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April 1,2021
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PLAY BALL! - Rec. season returns
Field at Roper Park dedicated to memory of Blake Millsap
By Angela Reinhardt
Staff Writer
areinhardt@pickensprogress.com
photo/Rec. Dept. Facebook
The crowd was thick and happy to be there for opening ceremonies on Saturday, March 27.
The weather wasn’t ideal
- overcast and drizzly - but
that didn’t keep hundreds of
players and even more mem
bers of their families from at
tending opening day
ceremonies for the 2021
recreation league ball season.
And in a poignant tribute that
morning, March 27, one of
the fields was named in
memory of Blake Millsap, a
young player who passed
away suddenly in 2019.
“The forecast was calling
for thunderstorms and rain,”
said Pickens Recreation De
partment Director Brian
Jones. “Then around 9:30 it
started getting misty, but the
weather held through the cer
emonies. I think everybody
was just so happy to be here
and ready to be playing youth
sports again.”
People were so ready be
cause last year there wasn’t a
recreation ball season at all.
About a week before the
2020 opening ceremonies the
pandemic hit and everything
shut down. Youth sports
weren’t able to resume until
football season in August.
The department refunded
money to all t-
bal l/bascbal l/softbal I players.
“And this year we are
using a lot of the uniforms
from last year,” Jones said.
2021 numbers are similar
to recent years, with 540
players and 50 teams, just
one or two more teams than
last year. Of those, Jones said
t-ball teams are “really push
ing the program.” There are
eight teams for co-ed 3/4 t-
ball; eight teams for 5/6 boys
t-ball; and five teams for 5/6
girls t-ball.
“We’re running three
fields for just t-ball,” Jones
said, “which is a lot.”
At this point the season is
more-or-less back to how
things used to be, with all
COVID restrictions lifted -
and the excitement is high
with organizers, players and
their families.
“We’re back up to nor
mal,” Jones said. “We are
recommending masks but
they are not required, and we
have removed temperature-
check machines from the
buildings. We’re ready to get
going and it just seems like
people are so excited to be
back.”
During opening cere
monies, Field 4 was dedi
cated to Blake Millsap who
died suddenly during the
2019 season. Blake played on
the 7/8 team. His little sister
threw out the first pitch.
“Blake loved the game
and his energy on the field
was contagious,” Jones said
in a post on the rec depart-
Continued on Page 3B
Blake Millsap passed away in 2019. He was remembered
and honored at the 2021 opening ceremonies for t-ball,
baseball, and softball.
Field 4 was dedicated to Blake. A sign, donated by Mark
Maddox of Maddox Metal Works, was placed on the fence
in his memory.
Legion supports Rec. league
PHS baseball middle of pack
in region standings
Golf teams battle big schools,
place 7th in Grizzly Open
The Dragons and Nettes
golf teams traveled to Wood-
mont golf course this past
Saturday.
The boys’ golf team
placed seventh at the Grizzly
Open. The tournament had a
field loaded with talent.
The girls’ team followed
the lead of the boys and also
placed seventh. Pickens was
the smallest school in a very
large and talented group of
competing schools.
On Monday, the Pickens
golf teams hosted the Gilmer
Bobcats. The boys won 166-
228 and the ladies fell 185-
172.
Matthew Campbell and
Eddie Lindbert were the
men’s low scorers and
Heather Vincent was the low
scorer for the ladies.
Brooke Quarles for the Pickens Golf team at the Grizzly
Open. Both the boys’ and girls’ teams placed 7th in a very
large and talented field.
Brian Jones, director of the Pickens County Recre
ation Department, accepts a check from Jim Brescia who
is representing American Legion Post 149 in Pickens
County.
The Pickens baseball program has more than 500
children of all ages participating.
Post 149 sponsors many community programs in
keeping with the four pillars upon which it is built: Sup
porting veterans; Supporting the community; instilling
patriotism and making sure that the cost of freedom is
not forgotten.
North Ga. Christian
recognizes athletes
The NGCA athletic de
partment held its annual
sports ceremony on Tuesday,
March 16th. It was a special
night to honor all of the stu
dent athletes.
The night began with hon
oring the running club and
cross country runners. The
NGCA cheerleaders were the
next group to receive an
award for their accomplish
ments. Next up, were the
middle and high school vol
leyball teams. The last teams
to be honored were the mid
dle school girls and boys bas
ketball teams followed by the
varsity girls and boys basket
ball teams.
Congratulations to all of
these student athletes and
their teams on their accom
plishments this past season.
