NOVEMBER 2, 2016
The Commerce News
The Banks County News
Phone: 706-621-7204
Fax: 706-367-8056
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Section B
State champs!
Champions
The East Jackson softball team hoists the state defending champion Calhoun, 5-2, Saturday in
championship trophy after beating three-time Columbus. Photo by Ben Munro
Lady
Eagles
run table
at state
BY BEN MUNRO
One of the East Jackson
softball team’s sayings,
according to coach Donnie
Byrom, is to create memo
ries that will last a lifetime.
Well, the Eagles now have
the ultimate memory.
East Jackson (30-11)
downed defending state
champ Calhoun 5-2 Saturday
in Columbus to win the Class
AAA softball championship,
the school’s first team state
title in any sport.
“Every one of these 16 girls
and three coaches and this
community will never forget
this,” Byrom said.
The weight of the moment
was certainly felt when the
final out was recorded.
“I cried because I was so
happy,” Eagle pitcher Jessie
Marvin said. “I’ve never been
this happy in my life, and it
feels good to end my senior
year with a bang.”
“It’s the best feeling in
the world,” shortstop Faith
Grooms said.
The Eagles ran the table
in Columbus, winning all
four of their games in this
double-elimination tourna
ment - beating Crisp County
(9-1), Morgan County (4-3)
and Pike County (6-3) prior
to the title-clinching victory
over Calhoun.
East Jackson drew on
its experience from having
played in the Elite Eight in
Columbus last year.
“We weren’t as nervous
as we were last year,” said
Hannah Poole, who hit a
grand slam in the Eagles’
semifinals matchup with Pike
County. “We didn’t play our
best last year, but the expe
rience helped because we
knew the atmosphere, and
it helped us get by. But I
feel like we were definitely
more focused and intense
this year.”
The Eagles denied a
fourth-straight state title for
Calhoun, which won a Class
AA state championship in
2013 and followed that up
with back-to-back titles in
Class AAA in 2014 and 2015.
“It’s a very special group
of girls, not only to be state
champions, but to knock
off a team that was back-to-
back-to-back (champions),”
said Byrom, who also won a
state title with Eagles Landing
Christian in 1999. “The other
side had seniors that had
played in this game three
years in a row and won this
game.”
Marvin threw a complete
game in the championship
contest Saturday, surrender
ing just five hits to a 37-win
Calhoun team and striking
out eight while going 3-for-4
at the plate with a double
and two RBI.
“Jessie Marvin just pitched
one heck of a game,” Byrom
said.
Grooms went 2-for-4 with
two runs scored, while
Poole, Nicci Murphy, Mack
enzie Arnold, Ally Petering,
Gracie Wilbur and Lauren
Barrett all had one hit each.
Calhoun, which success
fully battled its way out of
the losers’ bracket, grabbed
an early 1-0 lead in the title
contest, scoring on a double
steal in the bottom of the first
inning.
But Marvin tied the game
1-1 with an RBI single in the
top of the third, and Wilbur
put the Eagles up 2-1 with
an RBI single in the top of
the fourth. A dropped fly ball
off the bat of Barrett brought
home two more Eagle mns
in the fourth.
Despite having his ace
pitcher in the circle and
being up 4-1, Byrom said
there was no comfort with
that lead given Calhoun’s
explosiveness.
“Absolutely not,” he said.
“I’ve watched Calhoun for
three games of this tourna
ment. They were angry for
losing the first game. They
ran the table in their region.
Most of the scores were 8
and 9 to 1 ... They had six
girls that they brought to the
plate that batted over .500.
There was not one player we
could relax against.”
Calhoun got a mn back in
the bottom of the fifth with
an RBI single from Ashlyn
Barnes, but Marvin answered
with an RBI double in the top
of the seventh to pad the
lead at 5-2.
Marvin then forced a line
out and pop out to start the
bottom of the seventh, and
Grooms took care of the final
out, scooping up a ground
er and throwing out Carlie
Henderson to seal the cham
pionship.
Grooms said she was
happy to make the final play
and fulfill such a long-await
ed goal.
“It’s been a goal since I
was a freshman at East Jack-
son,” Grooms said. “First
off starting with (being)
region champs, and the get
ting all the way here and
going undefeated all the way
through here, I knew I was
going to do anything that I
could do get the last out. I’m
glad it was me.”
