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arm phil r fl? BYRD Mporfs Editor ' *3SBf SIT Summer & Baseball While driving through Perry last week, I saw a bunch of kids playing their own form of sandlot baseball. Watching those players brought back fond membories of when I was a sandlotter. It was a decade and a half ago and we were living in Norfolk, Virginia. During those hot summer months, and with school out, we gathered our battered gloves, bats and baseball and headed for our favorite place ... an old three-acre tract within a stone’s throw of where I lived. Most of the time, during the summer, we were always short of personnel. A lot of the guys were on vacation with their families, or were away at camp. But that didn’t stop us from playing. When the quota dropped to six or less, we played a game called “over the fence”. The unpatented game was played similar to a regular baseball game, except we didn’t use a pticher. The rules of “over the fence” were simple. Two or three guys would be on each team - usually two because it was difficult to find six who wanted to play - and the action would get underway. The one criteria needed for “over the fence” was a fence. That was the whole idea of the game. We would flip a coin - if we had one - or use a baseball bat to see which team would be home, or away. The winner of the coin toss or of the bat handle received the perogative. As the visiting team came to bat the home team would set its defense next to the fence,in kind of a spread formation. The batter would hit the ball - fungo style - and try to knock the ball over the fence. Each team batted from a predetermined location, usually 200 to 250 feet from the fence. If the ball went over the fence it was, naturally, a home run. If the ball bounced over on one hop it was a triple, and a two-bagger was a ball that hit the fence in the air. Any ball caught, on the ground or in the air, was an out. If the defensive team dropped the ball, or fumbled it in any way, that was a single. There was no such thing as an error. As soon as three outs were recorded the defensive team came to bat and the team at bat went on defense. Like any other kid I had a favorite baseball team, and I always wanted my team to be the Boston Red Sox, Ted Williams, the greatest hitter there’s ever been, was in his heyday and he was tops with me. We played a regular schedule, sometimes playing eight or nine games a day, and even played our own version of the Autumn Classic. I think we played ten world series one year. When we found a well balanced and evenly matched combination we kept the same guys on each team day after day. We learned to hit the ball to the weak fielders and let our big bat drive him home. The best hitter on my team was a kid from Michigan, who must have hit a thousand homers one year. He was a Detroit Tiger fan and always pretended he was Charlie Maxwell or A1 Kaline. “Over the fence” was a fun game to us and took up most of our summer days. But, there were hazards in playing in the big lot, too. I remember one day we were having a real slugfest between the Yankees and my Red Sox. Both teams were really "hitting them out". Around the seventh inning, and with the score something like 28-27, a bunch of “Big" kids rode in on their bicycles and started messing around with us. They took our bats away from us and threw them in the ajoining woods. To make matters worse, they snitched our only baseball and rode off with it. That ended our game until we gathered up enough baseball card money to buy a new ball. We learned, as the summers went by, that the “big” kids and growing up would be our number one enemy in “over the fence." When 1 left Norfolk I left behind those fond summer memories of "over the fence”. I had become a “big” kid. COVERAGE STARTING m SOON IN THE > HOUSTON HOME JOURNAL JUST ARRIVED! A Shipment Oft ★ GRASS SOD ★ CENTIPEDE ★ ST. AUGUSTINE ★ CALAOIUM BULBS * BOTTLE BRUSH DOGWOODS NURSERY EVANS NEXT FOR CATS { Panthers Stop Dublin ( I 4-3 For Shot At Title I f Perry’s rampaging Panthers won their sixth game in their last seven starts and wrapped up the region 2-AA West in the process by coming from behind to upend the Dublin