See pictures on Page 3B
The Dragon baseball team
entered the third region series
of the year against the Her
itage Generals with a two and
four region record and sitting
in the middle of the pack in
the region standings.
Last Tuesday the Dragons
traveled to Heritage for the
first game of the series. The
Generals jumped out to an
early lead by scoring four
runs in the bottom of the first
inning and never looked
back. They added a fifth run
in the bottom of the second
inning. The Dragons would
fight back and score two runs
in the top of the fourth and
one run in the top of the sixth
inning thanks to RBI’s from
Drake Sutton, Trace Ledbet
ter, and Seth Densmore.
After giving up a run in
the bottom of the sixth in
ning, the Dragons tried to
mount a comeback by scor
ing two runs in the top of the
fifth, but the rally came up
short. Pickens fell 5-6. Dens
more and Connor Shouse
both had multiple hit games
for the Dragons.
The double-header of the
series was postponed due to
the weather until the follow
ing Monday. The Dragons
welcomed the Generals to
Dunn Field to close out the
series.
The Dragons got the scor
ing started in the bottom of
the first inning, thanks to
some timely hitting from
Seth Densmore. The Gener
als worked their way back to
tie the ball game after scoring
one run in the second and
fourth innings. The tie did not
last long as Pickens scored
one in the bottom of the
fourth. Thanks to an RBI
from James Tilley, Pickens
would add three more runs in
the bottom of the sixth inning
to finish the deal.
Connor Shouse was the
winning pitcher for the Drag
ons, allowing two runs on
two hits over four innings of
work.
In the final game of the
three region contests, the
Dragons would look to se
cure their first series win of
the year. However, it was not
meant to be for the Pickens
squad.
Heritage opened up the
scoring by plating four runs
in the top of the second in
ning. The Dragons would tie
the game at four by scoring
one run in the second and
adding three more runs in the
fifth. In the top of the seventh
inning the wheels fell off for
Pickens. The Dragons al
lowed Heritage to put up 12
runs to start the inning. Pick
ens was unable to match the
high number in the bottom
half of the inning.
The series loss makes the
next matchup against Cedar-
town key to the Dragons
playoff hopes. The Dragons
will need to win the series in
order to have a shot at mak
ing the top four in the region
at the end of the season.
Sports
Fanatic
By
Tommy
Gartrell
Columnist
Opening
Day
As I compose these
lines, all 30 MLB teams
are breaking camp in
Florida and Arizona.
Opening day of baseball
season is upon us. What a
glorious time of year for
a series of day games...
For the Braves, they
travel to Philadelphia and
open their season on
Thursday at 3:05 p.m.
against the division rival
Phillies.
Max Fried (7-0, 2.25
era in 2020) takes the hill
for Atlanta against the
formidable Aaron Nola
(5-5, 3.28 era in 2020).
After a break on Fri
day, Charlie Morton (2-2,
4.74 era with Tampa in
2020) faces Georgia na
tive Zack Wheeler (4-2,
2.92 in 2020) at 4:05 on
Saturday.
On Sunday at 1:05
PM, Ian Anderson (3-2,
1.95 era in 2020) faces
Zach Eflin (4-2, 3.97 era
in 2020).
Then, the Braves
move onto Washington,
DC for three 4:05 p.m.
games with the Nats.
Success in these
games gives Atlanta a de
cided edge in the Na
tional League East.
Philadelphia finished
four games below .500
(28-32) in third place in
the division during the
Covid shortened 2020
campaign, while the Na
tionals finished 26-34
and nine games behind
Atlanta in the final stand
ings.
Based on the Braves’
high powered offense of
last season, you would
expect this team to score
at will in 2021, but the
designated hitter rule has
changed. Pitchers must
bat again.
Also, Atlanta’s big
guns did not put up big
numbers during spring
training.
In fact, some of the
regulars failed to hit their
body weight which is
troubling to me.
Ronald Acuna Jr
(.159/.768), OzzieAlbies
(.231/.718), Freddie
Freeman (.194/.659),
Marcell Ozuna
(.25 6/. 862), Travis d’Ar-
naud (.241/.698), Austin
Riley (.237/.696), Ender
Inciarte (.188/.496), and
Christian Pache
(.162/.481) lag offen
sively during the spring.
Two bright spots were
Dansby Swanson
(.324/.918) and surpris
ingly Pablo Sandoval
(.421/.954), but we are
trained to say that spring
time stats mean very lit
tle. Still, an ice cold
offense fails to reassure
fans.
On the other hand, At
lanta is the reigning divi
sion champion and hope
springs eternal for every
baseball fan on opening
day.
Play ball!