Newspaper Page Text
FORSYTH COUNTY NEWS — Wednesday, August 13,200S
PAGE 2B
NET from IB
quately.
The West varsity is made up of
Emily Baum, Rebecca Bishop,
Heidi Bonilla, Daniela Cavallo,
Katie Conway, Erinn Fasy, Jessica
Feltracco, Jessica Lewis, Megan
Pepe, Rebekah Ropp ,Kristine
Thompson and Kelsey Turchi.
“Obviously we’d like to do bet¬
ter [than last year]... but I just look
for every girl to improve. That’s
our biggest thing. Play as a team
and get better at individual skills
and at .team building and things
like that,” Phillips said.
West will be in the Sequoyah
tournament on Saturday to start the
year.
Chuck Adams enters his second
year as head coach at Forsyth
Central looking to transition the
team into a new home in Class
AAAA.
“Last year the program started
with a new coach and it only had a
couple of remaining players from
2006. Our season was a building
year and this year- we have taken
steps to accomplish [more of]
that,” Adams said.
Among the new wrinkles for
the Lady Bulldogs this year is the
addition of Carla Harmon to the
junior varsity staff, who has expe¬
rience playing and coaching vol¬
leyball at the college and club
levels.
Players enter the season with
some extra experience, Adams
said, with several Lady Dawgs
having played for a local club pro¬
gram and JV team members taking
advanced club training.
Adams said he believes all 10
varsity players Whitney
Mansfeldt, Holly Hildebrandt,
Rachel Davis, Lindsay Kelly, Kelly
Stanfield, Tanya Rusev, Haley
Plouffe, Abbey Patinella, Hailey
Campbell and Paige Campbell —
have the potential to be starters on
the team.
Central breaks from the gate
Tuesday with a trip to North
Forsyth to meet the host Raiders
and Berkmar.
North coach Chuck Crawford
enters his third season leading the
Lady Raiders with the program on
a clear upward slope. Last season
brought a 26-20 record. North’s
first winning season in six years.
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Photo/Jared Putnam
Lady War Eagle Kinsey Trzcinski hammers the ball across the
net during practice Monday.
This year, Crawford expects the
team to be led by senior Casey
Praznik, as well as juniors Callan
Bennett, Lindsey Bryant and Kady
Curl, on offense, with junior
Courtney Mills and senior Kayla
Wood expected to lead the way on
defense.
Senior Anna Mertz, junior
Melissa McMullen and sopho¬
mores Jenna Hoffman and Brittany
Verke are also on-board for the
Raider varsity.
North starts the season
Saturday at the Sequoyah tourna¬
ment.
E-mail BJ Corbitt at bjcor
bitt@forsythnews.com.
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Publishing: August 24, 2008
Deadline August IS, 2008
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ASHWAY from IB
so enthused that he never touched
second base, choosing instead to
make a mad dash for the clubhouse
in dead center field. Chance obtained
the ball, and stepped on second to
force Merkle. Peerless Leader,
indeed.
With half the crowd storming the
field, umpire O’Day had no choice but
to declare the game a 1-1 tie.
The New York Times led off its
game story with this: “Censurable
stupidity on the part of player
Merkle in yesterday’s game at the
Polo Grounds placed the New York
team’s chances of winning the pen¬
nant in jeopardy.”
For the next 100 years, the play has
been known as “Merkle’s Boner.” Two
weeks later, on the season’s final day,
Cubs ace Mordecai “Three Finger”
Brown outdueled the Giants’ Christy
Mathewson, 4-2, to clinch the pen¬
nant.
The Cubs then beat the Tigers in
five games to win the Series. The
same Tigers they had swept to win the
‘07 Series.
And that’s it.
Did “Merkle’s Boner” use up a
century’s worth of Cubs luck? You be
the judge.
The Cubs have reached the World
Series seven times since then: ‘10, ‘18,
‘29, ‘32, ‘35, ‘38 and ‘45. They’ve lost
every time. Most weren’t even close.
They were swept twice, lost in five
games twice and in six twice. They’re
equal opportunity losers.
Only in 1945 did they force a sev¬
enth game. Up to the task, Hank
Bowery didn’t retire a batter, the
Tigers scored five runs in the first
inning and Hal Newhouser cruised to
a 9-3 complete game clincher.
At least in those years, the Cubs
reached the Series. Even that hasn’t
happened in 63 years. They have rung
up a few memorable losses, though.
Most notable was 2003. Everyone
remembers Steve Bartman’s “interfer¬
ence” with Moises Alou in game six.
However, recall that the Cubs had a
3-1 series lead over the Marlins, but
managed to blow three straight oppor¬
tunities to finally go to the World
Series.
In 1989, the Cubs again reached
the NLCS, splitting the first two
games at Wrigley Field. Then they
ventured out to Candlestick Park and
dropped three straight to the Giants:
two by one run, one by two.
The 1984 NLCS proved more ago¬
nizing. The Cubs swept the first two
games at Wrigley. They only needed
to beat the Padres once at Jack
Murphy Stadium to advance to the
World Series. After losing twice, they
led in Game 5 in the seventh inning.
That’s when Leon Durham let Tim
Flannery’s grounder zip through
legs, scoring the tying run and open¬
ing the floodgates.
But 1969 still lingers as the
that really torments Cub fans. On
August 13, the Cubs led the Mets by
nine games. On Sept. 9, Tom
and the Mets beat the Cubs 7-1,
lead was down to a game, and
black cat coyly ventured onto
field, lurking in front of the
dugout.
The Mets would finish
games ahead of a Cubs team that
been in first place from opening day
until September 10. They had a hall
of fame manager in Leo Durocher,
and three hall of famers on the
in Ernie Banks, Billy Williams,
Fergie Jenkins. Even that
enough.
So you have to wonder, is it
happen? The Cubs are clearly the
of the National League. They lead
league in batting average, runs,
bles, RBls, total bases, walks, on
percentage and slugging percentage.
Not bad.
The pitching isn’t too
either. They’re second in the
with a team earned run average
3.81 to the Dodgers 3.65. And I
you, where would you rather
Dodger Stadium or Wrigley
They’re first in strikeouts, third
saves, and, of course, have the
record.
They back up their pitchers
too, with a .984 fielding
not far behind St. Louis’
ing .988 mark.
When they swept the Braves
Chicago in June, they had a
game lead and the league’s
record. As of Sunday, they have a
game lead and the league’s
record. Solid, right?
“It’s Gonna Happen” for sure.
just can’t be definite on what the “it”
When not practicing his
tion, Denton Ashway practices
vocation with the law firm
Ashway and Haldi in Gumming.