Irish, 4-3, and win the best of three games for the crown two games to none. Coach Richard Powell’s Panthers had to come back from a 2-0 deficite and used the long ball to do the damage last Wednesday afternoon. Dublin jumped in front 2-0 in the top of the second and it stayed that way until the Panthers broke through against Dublin righthander Mickey Corr with a run in the Cat half of the fifth. Lawrence Clarington eventually came across the pay station after rapping a single, advancing to second via a groundout, to third on an error and scoring on a sacrifice fly by Curtis Rooney, Perry tied up the festivities in the sixth when Mo Wright walked and tallied on a long triple by Mark Shugart. Dublin scored again in their half of the seventh to take a 3-2 lead before the Panthers did their antics in the last frame. In the seventh, the Pan thers look the lead for the Home Journal 5 I* p k 0 R T 6 S PAGE 10-A May 11, 1972 mKPmKBk' BMBI v • jMHMB ♦. . : * u ' v *l-‘fir ’ Jr WftMES. JBB'. «k . * its ■■ Panther Catcher Jerry Barnet PCC NEWS . By Wiltz Bernard Seabie Hickson took most plus individual honors in the Perry Country Club dog fight last weekend with a +lO points. Seabie's team of Otis Whitten and Moody Mulkey also won the team first place with a +l2. In the last few weeks the big scramble is to see who can get on Seabie's team. Seabie says you are supposed to play good in the spring after being cooped up ail winter. Second place team was Frank Young, Jim first time in the game when Clarington received a base on balls and scored on a bombing triple off the bat of third baseman J. B. Goheen. Goheen, then scored what proved to be the winning margin on a costly Dublin error. The Irish entered the best of three tournaments with a 9-3 record and saw it fall to 9- 5 with the double loss to the Panthers. Perry upped its chart to 7-6 with the two victories. Southpaw Earl Brown, who started and went all the way for Perry, kept the Irish off balance all afternoon with his wide assortment of pitches. Brown fanned six and issued only one free pass while giving up seven safeties. Only two of Dublin’s three runs were earned. Dublin's Mickey Corr took the loss. Coach Richard Powell had his own observations about the title game: “We did what we had to do to win. We’ve been coming from behind to win several times this season, so 1 wasn’t to worried when we fell behind early. Our kids played two excellent games for the 2-AA West crown and the whole school is extremely proud of them. When asked what turned the Panthers season around, Powell replied: “We had to learn how to play together. These kids had not played together before this season, plus they had to learn my coaching philosophy ... and they did. We’ve come a long way, but still have a rough road ahead of us. We play Evans this week for the region title, and from what we’ve heard, they have a very strong team. Their record (15-2) speaks for itself.’’ Perry’s leading hitters against Dublin were center fielder Clarence Clarington who rapped out two singles in three trips. Mark Shugart also hammered out two hits, including a triple. And J. B. Goheen, who crashed a triple in three trips and plated two runs. LINESCORE DUBLIN 020 000 1-3-7-2 PERRY 000 Oil 2-4-8-1 Earl Brown and Jerry Barnes, Mickey Corr WP Earl Brown (2-1) LP -Mickey Corr (6-2) Thomason, and Luke Vest with a +ll. Third was George Curtis, Ralph Waggett, and Al Vuxta with +7. The Perry Country Club Mens Golf Association is having a free hamburger supper Monday. May 15th at 7; 00 for all male members of the Country Club. All you have to do is call the pro shop and let them know you are coming. Also a good golf movie will be shown. fwl jhb|^. 1 > ' j > jjjj&L Iki 1972 HOUSTON COUNTY BASEBALL CHAMPIONS 7th and Bth Grade Houston County Baseball Champions. Ist Left to Right - Coach Crockett, Tim English, Johnny McCarty, Steve Robinson. 