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April 8, 2021
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Diamond Dragons fall to Cedartown
The Diamond Dragon baseball
team entered their fourth region se
ries of the 2021 season last week
against the Cedartown Bulldogs.
The Dragons traveled west for a
road game on Tuesday, March 30th.
The first inning saw both teams fail
to plate a run, but the bats came alive
in the second inning. Pickens scored
four runs in the top of the inning, but
the Bulldogs answered back with
seven runs in the bottom half of the
inning. Cedartown would go on to
add one unanswered run in the third
and three runs in the fourth, to make
the score 11-4. The Bulldogs would
add an insurance run in the bottom of
the sixth inning. In the seventh in
ning, Pickens was able to score a run,
but they were unable to claw back
any further.
The final score for the first game
of the series was 12-5. Parker Rhodes
led the Dragons at the plate with his
2 for 3 performance on the night.
The Dragons would host Cedar
town at Dunn Field for the final two
games of the series. In game two,
Cedartown jumped on the board early
with two runs in the first inning and
one more run in the top of the second.
Flowever, the Dragons would answer
right back with three runs in the bot
tom of the third. The Bulldogs would
regain the lead with a ran in the top
half of the third. In the bottom of the
fourth inning, the Dragons would
catch fire by scoring six runs.
Anthony Antinozzi drew an RBI
walk, Hunter White singled to drive
in two runs, Jarod Whitmore was hit
by a pitch that scored a run, and
Parker Rhodes singled to drive in two
more runs. The score after the fourth
was 9-4.
In the sixth inning the Bulldogs
made a charge, scoring four runs to
bring the game within one. Pickens
scored an insurance ran in the bottom
of sixth and then shut out the Bull
dogs in the top of the seventh for a
10-8 victory. James Tilley was the
winning pitcher for the Dragons.
Hunter White and Trace Ledbetter
both had multiple hit performances in
the win.
The Dragons were looking to take
the series victory with a win in game
three last Friday, but they were un
able to outscore the Bulldogs. Cedar
town opened the game with one run
in the first inning. They then added
two runs in the third and fifth innings
to take a 5-0 lead. In the top of the
sixth inning, Cedartown plated one
run, but the Dragons stormed back
with four runs in the bottom of the
frame. The game was 6-4 headed into
the final inning. Cedartown came out
firing and scored four insurance runs
in the top of the inning.
The final in Jasper saw the Drag
ons fall 10-4. Drake Sutton and Seth
Densmore recorded the only hits in
the game for Pickens.
Pickens is entering the final two
series of the year with a fighting
chance to make the playoffs. The
team is currently 4 and 8 in region
play and sitting one spot out of the
playoffs with six games remaining.
The Dragons’ next two opponents
are a combined 3-18 in region play
this far. If the Dragons were able to
win their final six games, the heat
would be placed on the top four
teams in the region to win at least 10
total games. The final stretch should
definitely be interesting to watch un
fold for our Dragons.
son.
The week after spring
break will be an extremely
Continued on Page 5B
At right, Junior Karolina
Kearns (#10) dribbling to
wards the Gilmer goal
keeper. She scored 3 out of
the 5 goals for the Lady
Dragons. Senior Ellie
Halko and Junior Chloe
Young each also made a
goal to lead the Dragons to
a 5-2 victory over the Bob
cats.
Election law controversy
sinks sports betting
in General Assembly
By Dave Williams
Bureau Chief
Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA - Legislation
aimed at legalizing online
sports betting in Georgia is
a casualty of the controver
sial election law overhaul
majority Republicans
pushed through the General
Assembly last week.
A constitutional amend
ment asking voters whether
to bring legal sports betting
to Georgia and a separate
“enabling” bill outlining
how the industry would op
erate failed to reach the
floor of the state House of
Representatives on the final
night of this year’s legisla
tive session.
Both measures had
cleared the Georgia Senate
early last month.
Supporters blamed pas
sage of the omnibus election
reform bill for poisoning
the well for Democrats,
whose support was critical
to passing sports betting.
The Georgia chapter of
the NAACP released a
statement on Wednesday
urging lawmakers not to
vote for any legalized gam
bling legislation.
“That killed it,” state
Rep. Ron Stephens, R-Sa-
vannah, who was carrying
the sports betting legislation
in the House, said Thursday.
“After that, a lot of issues
fell by the wayside.”
Stephens and other Re
publicans worked to win
Democrats’ support for
sports betting by agreeing to
dedicate a portion of the
proceeds to need-based
scholarships, a key priority
for Democrats.
But the goodwill be
tween GOP supporters of
sports betting and Demo
cratic lawmakers faded after
Gov. Brian Kemp signed an
election reform bill Democ
rats labeled as voter sup
pression. The Georgia
NAACP is among the
groups challenging the leg
islation in a federal lawsuit.
