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JAQUES WATKINS . TRACK
MARY PERSONS BULLDOGS
@EF I uE53
A State Farm
281 Tift College Drive • Forsyth, GA 31029
478-992-9945
Hours: Monday - Friday, 9 am - 5:30 pm
TOMMY JOHNSTON, STATE FARM INSURANCE
SPRING SPORTS
CALENDAR
TODAY
THURSDAY, APRIL 26
5:30 p.m.
Varsity Girls Soccer
(vs. Cairo]
FRIDAY, APRIL 27
SATURDAY, APRIL 28
SUNDAY, APRIL 29
MONDAY, APRIL 30
TUESDAY, MAY 1
Forsyth Golf
Club sees
two aces in
single day
Two Middle Geor
gia golfers recorded
holes-in-one on the
very same day on
March 29 at Forsyth
Golf Club.
Buster Wooten and
Ned Newman each
had aces on March 29
with Wooten using a
gap wedge to knock
one in on No. 12 and
Newman taking a
56-degree wedge to
hole a shot on No. 18.
It was not the
92-year-old Wootens
first career hole-in-
one. He also aced the
12th hole at Houston
Lake Country Club
on June 4,2003. Both
Wooten and New
man play regularly
around Middle Geor
gia out of the same
Macon-area group.
Lockdown pitching, timely hitting
results in C-team area title
By Richard Dumas
forsyth@mymcmet
The Monroe County Middle
School baseball team captured its first
area title in five years on Thursday
with a 4-1 home win over Lamar
County Middle.
The Bulldogs used a troika of
pitchers, Caden Swancey, Aric Mock
and Eric Snow respectively, to shut
down the Trojans’ bats. It helped that
the Dogs’ defense was sparkling as
well, particularly centerfielder Logan
Hickman, who robbed a pair of
potential late-inning, extra-base hits
to preserve the win.
Monroe County got on the
scoreboard first on Thursday with a
single mn in the bottom of the first
inning, but the Bulldogs stranded the
bases loaded to end the frame. The
Bulldogs then added to their lead in
the bottom of the third when Snow
tripled to deep right-center to lead off
the inning and scored on a first-pitch
RBI single to rightfield off the bat of
Thomas Brooks. The very next hitter,
Swancey, then delivered a single of
his own on a first-pitch line drive shot
to leftfield to move runners to first
and second. Later in the inning, with
runners on second and third and two
outs, Leighton Judd came up with
a timely single up the box to plate
Swancey for the Dogs’ third mn.
After Swancey’s control left him
and the Trojans loaded the bases in
the top of the fourth, Monroe County
head coach Michael Smallwood
turned to his second baseman Mock
to get the Dogs out of a major jam.
Mock eventually walked in a mn
with the bases juiced to trim Monroe
County’s advantage to two runs, but
he was able to escape further trouble
by inducing Lamar County’s Brayden
Pines to pop out to Snow at shortstop
to end the inning, stranding the bases
loaded.
Lamar County threatened again
against Mock in the top of the fifth
with the Trojans’ Jalen Banks deliver
ing a double to rightfield to put run
ners on second and third with two
outs. The next hitter, Tanner Patter
son, then tagged a Mock fastball and
sprayed a shot directly at Hickman in
centerfield. The Dogs’ leader in the
outfield reached upward and with a
slight hop secured the line drive into
his glove for the inning’s final out.
The Bulldogs then came up with a
much-needed insurance mn in the
bottom of the fifth on Hickman’s RBI
single to rightfield to take a three-run
lead into the sixth (and final) inning.
Smallwood turned to his ace Snow
to close out the championship, but
the flamethrower got into some
trouble of his own as the Trojans
loaded the bases with just one out on
back-to-back hit batsmen followed by
an infield hit. With the go-ahead run
in the batter’s box, Lamar County’s
Donovan Sanford blasted a towering
flyball to the deepest reaches of MP’s
gargantuan playing field in right-
center. With just enough time to turn
around and run for the right-center
fence, Hickman remarkably snagged
the flyball for the inning’s second out.
With the bases still loaded (Lamar
inexplicably failed to tag up on the
long flyball), Snow got the next
hitter, Nathaniel Tidwell, to line out
to Brooks, who appeared to make a
snow-cone grab in rightfield for the
game’s last out.
