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Nettes open season
showing at Rumble
The PHS Varsity Nettes
are back in action. The sea
son opener against Cass High
School was cancelled on Au
gust 5 due to the weather. It
has been rescheduled as a
double header at Dunn Field
on September 1. Last week,
they traveled to 7A Peachtree
Ridge High School to play in
the Rumble at the Ridge
Tournament.
The Nettes played tough
competition in Peachtree
Ridge High School (7A) and
Chattahoochee High School
(5A). In Game 1 on Thurs
day, the Nettes played PRHS.
Emma Black was in the cir
cle for the Nettes. Hannah
Grizzle went 2-for 3 at the
plate to lead the Nettes in
hits. In Game 2 on Thursday,
Cheyenne Coleman was the
starting pitcher for PHS.
Hannah Grizzle, Skylar
Weaver, Hannah Parks, and
Emma Black each collected
a hit.
On Friday, the Nettes
traveled back to PRHS for
Day 2 of Rumble at the
Ridge. PHS Nettes defeated
the Lions 6-5 with a walk-off
single. Lexi Grizzle was the
starting pitcher. Emma Black
entered the game to pitch in
the 4th inning. She surren
dered one run on three hits
over four innings. She struck
out one Lion and walked one
Lion. Emma Black, Ally
Long, and Cady Erickson led
the offense with two hits.
The Nettes did not com
mit a single error in the field.
The Nettes won 6-5. In
Game 2 on Friday, the Nettes
had a rematch with Chatta
hoochee High School. The
Nettes fell just short on the
final play in extra innings.
The Nettes and Cougars
went 9 innings. Emma Black
started the game. She al
lowed 6 hits and 4 runs over
five innings. Cheyenne Cole
man entered the game in the
6th inning. Coleman allowed
5 hits and 3 runs while strik
ing out one Cougar. She had
zero walks. Black led PHS
with two hits in three at bats.
The Nettes start region
play next week. They play
White County on Tuesday at
Dunn Field at 6:30 and West
Hall on Thursday at Dunn
Field at 6.
PHS Volleyball reaches tournament semifinals,
falls to Sonoraville as season gets underway
On Thursday, August 11, JV and varsity
volleyball traveled to Johnson High School.
Both teams came home with two wins over
Johnson and Franklin County. Lilly Wendt
led the varsity with five aces between the two
matches and Amber Bragg led the attacks
with five kills.
On Saturday the C-team traveled to
Gainesville for a 9th-grade tournament. They
defeated three of the four teams they played.
Coach Callahan is proud of how hard they
played and is excited for the rest of the sea
son.
The varsity attended a tournament in
Adairsville on Saturday. The girls played
hard and made it to the semi-finals, but fell
short to Sonoraville in a tough, well-fought
match.
Dragons make final preparations with scrimmage
QB Sam Stretcher throws to Miguel Salto.
Mason Powell fights for yardage.
photos/Robin Dunn
The Dragons completed their pre-sea
son Friday at home with a scrimmage
with Rockmart. PHS opens the season
this Friday, August 19 in Sonoraville.
The Dragons defensive line - L-R Kaleb Nicholson, John Thompson, Hayden Roland.
Fowler wins first Virgil Chastain Memorial
Bubba Fowler of Ball
Ground won the Arrowhead
Golf Club invitational tour
nament last weekend, edging
out Dalton Bruce in a three-
hole playoff. The playoff fol
lowed two days of golf
where both Fowler and
Bruce had finished with
identical 147 scores.
Forty-eight golfers com
peted in the two day tourna
ment at the local golf club,
which was renamed this year
in honor of Virgil Chastain,
who passed away in the past
year.
Club President Marty
Callahan said Chastain was a
long-time member who was
well-liked and had won tour
naments so the club mem
bers felt it was fitting to
name their yearly invita
tional in his honor.
At right, Virgil’s son Matt
Chastain, right, congratu
lates Fowler on his first
place finish.
with strong
at the Ridge
Above, shortstop Hannah Grizzle playing tough de
fense. She went 2-for 3 at the plate to lead the Nettes in
hits in game 1 of the Rumble at the Ridge.
Softball season outlook with
Head Coach Sarah Pinson
How do you think the move
to Region 7-AAA will im
pact the potential success of
your team?
“I think the move to Re
gion 7-AAA will be benefi
cial to the softball program.
We are making the move
from one tough region to an
other tough region, but the
average travel distance and
time has dramatically de
creased.”
Which teams in Region 7-
AAA are on your radar as
solid programs to compete
against in region? What is
it about them that gets your
attention?
“Our new region is very
competitive in softball. Our
next game will always be our
most important game.
