
without her usual consis
tency, particularly on
serves. As the match pro
gressed, her returns of
serve and shot placement
helped her gain momen
tum and win in straight
sets.
“The seniors are grow
ing to be very strong,” girls
coach Laura Ledbetter
said. “They are progressing
to be more consistent and
confident.”
In the later matches,
Perry rounded out the boys
singles competition with a
6-0, 6-0 win while the dou
bles group of sophomore
Grant Ledbetter and fresh
man Bailey Swafford won
6-2, 6-1.
Smith would finish off
the girls singles competi
tion with a 6-4, 6-0 victory
while Folsom and Pruitt
See Tennis 13B
Dawsonville’s Premier Collision Center
Player Of
The Week!
Colton Rucker
The player of the week is
Colton Rucker, who scored
four runs in last Wednesdays
game against West Hall.
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Collision
Center
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706-216-0992
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