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Stellar soccer season ends; Golf report 12B
PHS hosts baseball playoffs for first time
The Diamond Dragons
made history last week when
they secured the #2 seed in
region and earned the right to
host the 1st round of the state
playoffs for the first time in
program history. The Drag
ons entered the week in a
four-way tie for second with
Heritage, NW Whitfield, and
Central Carrollton.
Fortunately, the Dragons
held the tie breakwater
against all of those teams. A
single win in their last series
vs Ridgeland would secure a
playoff berth at worst. Pick
ens left no doubt with a three-
game sweep of Ridgeland,
vaulting them ahead of the
pack and firmly into the #2
seed.
In game 1 vs. Ridgeland,
the Dragons managed a 13-6
win on the road. Trey Payne
earned the win on the mound
with JP Nunn cleaning up the
last two innings with score
less pitching. Ridgeland
came to Jasper for a double
header to close out the series
and the regular season for
both teams. The home crowd
enjoyed plenty of warmth
and sunshine along with two
convincing wins as the Drag
ons won game two 8-2 and
game three 14-4.
On Wednesday, April
27th, the Dragons will host
Luella from region 5-AAAA
in a double header in the first
round of the state playoffs.
Game one will start at 5 p.m.
at Dunn Field.
Below the team cele
brates the announcement
they are the #2 seed and will
host the playoff game.
photo by Robin Dunn.
Colby Brooks lays down a great bunt for the Diamond Dragons versus Ridgeland.
Tennis team makes history
heading to the Sweet 16
The history making girls’ team - Coach Christian Stewart, Ansley Berryman, Amanda
Nelson, Makayla Kirchoff, Isabella Lowe, Coach Wendy Lowe; front row, Sofie Perez,
Logan Berryman, Jaiden Stanfield, Courtney Crowe, Coach Whitney Carnes.
By Steve Lowe
On Wednesday, April 20th
our PHS girls’ tennis team
traveled to the Clayton
County Tennis Center in
Jonesboro to take on the
Fayette County tennis team
in the first round of the state
4A playoffs. This would
prove to be a historic day for
our girls tennis program.
All five matches began at
around 11 a.m. in ideal tennis
weather. Isabella Lowe with
some stellar play brought
home the first victory for the
Dragonettes with a 6-0, 6-0
victory at line 1 singles.
McKayla Kirchoff, with her
athleticism around the court
and aggressive net play, soon
followed with a second vic
tory for the Nettes at line 3
singles in straight sets. Mean
while, Amanda Nelson was
locked into an epic battle at
line 2 singles with a very tal
ented opponent, she eventu
ally fell 6-4, 6-4 in a very
close match.
Pickens was leading the
match 2-1 after the comple
tion of singles. A team must
win 3 lines for the team vic-
Continued on Page 12B
PHS Girls’ track team
impresses, finishing
2nd at region
Boys ’distance runners all
advance to sectionals
The girls ’ 4X200m relay team. Team members are: An
gelina Casey, Haley Peed, Korbyn Wells, Eleina Bryant.
A total of 19 PHS Track
athletes have qualified to
compete in the Sectional
meet at Central Carroll High
School in Carrollton on Sat
urday, May 7th, because of
their outstanding perform
ances at the Region 7-AAAA
Championships on April 19th
& 20th.
The top four finishers in
each region event automati
cally qualify to advance to
the sectional meet, and Pick
ens will be well-represented
in a variety of events.
The PHS girls had several
outstanding performances
and came away with a solid
second place finish behind a
very strong Central Carroll
team. Sophomore Bekah
Wise continued the trend she
started as a freshman and
swept the distance events.
For the second year in a row,
Bekah was the region cham
pion in the 800m, 1600m,
and 3200m races and will be
among the favorites at the
sectional meet to advance to
State. Freshman Brylee Deer-
ing, in her first-ever year run
ning track, didn’t show any
nerves and ran more like an
experienced upperclassmen.
Deering’s competitiveness,
toughness, and determination
resulted in her qualifying for
sectionals in each of her four
events (400m, 800m 1600m,
and 4 x 800m relay).