“If they expect to earn
our support on corporate is
sues that will make rich
people wealthier, our expec
tation is that they, too, work
Continued on Page 5B
Against rival soccer teams:
Girls best Gilmer 5-2; Boys win 9-2
Pin-Wheelin’ for
Jeep Ride
May 2,
Rocco’s
Sophomore Jesse Becker (#5), on the shoulders of Sal Gonzalez, is celebratedfor scor
ing the final goal of the evening for the Dragons. Jesse’s goal brought a 10-0 win against
Sonoraville. This was Jesse’s first goal of the season and it was priceless.
50/50 RAFFLE DRAWING
RAFFLE DRAWINGS
GREAT FOOD AND
LIVE MUSIC BY ROCCO’S
Event T-Shirts S15
(available for pre-order on-line at
www.ngfpartners.org or the day of the
event while supplies last)
REGISTRATION
Pre-Register online at www.NGFPartners.org
$20 Registration fee per Jeep
(includes event decal & pinwheel)
Anyone who PRE-REGISTERS before April 23 ,d will be entered
into a drawing for either a $100 off service donated by
Precision Automotive, Jasper, Georgia or a 2021 JeepFest
Registration donated by The Sheriff's Foundation.
Registration begins at ll:30 am the day of the event.
Raffle Drawings at l:00 pm
Ride begins at l:30 pm promptly through Nimblewill
Gap in the North Georgia Mountains.
EVENT SPONSOR
F /VI C Off-Road
ff NORTH GEORGIA
FAMILY PARTNERS
Safe children. Strong families.
158 D.B. Carroll Street, Jasper, GA 30143 | 706.253.6488 | info@ngfpartners.org | www.NGFPartners.org
North Georgia Family Partners is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization. All donations are tax-deductible.
Last week proved to be a
victorious week for both the
boys and girls PHS soccer
teams. On Tuesday March
30, both teams faced off at
home against longtime rivals,
the Gilmer Bobcats.
The girls had one of their
best games of the season and
pulled off a 5-2 win. The
boys also had a strong game
against Gilmer, beating them
9-2.
On Thursday, April 1 both
teams traveled to Sonorav
ille. Both teams had huge
shut-outs with the girls win
ning 9-0 and the boys win
ning 10-0. We are super
proud of how both teams
have come together, worked
hard, and are preserving
through the end of the sea-
A little celebration after senior Haley Jarrett (#28)
scores a goalfor the Dragons. It is herfirst goal of her soc
cer career.
All proceeds to bem
'r 'x
Sports
Fanatic
By
Tommy
Gartrell
Columnist
Historic
Decision
On Friday of last week,
Major League Based
Commissioner Rob Man
fred announced that the
2021 MLB All-Star game
and draft would not be
held in Atlanta. The deci
sion came in reaction to
Georgia’s new voting
laws and growing pres
sure from various groups,
including the players as
sociation. It is a historic
move which is certain to
have lingering implica
tions on all sides.
As of press time, mul
tiple news outlets have re
ported that the game will
now be played at Coors
Field in Denver, Col
orado.
Reactions from the
move vary basically along
political lines.
“Major League Base
ball caved to the fears and
lies of liberal activists,”
Kemp said. “They ignored
the facts of our new elec
tion integrity law and they
ignored the consequences
of their decision on our
local community,” said
Georgia Governor Brian
Kemp.
“I think today’s profes
sional athletes are acting
incredibly responsibly. I
would strongly support
them doing that,” Presi
dent Joe Biden told Sage
Steele, co-host of ESPN’s
“SportsCenter.”
The longer term impli
cations of MLB’s decision
remain unclear.
Many people call for
boycotting MLB alto
gether.
The “estimated lost
economic impact” from
the relocation is more than
$ 100 million, according to
a statement from Holly
Quinlan, president and
CEO of Cobb Travel and
Tourism.
Several lawmakers an
nounced that they in
tended to go after MLB’s
antitrust exemption. MLB
got the antitrust exemp
tion after a 1922 Supreme
Court decision ruled that
the league is a sport and
not a business. The Na
tional Football League,
National Basketball Asso
ciation and the National
Hockey League don’t
have the same sweeping
exemption, though the
NFL has limited antitrust
exemption.
If baseball’s antitrust
exemption were repealed,
would baseball as we
know
it change? Probably not;
baseball would just have
to live by the same set of
rules as the NBA, NHL,
and NFL. It might make
the cost of doing business
higher and certainly, it
would benefit players
more than anyone else.
Isn’t that interesting? It
would benefit the players.
Aren’t they the ones who
protested the loudest
about the All-star game in
Atlanta?
Beyond the aforemen
tioned saber rattling, tight
lipped Georgia lawmakers
have multiple options for
Continued on Page 5B