Smallwood said it seemed that all
three of his pitchers, who have come
up big all season, were atypically
overcome with nerves down the
stretch of the Dogs’ championship
contest.
“They looked like they were all ner
vous,” Smallwood said. “And I felt the
longer they went, the more nervous
they would all get. And we’ve got a
good pitching staff. I wanted to keep
throwing different people at Lamar. I
didn’t want them to get comfortable
seeing one person. Fortunately, it
worked out for us.”
Smallwood said Hickman, Snow
and Brooks were among the team’s
heroes all season, and especially on
Thursday.
“He (Hickman) made a couple of
huge catches tonight,” Smallwood
said. “Right there in the last inning,
if he doesn’t catch that they probably
tie the game up. And you don’t know
what happens from there. Snow’s
been one of our constants this year.
We’ve counted on him to get on base
pretty much 90 percent of his at-bats.
And Thomas Brooks, he’s got our
highest batting average. He’s probably
batting around .650. He’s our best
contact hitter, and I put him behind
Snow. Luckily it worked out for us the
last two games.”
The C-Team Bulldogs advanced to
the championship game with a 16-0
home thumping of Upson-Lee Mid
dle in the area semifinals on Tuesday,
See CHAMPS • Page3B
Monroe rec,
MP team up
for Aug. 11
football camp
The Monroe
County Recreation
Department and the
Mary Persons Bull
dogs are teaming up
for a one-day Youth
Football Camp on
Saturday, Aug. 11.
The camp, free to
kids from 2nd-6th
grades, will be held
from 9 a.m. to noon
at the MP Football
Practice Facility. MP
head football coach
Brian Nelson and
his staff, as well as
members of the MP
varsity football squad,
will serve as instruc
tors for the camp.
The camp will
include: a t-shirt (if
registered by July 20),
lunch, offense/de
fense drills, a tour of
the MP football facil
ity, game film, etc.
For more informa
tion, contact the
Monroe County Rec
reation Department
at (478) 994-7795 or
visit www.mocorec.
org.
Lady Dogs to host state playoff game Thursday
By Will Davis
publisher f3, mymcmet
The Mary Persons girls
soccer team will host Cairo
in Round 1 of the state
playoffs on Thursday after
finishing the regular season
with a 3-1 win over Perry
on Senior Night.
The Cairo girls are the
No. 3 seed from Region
1 -AAAA, and finished the
season 9-7, 5-2 in region.
Game time is 5:30 p.m. The
teams had no common op
ponents during the season.
If the Lady Dogs can win,
they’ll face the winner of
Woodward Academy vs.
Cross Creek on Tuesday,
May 1, meaning MP would
most likely travel to Atlanta
for Round 2.
Coach Dallas Hall said
he’s trying to find out more
about the Cairo girls but
so far only knows their
record against opponents
he knows nothing about.
But he said he likes his
team’s chances if it plays to
its potential.
“If we play like we’re
capable,” said Hall, “I think
we win. If we come out
lethargic or slow or inten
sity is lacking, we’ll be in
trouble.”
The girls finished the
regular season 11-5-1, 7-3
in region after Tuesday’s 3-1
win over the Lady Panthers.
Meredith Hamm got a
rare goal to get MP on the
board first. Taylor Buffing
ton added the second score,
and then Annie Giles got
her first goal of the year on
a long free kick that sailed
over the head of the Lady
Panther keeper.
Hall said Perry, which MP
beat 7-0 last time, was im
proved over the first game.
“They were a little better
than the first time,” said
Hall. “They were more or
ganized. The second time is
always harder because now
they have a scouting report
on you.”
Plus, Hall noted that he
started all seniors and that
he emptied the bench once
they got up 3-0 to rest legs
for the playoffs. He noted
that freshman Mara Emami
played well as a sub.
The win secured a home
playoff game for MP, which
took second place for the
second year in a row in
Region 2-AAAA, once
again as the bridesmaid to
Spalding, which hasn’t lost
a region game in two years.
MP actually tied Howard
for third place as both had
7-3 records, but the Lady
Dogs held the tie breaker
on score differential, having
beaten the Huskies 2-0 the
first time before losing 2-1
the second.
Despite Friday’s loss,
Perry made the playoffs
as the No. 4 seed. They
finished the regular season
3-14,3-7 in region.