Another outstanding Pick
ens freshman, thrower Jadan
Dean, also showed she can
rise to the occasion when the
pressure is on. Dean threw a
personal best distance in the
shot put and placed fourth to
advance to the sectional meet
among a very competitive
group of region throwers.
Senior Angelina Casey
continued to show why she is
one of the best high jumpers
in the state with her first
place region finish. Casey
was the only competitor to
clear a height of 5’ 2” (a per
sonal best), and she also fin
ished third overall in the
100m, running a personal
Continued on Page 12B
Racing Across America
Race Recap: GEICO 500
By Alex Korowotny
Racing Sports
Correspondent
It was a beautiful 83 de
gree day at Talladega in
sweet home Alabama baby.
On Sunday, the cup series
was at the Talladega Super
speedway in Alabama, and
even better, my dad and I
were there in person. Tal
ladega is always a fun track
to go to with all of its tight
pack racing, big wrecks, and
close finishes, and Sunday
was another really good Tal
ladega race, so let’s go over
what happened in the 2022
GEICO 500.
The race started at 3:22
p.m. with Christopher Bell
on pole. He would lead the
first several laps before
Suarez would get by him and
he would lead up to the first
set of green flag pit stops.
The field pitted in differ
ent times with each time a
different section of the field
coming in to pit, which
mostly consisted of the same
manufactures. Larson would
take the lead after the pit
stops cycled through. Wal
lace would get next to him on
the outside lane and they bat
tled for the lead for several
laps until the first caution
came out 4 laps to the end of
stage one for an incident
Continued on Page 12B
Both the PHS girls and boys 4X800m relay teams set school records with their region
performances. Front row: Brylee Deering, Mia Antinozzi, Emery Steinhauer, and Bekah
Wise. Back row: Noah Jones, Will Hall, Jonathan Koonce, Connor Hedgpeth.
Sports
Fanatic
By
Tommy
Gartrell
Columnist
What’s
Wrong?
Atlanta began this
week at 7-10 and tied for
third place in the National
League East and five and
a half games behind the
division leading Mets (13-
5) who sport the best
record in Major League
Baseball.
What is wrong with the
Braves?
Many analysts call it a
“championship hang
over”.
Sorry to tell you folks,
but the empty champagne
bottles from the World Se
ries victory celebration
were recycled and refilled
with a different brand of
bubbly months ago. The
problem with this baseball
team reach far deeper than
some mythical hangover
excuse.
If you subscribe the
theory (I personally do
not) that the heart and soul
of this franchise is playing
first base in LA now, then
all is lost and cannot be
fixed.
Other voices claim thar
this group shall shed the
rust and be fine by sum
mertime.
Certainly, the owners’
lockout and abbreviated
spring training impacted
players but all of the other
teams suffered the same
setbacks as well.
Braves pitching has
been inconsistent at best.
There’s been some defen
sive lapses also. In fact,
the most constant part of
this squad is the offense.
Well... To be exact the
bottom of the batting
order continues as consis
tently putrid.
On Sunday, the lineup
included four starters with
a batting average signifi
cantly below .200 (Adam
Duvall .186, Dansby
Swanson .172, Manny
Pina ,143, and Guillermo
Heredia .158) and their re
placements were worse
(Eddie Rosario .068 and
Alex Dickerson .080)
In fairness, Pina is a 34
year old backup catcher
who’s lifetime average is
.240, therefore while we
should expect slightly
more offense than we’ve
gotten thus far, he is never
going to be Brian Mc
Cann. Dickerson is
merely warm body. Ex
pect him to be released
next week when Ronald
Acuna returns.
Many people expect
Acuna’s return to spark
this team and turn its for
tunes in a better direction.
Really?
Is he going to bat for
all three outfield positions
too?
As for Rosario, his
slump should pass soon
enough.
Duvall and Swanson’s
struggles could be attrib
uted to them pressing to
fill the perceived void left
by Freddie Freeman’s de
parture or the fact that
both guys face a contract
year. Both of them be
came unrestricted free
agents at the end of this
season and any new con
tract hinges on their per
formances between now
and October.
Moreover, they are
prototypical victims of
modern baseball.
See Gartrell on Page 3B