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Forsyth County News—Sunday, August 10,2008
Local Sports
Original Mustangs
holding tryouts
The Original Mustangs 7,8,9,
and 10-year-old Forsyth County
travel baseball team will be play¬
ing in the fall/winter 2008
National Semi-pro Baseball
Association (NSBA) World Series
and is looking for some new kids
interested in taking their game to a
new level. We are a heavily spon¬
sored team, so your commitment
fees are minimal. We will be hold¬
ing tryouts for three teams on
Sundays until Sept. 7. Call coach
Dave at (770) 866-5148 for reser¬
vations and directions to the park.
Team Georgia
Academy tryouts
The Easton Team Georgia
Baseball Academy will be holding
open tryouts for their upcoming
14-18 year-old teams at Alpharetta
High School and Wills Park on the
weekends of Aug. 8-10 and Aug.
16-17. Please contact Aaron
Alvarez at (770) 664-8211 for
questions about the 14-year-old
team, Ben Sams at (404) 512-1626
or Jason Borcherding (678) 462-
8638 for questions on the 15-year
old team and Chris McRaney
(678) . 296-4737
(tgbaseball23@hotmail.com) for
any questions on the older teams.
You can find registration forms
and more information at grand
slamsportscenter.com or
www.eteamz.com/teamgeor
giabaseball2007/. We welcome all
players to attend.
12U Forsyth Fire
tryouts
The Forsyth Fire, a 12U travel
baseball team, will hold tryouts
for their upcoming spring season
on Sunday, Aug. 17, at 3:00 p.m.
on Dobbs Creek field no. 2.
Interested players should contact
Kevin Relyea at (678) 231-6865
or e-mail kdrelyea@bellsouth.net.
Lanier 400 Bulldog
Club Tailgate Party
The Lanier 400 Bulldog Club
Tailgate Party will be held
Thursday, Aug. 28 at 6 p.m. at
Danny and Wanda Reid’s Barn,
located at 6820 Majors Rd. in
Cumming.
University of Georgia base¬
ball coach David Perno and
Bulldogs’ sportscaster Jeff
Dantzler will be the featured
speakers.
Food will be provided by the
Dawsonville Pool Room.
Tickets may be purchased at
the following locations: Citizens
Bank, Cumming or Midway
branch — (770) 886-9500, Boling
Rice (770) 887-3162 or
Cummunity Business Bank (678)
679-2580.
Tickets are $25 each and
must be purchased by Friday,
Aug. 22. No tickets will be sold
at the door. Checks should be
made payable to Lanier 400
Bulldog Club, Inc.
Directions: GA 400 to (exit
13) J41, go west to Castleberry
Rd. (second traffic light). Turn
left on Castleberry Rd. After
approximately one mile, turn left
on Majors Rd. (first traffic light).
Follow the signs for parking.
Home is located at the comer of
Majors Rd. and Castleberry Rd.
The barn entrance is on Majors
Rd.
13U Dirty Dozen
tryouts
The defending 12U Lanier
League Champions will be hold¬
ing tryouts for the 2009 season
on Aug. 10, 16 and 17 at Rock
Creek Park in Dawsonville at 2
p.m. Please contact Gary Wilson
for inquires at (678) 265-0022 or
email him at gary@byrd
stephens.com.
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Top left, "Jackie Shirley discusses proper bunting grip with Lady Raider Nina Rodriguez during North Forsyth softball practice Friday,
Top right, Bud Henderson tosses pitches to Lady Raiders’ infielder Lauren Williams during hitting drills. * /« v*v. * * * * # V *
SOFTBALL PREVIEW
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Photo/Emily Saunders
Forsyth Central’s Amelia Palmer hits off a tee as teammate Taylor Ray stands nearby during the Lady Bulldogs’ practice
Friday afternoon.
Forsyth squads prep
for softball season
By BJ Corbitt
Sports Writer
The stretch, the pitch, the crack
of the bat — all typically associated
with spring and summer. Around
here, though, they can also reliably
indicate that autumn is on the way,
as high-school softball helps usher
in the fall sports season.
■
Eric Aldrich’s Lake Lanier fishing report
Water Conditions: Lake temper¬
atures are in the mid-80s. The lake is
16 feet low at 1,054.7 feet and we
need some rain. Last year, at this
same date, we were only down nine
feet so the water level is a big deal.
We will probably break the
record low levels of last year pretty
soon unless we get some heavy
rains. Lake Lanier is mostly clear,
but it will get stained during times of
heavy traffic. The Chattahoochee
River is clear. Check generation
schedules before heading out to the
river at (770) 945-1466
Bass: Bass fishing is up and
down this week but they are biting.
We went out and tested some new
it.
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Photos/Jared Pufnam
Practices have been going strong
around Forsyth County this week,
with local teams doing all they can
under a tightly-squeezed schedule to
prepare for the season, which begins
Friday,
Softball tryouts began Aug. 1,
just two weeks before the start of
the season. Those dates are mandat
ed by the state, according to South
SPRO lure recently and to
my surprise, caught many
fish on topwater lures dur¬
ing the heat of the day.
You have to be in the
right place at the right time
to encounter surface feed¬
ing fish in the summer. Get
way off the banks and find
main lake humps and stand¬
ing timber with both shallow and
deep water close by. The spotted
bass are feeding on blueback her¬
ring, so they will be aggressive when
they hit.
The Larger SPRO Dawg 125 was
the bait of choice. Because of the
larger profile, this lure will draw
t i
Forsyth coach Ronnie Davis, the
brief window making the time
teams spend in pre-season practice
even more critical.
Davis said he’ll be using early
games to just figure out who doesn’t
belong on his team before getting
down to the nitty-gritty of zeroing in
on his best players across the board.
Veteran leadership will be the
key for the Lady War Eagles, he
said.
Our season is going to go as
our seniors go and as they lead us,”
said Davis.
Senior Lakan Smith and sopho¬
more Alexa Ditmar look like the
War Eagles’ top two options on the
Aldrich
main lake brush piles at 25-35 feet
deep. Of course, the spot tail min¬
now bite has been great all day long.
Chum out some grits and use a
small mesh cast net around any
beach area to fill your bait well with
these native minnows. If you don’t
have a cast net you can purchase
mound, while senior Devon Freas
and junior Leanne Brooks will trade
off behind the plate, with both also
likely to see time in the infield.
Seniors Amelia Schmid and
Andrea Cocco can both move
around the infield, Davis said, with
junior Courtney Clark likely to see
time in center.
Davis lists several players as up
and coming, including junior sisters
Kathleen and Erin Rooney, who can
both play infield and outfield, junior
outfielder Jessica Mash, sophomore
outfielder Madison Higginbotham
and junior infielder Jenna Quinn.
See FEVER, Page 2C
bass up from the depths.
Other lures like a Fish
Head Spin or Rooster Tail
will work on the schooling
bass.
A more consistent pat¬
tern has been to work a
drop shot rig or a finesse
worm on a Tru Tungsten
Ikie Spike Jig Head around
B
medium minnows from Hammond’s
Bait and Tackle. Fish these minnows
at 20-30 feet around main lake brush
and timber. Use a Gamakatsu Circle
Hook so that you can release these
bass unharmed.
Stripers: Striper fishing is great.
The stripers are deep and are being
caught on down-lined large blueback
herring. Make sure to change your
baits often to make sure that they are
lively. This is the time of year that
you have to rely on your electronics.
I set my Humminbird 787c unit on
90 percent sensitivity and look
around the deeper flats that are' near
See ALDRICH, Page 2C