2nd Left to Right • Mike Franklin (Manager) Kent Fleming, Phil Gentry, Len Taylor, Phil Westfield lands 3 C agers On '72 SEA IS 'Dream Team' All Star Tilt Slated For Hornets Meat >3l Bobby Harrison Wanda Bragg Westfield Schools hit the basketball jackpot last week; placing three girls on the SEAIS North All Star Team, placing one boy as first alternate on the boys North team, and being selected as the site of the SEAIS All-Star basketball games. The three Hornettes named on the girls North All- Star Team are Sandy Hudson, Wanda Bragg, and Wendy Jones,, Sandy and Wendy were listed as rovers on the Hornette depth chart while Wanda played guard. Sandy Hudson played rover for the Hornettes and was the player who handled the ball for Westfield in clutch situations. Sandy’s dribbling adeptness and her offensive abilities made her very valuable to the Hornette cause. She poured through 209 points in the 1971-72 regular season cage campaign. Her best moments, however, came in the AA North region tourney and in the AA State tour nament. Against Nathaniel Greene’s Lady Patriots in the first round of the AA North region playoffs, Sandy burned the nets for 28 points, hitting 11 of 15 field goal attempts to lead Westfield to a 59-43 upset win. As well as she played against Nathaniel Greene, Sandy will be remembered most by Westfield fans for her part in the Westfield-Ravenwood State Tournament clash. Ravenwood came to the Hornets Nest expecting to waltz away with an easy victory but Sandy and her teammates pulled the rug from under Ravenwood by clipping the highly favored Raiderettes 49-46. The tense contest was made even more exciting when the scoreboard clock quit operating with 5:29 left to play. Westfield was ahead by four and immediately went into a time-consuming freeze. Sandy was ticketed by Coach Earl Marshall to handle the ball for Westfield. She upped the Westfield lead to 6, 48-42, and then the Hornettes again stalled. Evading the Raiderettes’ frantic attempts to capture the basketball, Sandy con trolled the game long enough to give Westfield its victory. Wendy Jones was the other Hornette selected for her offensive abilities. While she scored 237 regular season points, her main value to Westfield was her fiery determination. Wendy impressed several opposing coaches (and players) with her fierce desire to win. She knew only one way to play basketball all out. Jones is best remembered by Westfield fans for her rebounding and ball hawking. Wendy’s high scoring night was against Windsor Academy when she bucketed 21 points to lead the Hor nettes to a 52-17 triumph. But points alone do not deter mine a basketball player’s / COVERAGE \ I EACH WEEK IN I V THE HOME / XJOURimZ FOLLOW THE PERRY PANTHERS THIS SEASON IN THE HOUSTON HOME JOURNAL. Jones. 3rd Left to Right - George Richerson, David Bryant, Keith Lockerman, Duane Murphy, Lloyd Turner, Jackie Robinson, James Hillson, (not persent Dan Code) value. Far more important are competitiveness and will to win and those qualities are good descriptions of Wendy Jones. Hornette guard Wanda Bragg was selected on the basis of her defensive ability. Wanda always drew the thankless task of It Wendy Jones guarding the oppositions’ top gun. To her credit, Wanda always held her opponent under season average. Quickness, intelligence, and a knack of being where the ball was, combined to make Wanda a topnotch guard. Wanda was impressive throughout the 71-72 cage season but saved her best play for the tournaments. In Westfield’s first game in the AA North Subregion East Tourney, Wanda stopped Monroe Academy’s Carole Poore, holding her far below her average. Coach Earl Marshall called Wanda’s play the key to the Hor OPEN BIG INDIAN LAKES MARSHALLVILLE ROAD GOOD FISHING ★ BASS ★ BREAM ★ CATFISH nettes’ upset win. Perhaps Bragg’s best game was in the Westfield- Ravenwood clash. Wanda was assigned to guard Kaiderette playmaker Vicki Stoudenmire, a lefthanded ballhandling wizard. Wanda responded by overplaying her to the left and thus held : :; :V mm Sandy Hudson Stoudenmire to 8 points. More importantly, however, Stoudenmire’s quar terbacking and passing suffered, and so she failed to penetrate the Hornette defense. Bobby Harrison of the Westfield Hornets was selected as first alternate on the boys all-star team. Bobby led the Hornets as they turned their season around from a dismal beginning to finish in the state’s top 8 SEAIS AA teams. Bobby will play in the game should any North player not be able to com pete.