Wesleyan won a state
championship last year and
has a majority of their team
returning. Dawson made a
trip to the Elite Eight last
year as well. White County
has a solid program. Gilmer,
our school rival, has returned
to our region. Lumpkin, and
West Hall are well-coached
teams.”
Who are your returning
seniors? What are you
counting on them to pro
vide for your program?
“Emma Black, Hope
Buchanan, and Hannah Griz
zle are our returning players
that will be seniors this sea
son. Cadence Doshier-Erick-
son has joined our program
this season as a senior. All
four of these ladies stepped
Nettes Softball Coach
Sarah Pinson
up as leaders thus far this sea
son and I’m looking forward
to seeing how far they can
take us.”
What strides have been
made by the team or indi
viduals in the off season
that you believe will show
up this season?
“The Nettes have been
working hard in condition
ing, making sure to get the
small things right, and bring
ing 200% to every play
everyday.”
Where do you want to see
your program improve this
season or build on from last
season?
“We are working hard to
make a deep run in state. We
have a talented group of play
ers that can make that happen
if they keep pushing them
selves, working as a team,
and putting the team first.”
Continued Softball on 8B
Racing Across America
Race Recap -
Federated Auto Parts 400
By Alex Korowotny
Racing Sports
Correspondent
This weekend, NASCAR
was back in Virginia, racing
at the Richmond Raceway.
This was the second time this
year NASCAR has raced at
Richmond. The race back in
the spring at Richmond was
n’t bad but not really that
good. It was mostly saved
due to the varying strategies
in that race which led to an
exciting finish of Hamlin
passing Byron with 4 to go
and holding off Harvick to
win. So now that NASCAR
was back at Richmond, was a
good race this time around or
was it as bad as Martinsville
earlier this year? Well, it was
definitely good for one driver
at least.
The race started at 3:20 p.m.
with Larson on pole. He
would lose the lead, how
ever, on the first lap to Chas
tain. The 1st caution came
out on lap 5 for Reddick
spinning from 22nd after
contact from Ty Dillon in
turn 4. The race resumed on
lap 8 and remained green the
rest of the way with Chas
tain leading the whole stage
and winning it and barely
holding off his rival Hamlin,
who was closing in on him
fast at the end of the stage.
Stage 2 officially started on
lap 79 with Chastain in the
lead after winning the race
off pit road. 2 laps later,
Logano would pass Chastain
for the lead and would end
up leading most of the race.
Stage 2 would go caution-
See Racing on 3B
Sports
Fanatic
By
Tommy
Gartrell
Columnist
Too Many
Stats
As a baseball fan and es
pecially a casual follower
of America’s national
pastime, do all these “ad
vanced statistics” and
“fresh” terminologies
baffle you?
In a recent conversa
tion with a friend from
my parents’ generation,
he asked, “what do all of
these terms mean any
more?”
My love affair with
this game began when
basic information like
batting average, hits,
runs, homers and runs
batted in told you every
thing of importance about
a particular batter. Addi
tionally, the number of
wins, losses, walks,
strikeouts, earned run av
erage (the average num
ber of runs surrendered in
nine innings) and perhaps
saves gave you a solid in
dication of a pitcher’s
ability.
Around 20 years ago,
Billy Beane general man
ager of the Oakland A's,
one day had an epiphany:
Baseball's conventional
wisdom is all wrong.
Faced with a tight budget,
Beane must reinvent his
team by outsmarting the
richer ball clubs. Joining
forces with Ivy League
graduate Peter Brand, he
recruits bargain-bin play
ers whom the scouts have
labeled as flawed yet
have game-winning po
tential.
With the success of the
2002 Oakland club, the
whole baseball world
jumped onto this statisti
cal system called saber-
metrics. The term is
derived from the acronym
SABR, which stands for
the Society of American
Baseball Research
founded in 1971. The
term "sabermetrics" was
coined by baseball writer,
statistician and historian
Billy James who is one of
its pioneers and is often
considered its most
prominent advocate and
public face.
The use of different
metrics proved valuable.
For example: On-base
percentage (OBP) takes
batting average a step far
ther. It is the ratio of
times on base via hit,
walk and hit by pitch to
their number of plate ap
pearances. A player with
a .400 OBP gets on base
40 percent of the time.
Another issue with the
traditional measure of the
batting average is that it
does not distinguish be
tween hits (singles, dou
bles, triples, and home
runs) and gives each hit
equal value. Thus, a
measure that differenti
ates among these four hit
outcomes, the slugging
percentage was created.
To calculate the slugging
percentage, the total num
ber of bases of all hits is
divided by the total num
ber of times at bat.
These two percentages
are combined to get On-
base plus Slugging
(OBP).
We often see some
thing called a “slash line”
See Gartrell on 3B
