About The times. (Gainesville, Ga.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 20, 2020)
SPORTS Bill Murphy Sports Editor | 770-718-3415 | sports@gainesvilletimes.com Unties gainesvilletimes.com Thursday, February 20, 2020 HIGH SCHOOL BASKCTBALL Riverside falls 84-44 to N. Cobb Christian HIGH SCHOOL BASKCTBALL Taking care of business BY JONATHAN HEMMINGWAY For The Times Riverside Military’s basketball program was on a roll in winning the Region 8-A tour nament. That momentum ceased after a first- round bye and second-round loss 84-44 against North Cobb Christian in the Class A private schools state tournament on Wednesday in Gainesville. With the loss, the Eagles finished the season with a 15-12 mark. Riverside Military junior point guard Shad Dabney led its effort with 12 points. However, it was an uphill climb most of the game after North Cobb Christian jumped to a 13-2 early lead. Riverside Military’s Areeb Ahmad and junior forward Adriel Clark both chipped in eight points in the loss. A strong inside-out attack of senior post Caleb Crumly (17 points) and sophomore guard Mekhi Mawdesley (24 points) paced coach Aric Mawsley’s group from North Cobb Christian. Crumly, a 6-foot-9 center, is signed to play at the University of Chicago next fall. Despite the loss, the future looks bright with Dabney and Clark both expected to return for their senior year. This year, Dabney has already passed 1,000 career points. MLB JOHN BAZEM0RE I The Associated Press Atlanta Braves pitcher Max Fried throws in the second inning of Game 5 of their National League Division Series baseball game against the St. Louis Cardinals on Oct. 9, 2019 in Atlanta. Fried set to make the next step Atlanta Journal Constitution A bright, coruscating tie-dye shirt draped over the back of Max Fried’s chair in the depths of the Braves’ spring training facility. It was marked by a teddy-bear image, which prompted a few laughs as teammates strolled by- This is the newer Fried, bursting with con fidence that previously quivered during his minor league days. “Even watching Max show up in some thing like that today, that’s something that’s awesome to see,” said Mike Soroka, who’s stationed at the adjacent locker. “He himself is really coming out. It’s fun to see stuff like that.” Fresh off his first full season as a starter, Fried hopes to be a bit flashier. Along with his beaming confidence, Fried has refined his arsenal. Namely, he wants his change-up to propel him to the next notch. The left-hander is best known for his con founding curveball, which aptly pairs with a fastball and slider, the latter of which was newly implemented for the 2019 season. Fried’s seldom-used change-up, meanwhile, was thrown just 64 times (roughly 2.4 percent of his pitches, per Baseball Savant). “It was obviously a pitch I threw less of, with the slider coming into play last year,” Fried said. “I just want to keep having that fourth pitch to keep hitters off balance. ■ Please see FRIED, 2B Photos by NATALAE LA DOUCEUR I For The Times North Hall’s Rylee McCall goes up against Savannah’s Martina Stokes during the second-round playoff game of the Class 3A state playoffs Wednesday in Gainesville. North Hall girls smash Savannah in second round of playoffs BY NATHAN BERG nberg@gainesvilletimes.com North Hall’s Maci Gillespie defends against Savannah on Wednesday in Gainesville. The North Hall girls basketball team’s storybook season continued Wednesday evening with a wall-to-wall, 55-33 win at home over Savannah in the Class 3A tournament round of 16. The Lady Trojans’ win coincided with a Morgan County upset over Tatnall County across the state, that will keep North Hall at home for one more round next week against the Lady Bulldogs in the quarterfinals. The team has drawn large crowds throughout its region and state tournament runs, and Lady Trojans coach Kristi House said she’s counting on another big turnout next week to help power the team to state semifinals. “Our community is great,” she said. “They’re just coming out and coming out. The kids feed off it, so we need every body here next week, right back.” Wednesday’s victory came off the back of another strong defensive effort from North Hall, as the Lady Trojans held the Lady Bluejackets to 10 or fewer points in all four quarters of the game. They also completely shut down Savan nah post player Martina Stokes, stopping her at just 3 points on the night despite her size advantage against most North Hall defenders. “She challenged our team, because she’s a great player,” House said of Stokes. “I thought we handled her on the defensive end, so that helped.” Offensively, North Hall was led by senior forward Grace Hollifield, who scored 23 points — connecting on six 3-pointers, five coming in the first half. Hollifield got the scoring started early for the Lady Trojans, putting in a pair of 3s from deep on the right side and then hitting another from a couple feet beyond the arc on the left. Hollifield’s third make put North Hall on top 9-2 early and drew Lady Trojans supporters around the gymnasium to their feet. “Grace puts us on her back some times,” House said. Savannah scored 6 straight to get to within 2 points of the lead by the end of the first quarter, and maintained that narrow deficit throughout much of the second. But Hollifield started to put some dis tance between the teams right before halftime, hitting on two more treys in the final two minutes of the frame to put North Hall up by 7 at the break. The Lady Bluejackets kept the Lady Trojans from really pulling away to start off the second half, but a pair of free throws and another 3 from Hollifield set off a 9-1 North Hall run that gave the Lady Trojans their first double-digit lead of the game right before the start of the fourth. Savannah’s Tanya Hodges scored on a layup and swished a 3 early in the final period to give the Lady Bluejackets a brief glimmer of hope, but North Hall scored the last 10 points of the contest to put the game out of reach, keeping the Lady Bluejackets off the board entirely in the final three minutes of the game. With the win, North Hall now turns its attention to Morgan County for one last game on Lynn Cottrell Court to close out a home season of many high points. “We’re going to do it one more time,” House said. “We’re super excited.” ATLANTA BRAVES Wingert replaced as part of telecast team after 4 seasons with Fox Sports, Fox Sports Southeast Braves telecasts on Fox Sports South and Fox Sports Southeast will have a new in-game reporter this season after the regional sports networks didn’t bring back Kelsey Wingert, who was part of the broadcast team the past four years. A new reporter has been hired and is expected to be announced soon by the networks. The Braves declined to comment on the change. Fox Sports South/Southeast hires the broadcasters for Braves games, typically in consultation with the team on the play-by-play and analyst positions. Losing Wingert from the tele casts is unpopular with many Braves fans, judging from the reac tion on social media to the news, first reported by The Athletic. Braves CEO Derek Schiller said last month that play-by-play announcer Chip Caray and lead analyst Jeff Francoeur would remain on the telecasts this sea son, but didn’t address the position of field reporter at that time. The Braves’ first two exhibition games, Saturday against Balti more and Sunday against Detroit, both at the new spring-training sta dium in North Port, Fla., will be on Fox Sports Southeast. Caray and Francoeur are scheduled to work those games, along with returning reporter Paul Byrd. Atlanta Journal Constitution
