About The times. (Gainesville, Ga.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (March 17, 2023)
c SPORTS Bill Murphy Sports Editor | 770-718-3415 | sports@gainesvilletimes.com W&t £imes gainesvilletimes.com Weekend Edition-March 17-18, 2023 HIGH SCHOOL BASEBALL BILL MURPHY I The Times North Hall’s Mills Lothridge pitches against East Forsyth on Wednesday at Cottrell Field. N. Hall squanders early lead in league loss to East Forsyth BY BILL MURPHY bmurphy@gainesvilletimes.com North Hall’s baseball program is so accustomed to success that its current struggles have coach Trevor Flow not feeling great about where they stand in 2023. On Wednesday, the Trojans hit the ball well early and had a solid pitching effort from sophomore Mills Lothridge, but weren’t able to muster a rally after falling behind to East Forsyth in the fifth inning and lost 4-2. “We’re not really playing good baseball,” Flow said. “We’re very selfish in what we’re doing. We’ve done things very successfully (in the past) and a certain way and we’re having trouble getting that through (to them). At some point, you hope it gets through what you’re trying to teach them. It’s very frustrating right now. ” The loss comes at a point when North Hall had won 2 of its last 3, the only loss in eight innings to tal ented first-year Seckinger. However, the Trojans sixth-year coach primarily sees a group that is playing disjointed. “You have to do things a certain way if you want to play deep into May and we’re not doing those things right now,” Flow said. “If we were progressing and showing signs of improvement, that would be one thing, but we’re not and that’s the frustrating part.” Even though North Hall (10-5 overall) stands at 1-1 in Region 8-4A subregion play, with 10 league games left in the regular season, it still has plenty of time to get into position to earn a playoff berth. However, it will have to come with a greater sense of urgency when the Trojans need to manufac ture runs, along with more energy, like its Class 3A state-champion- ship program in 2021 and state semifinalists last season. After winning the first matchup against East Forsyth this week, the game Wednesday started well for the Trojans. North Hall junior center fielder Ajay Jones slapped a lead-off double in the first inning, went to third base on a steal and came in to score on Jon Jon Read’s ground ball out for an RBI. Then in the third inning, North Hall’s Andrew Hlavacek drove a two-out double and scored on Read’s run-scoring single. However, a two-run cushion wouldn’t be enough against the Broncos (8-6,1-1 in subregion play). Trailing 2-1 in the fifth inning, East Forsyth’s Joseph Gurr drove a fly ball toward left field that looked to be tailing toward foul ground, but landed just inside the line and resulted in a stand-up double. After that, No. 9 hitter Blake Riley was hit by a pitch to have runners on the corners, after Gurr stole third base. Once East Forsyth got back to the top of the order, lead-off hitter Owen McGee ripped a hard-hit line drive off the top of the glove of the Trojans’ first baseman. The Broncos pushed their final run across the plate with an RBI single from center fielder Will Moffitt. East Forsyth starter Trey Farr, a sophomore left-hander, settled down after a bumpy start to allow only two more hits. Meanwhile, Lothridge finished throwing six innings and allowed four runs and scattered five hits. North Hall’s starter went through the Broncos order the first time without allowing a hit. Lothridge only gave up a pair of hits through the first four innings. However, East Forsyth’s offense started to warm up with a single by McGee in the third inning, then the three runs in the fifth inning. With the loss, the series wraps with a game Friday in Forsyth County. After this week, North Hall still has subregion week-long series remaining against Chestatee, Cher okee Bluff and East Hall. WEDNESDAY’S BASEBALL SCOREBOARD No. 1 Cherokee Bluff hammers Morgan Co. Brady Stephens tossed a one- hit shutout and Cherokee Bluff pounded out 11 hits in an 11-0 win over Morgan County on Wednes day in Flowery Branch. Stephens allowed just the lone hit an struck out seven over six innings to pick up the win on the mound for the Bears (13-0), who are ranked No. 1 in the coaches- box.com’s Class 4A state poll, and moved into Perfect Game’s Top 50 national poll at No. 36 this week. Brett House had two hits on the day, including a third-inning home run, while Jacob Vokal and Kaden Thompson each added a pair of hits. Bryce England added a two-run homer in the first to get the Chero kee Bluff offense started, while Ty Corbin recorded three of the Bears’ five stolen bases as a team on the day. Cherokee Bluff is back in action Friday with a trip to Mount Airy for a non-region road game at Haber sham Central. CHESTATEE 6, EAST HALL 3: Jake Hitchcock’s two-run triple in the bottom of the sixth broke open a tie game and helped the War Eagles (9-6, 5-2) to a Region 8-4A win Wednesday at the Lynn Cot trell Complex. Hitchcock also had a big day on the mound, allowing three runs on four hits and striking out 13 over six innings to pick up the win. Meanwhile Colton Wilbanks threw a scoreless inning to record the save, and went 2-for-3 at the plate. Carter Gillespie went 2-for-3 to lead the Vikings (4-10,1-6). The two teams are scheduled to conclude their week-long, three- game series Friday at 6 p.m. at East Hall. Compiled by David Fried lander High school scores can be submitted by sending an email to sports@gainesvilletimes.com. HIGH SCHOOL GOLF Ready to tee it up Times file photo Gainesville’s Henry Kopydlowski watches his shot during the 2022 Hall County championships at Chicopee Woods Golf Club. Gainesville boys, N. Hall girls lead field of contenders going into Hall county championships BY DAVID FRIEDLANDER dfriedlander @gainesvilletimes.com It would be hard for Gaines ville’s boys to top their feat from last year’s Hall County Golf Championship. Yet after setting a record with a two-day total of 4-under par 284, good for a 20-shot vic tory and the program’s 27th county title, the Red Elephants hope to do just that for this year’s tournament Tuesday and Wednesday at Chattahoochee Golf Club. And the key, as first-year Gainesville coach Jason DeJia- como sees it, can be summed up in one word - consistency. “Coming off our win at Apple Mountain (earlier this month), if they play like that, if they’re all firing pretty much all at the same time pretty well, we’ll do well,” DeJiacomo said. “I think there’s a little bit left under the hood that they could’ve reached even in that event, but for us, I think consistency’s going to be the key. First round When: Tuesday Where: Chattahoochee Golf Club, Gainesville “We shot 300 in our first event. We shot 277 in our sec ond event. That’s a big gap. Obviously, the courses aren’t the same. But from a talent level, we’re as strong, I would say, as pretty much any team in the state. When we’re playing well, we’re going to play well. .. When we don’t have our A game, then it’s tough.” DeJiacomo’s got a point about his team’s potential, with such firepower as Colin Hen derson, last year’s individual ■ Please see GOLF, 2C HIGH SCHOOL BASKCTBALL Times file photo Flowery Branch boys coach Jay Burney directs a 2022 practice. Burney steps down as the boys’ coach at Flowery Branch BY DAVID FRIEDLANDER dfriedlander® gainesvilletimes.com Jay Burney has tendered his resignation as the Fal cons’ head coach, as the school announced in an emailed statement and he confirmed Wednesday afternoon. The combination of the daily grind of coaching, combined with the fact that his son, Jack, has finished his playing career at Flow ery Branch and will gradu ate this spring, convinced him that the time was right to take a break. “I’ve been a (high school head) coach for 26 or 27 years, and it gets tiresome at times,” Burney said. “You have to put a lot of energy into it. .. I just want to step back and figure out what I’m going to do with my life.” For more than 25 years, Jay Burney hasn’t wanted to be anything else but a bas ketball coach. However, after the spend ing the last four of those years at Flowery Branch High, he is ready to step ■ Please see BURNEY, 2C TUESDAY’S SOCCER SCOREBOARD Second-ranked Cherokee Bluff girls top North Hall Cherokee Bluff’s Genesis Gamez started hot, scoring three times in the opening 20 minutes en route to a 10-0 win against North Hall on Tuesday. In addition to three goals, Gamez fin ished the match with a pair of assists. Kaitlin Cook chipped in three goals and three assists for the Lady Bears. Alyssa Stringer, Anna Gessner, Amelia Dovie and Eva Martin each added one goal for No. 2 Cherokee Bluff (11-1, 5-0 Region 8-4 A). EAST HALL BOYS 3, EAST FOR SYTH 2 (OT): Miguel Dominguez scored in the 88th minute off an assist from Yerli Mejia to secure the victory for the Vikings on Tuesday. Trailing 2-0 in the second half, East Hall’s Dominguez found the ball of the net with an assist from Oscar Barcenas. Then with just 12 seconds left in regula tion, Ainor Romero-Turcious drew a foul. Amado Valladarez stepped up and hit a shot that deflected off the bottom of the cross bar and into the net to tie it at 2-2, forcing overtime. LAKEVIEW ACADEMY BOYS 4, LANIER CHRISTIAN 1: Lions senior Liam Weidner found the back of the net three times with one assist on Tuesday. Jay Dave added two assists for the Lions, while Bryan Ramsey had one assist. William Harrison recorded the shutout with seven saves. LANIER CHRISTIAN GIRLS 6, LAKEVIEW ACADEMY 1: Ashyr Ding- felder had a pair of second-half goals for the Lady Lightning on Tuesday. In the first half, Eva Seidel and Aimee Babb each found the back of the net once. In the second half, Seidel had another goal, along with a strike by Lauren Johnson. High school scores can be submitted by sending an email to sports@ gainesvilletimes.com.