East Jackson’s five seniors
— Marvin, Grooms, Peter
ing, Murphy and Becca Hill
— now leave the program
having won their final nine
games (dating back to the
region championship),
including the biggest one of
all.
“It’s just a special group
that never stopped getting
better,” Byrom said.
Taking care of business
East Jackson swept the
series in the first two rounds
of the state playoffs and
didn’t let up in Columbus,
winning all four games over
See “Softball” on 3B
Tigers eye regular-season finale
Finding a lane
Quarterback Lane Sorrow fights through an Athens Academy tackle during
last Friday’s 42-30 win in Athens. Sorrow rushed for 178 yards and two touch
downs in the win. Photo by Charles Phelps
BY CHARLES PHELPS
After securing a big region win last Friday at
Athens Academy, the Commerce Tigers (7-2,
6-2 Region 8-A) end the regular season this
Friday night at home against George Walton
Academy.
Head coach Michael Brown said after last
Friday’s win, his team was “going back to
work” to prepare for GWA.
“George Walton is another tough one,”
he said. “It doesn’t get any easier but it’s not
going to get any easier for the rest of the year.”
The Bulldogs (7-2, 6-2 Region 8-A) and
Tigers have met six times. The series record
is 3-3.
The Tigers have won the last three meet
ings by a combined score of 108-30. George
Walton won the first three games in the series.
The Bulldogs will be led by Parrish Austin
(quarterback), Frank Samuelson (tight end),
Isaiah Tossie (linebacker), Omar Daniels
(wide receiver/defensive back), Cedric Rob
ertson (running back) and Haynes Waldo
(wide receiver).
“We’ve got to keep this thing going,” senior
mnning back Cole Chancey said after last
week’s win. “It doesn’t stop now.”
Quarterback Lane Sorrow said he “expects
nothing less” from George Walton than what
Athens Academy threw at the team.
“Coach always says, ‘Every game is going
to be like this for the rest for the rest of the
year,”’ he said. “We can’t let up. We’ve got to
go all out.”
Tigers top Spartans
At the beginning of last week, Brown said it
was going to be a “monumental task” prepar
ing for the then-undefeated Athens Academy
Spartans.
Whatever game plan he and the Tiger
coaching staff implemented worked as the
Tigers defeated the Spartans, 42-30, at Slaugh
ter Field in Athens.
It was the first win at Athens Academy
since 1996.
“It was two good teams out here battling it
out,” Brown said. “You’ve got to give credit to
Athens Academy. Their kids played hard and
executed. Both teams just laid it on the line.
We were able to get ahead in the track meet
and stay ahead, but what a game.”
Chancey mshed for a game-high 209 yards
on 29 carries and scored two first-half touch
downs.
“We knew it was a big game coming in,”
Chancey said. “It wasn’t going to be easy.
It was going to be a four-quarter game and
that’s what it turned in to. We came out every
drive determined that we were going to finish
in the end zone and with points, no matter
what. We executed and came out with a
victory.”
Sorrow didn’t attempt a pass in the victory.
He complemented Chancey on the ground,
adding 178 yards and matching Chancey’s
two scores.
Sorrow knew it had been 20 years since
the Tigers had won at Athens Academy and
called it a “big motivator.”
“Our coaches preached all week about
how great of a week of practice we had to
have and how much we had to work in the
weight room and be physical on the field,”
Sorrow explained. “And they said, ‘If we love
each other more than they love each other,
then there’s no way we won’t come out on
top.’”
Running back Austin Brock rushed for 73
yards on five carries and two scores. Dylan
Deaton added 47 yards.
The Tigers’ offense totaled 515 total yards,
all via the ground game. The Tigers also con
verted 28 first downs.
The Tigers led 14-3 at halftime but by the
end of the third quarter, the lead had shmnk
to 28-24.
“Just have got to keep playing,” Brown said
he told the team during the high-scoring third
quarter. “There’s going to be good things that
happen in every game and bad things that
happen. You just have to keep playing and
focus on the next play. We talked about that
before the game and our kids did a great job.”
The Tiger defense, though, it gave up 30
points, came up with big plays, including two
See “Commerce” on 3B
