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PAGE 4B THE BANKS COUNTY NEWS WEDNESDAY, MARCH 12, 2008 THE LONG THROW Banks County High School third baseman Chris Porter (10) fires a throw to first base during Monday's game against Dawson County. Photo by Lyn Sengupta Baseball ... continued from page 1B “That play gave us life and we were able to come in and score seven in the bottom half of the inning,” Lord said. “That ended up being enough but we can’t expect that to hold up and not keep adding to it. A good team like Dawson is going to score some runs and you can never really have enough to feel comfortable. We were able to prevent them from hav ing a big inning and that’s always a key to winning. It’s a good win, but it’s just the first of 15.” Alex Gailey was the starting pitcher for BCHS working the first 3.2 inning before giving way to Kasey Hutchins who went the final 3.1 in earning the win. Gailey had five strikeouts in the contest while Hutchins had two. The Diamond Leopards are sched uled to make the long trip to Fannin County Wednesday (today) for a 4:30 p.m. contest. “It’s always tough to win up there,” Lord said. “We’ll do our best and we’ll take it one game at a time.” BCHS has not lost a Class AA team this season. The only setbacks have come against AAA opponents. The Leopards fell to Elbert County last Wednesday 10-3 on the road. Justin Gibbs was 3-for-3 at the plate. Alex Gailey, Bill Redmon and Tyler McEntire each pitched for BCHS. “We didn’t have a whole lot of life at the beginning of the game,” Coach Lord said. “We’ve got to be just as focused on the road as we are at home. We didn’t swing the bats particulary well and defense let us down.” BCHS made six errors in the con test. Lord credited Gibbs for his performance at the plate and said McEntire did an admirable job in relief not allowing a run in 1.2 innings of work. • •• Despite snow flurries whirling around, BCHS and Franklin County managed to take the field Saturday afternoon. The AAA Lions rallied for a 12-7 win although BCHS played well, according to its coach. “This was a pretty good high school baseball game for most of the way,” Lord said. “We just couldn’t make our lead stick. The thing that frustrates me the most is the defen sive breakdowns and not being able to find the strike zone. We have stressed from day one the impor tance of playing clean in the field and pitchers locating strikes as being the keys to winning. We have to be able to throw strikes and make plays in order to win.” Zack Dale had a three-run homer to help pace the offense and give BCHS an early 3-1 lead. Bill Redmon also had a two-run double for a 7-5 advantage. Chris Porter was the starting pitcher and held a potent Franklin County offense in check for four innings allowing only one run. Lord said Porter pitched well enough to deserve the win. ATTENTION! A New York Buyer in Athens has $1 million to spend! ONE DAY ONLY TODAY Saturday, March 15, 2008 9 a.m. - 6 p.m. Paying Cash - 10 Times Face Value for Coins (pre '65 Silver) All Jewelry & Coins Flatware • Diamonds • Rolex $900. 00 plus 1oz Gold Coins 1/10 Gold Coins 1/4, 1/2, oz for all Unwanted Jewelry Silver • Gold • Platinum LICENSED BUYER CONFIDENTIAL • SECURE LOCATION Greg Reeves Fine Jewelry 613 Hawthorne Ave. • Athens 706-248-2416 Down the Stretch Stories part of racing's great treasures T here are not a lot of good things you can say about rain delays at a racetrack. Sure, we can always use the rain. But other than that, rain at a race track is pretty much a miserable thing. But there is one bright spot. Usually when there’s a rain delay at a race track, you end up with a group of people getting together to share racing stories. With all the characters that have passed through the American stock car racing scene over the years, the stories are absolute treasures. Here’s a few of my favorites that I’ve had shared with me over the years. Now remember, these came to me second, third and fourth hand. I don’t claim every one of them to be true. I say only they came to me from some very reliable sources. For example, did you know that Richard Petty’s first flagged win was actually in Atlanta, at the leg endary Lakewood Speedway? On June 14, 1959, Richard Petty was flagged the winner of the 150-lap race. But as Richard climbed out of his 1957 Oldsmobile to celebrate, word came from officials that there was a protest lodged. There was a recheck of the lap count, and, sure enough, Richard was credited with one lap too many. The win was taken from Richard and handed to the man who had lodged the protest - his father, Lee Petty. Lee later claimed he did it because he was driv ing a 1959-year model car, and NASCAR gave a bonus to any driver who won in a new car. Therefore, Lee getting the win got the entire Petty Enterprises team more money. I’m sure that was a fun ride home to Level Cross for the Petty family. Speaking of Lee Petty, it was well known that when it came down to the money lap, the one place you didn’t want to be was between Lee and the checkered flag. One driver who learned this the hard way, according to legend, was Curtis Turner. Turner, the legendary throttle-stomper from Virginia, was racing against Petty one afternoon when the two got together. Petty was left with a pretty badly damaged racecar, while Turner was able to turn in a respectable finish. Afterwards, as the story goes, Turner was sitting on the tailgate of a pickup in the pits, washing the dirt and calcium chloride out his hair. Up walks Petty with a rolled up newspaper in his hand. As he approached Turner, Petty called out Curtis’ name. When Turner looked up, Petty hauled off and nailed him with that newspa per. The blow sent Turner reel ing, due to the flat tire tool Petty had rolled up in the paper. Another great source of stories at the racetrack is the late Tiny Lund. One of my favorites has nothing to do with being in a racecar. Tom Higgins, the great North Carolina motorsports writer, told the story of going fishing with Lund and Buddy Baker at Lund’s fishing camp. As the trio rowed out on the lake, Lund told the story of recent alligator sightings along the lake. Baker took the story hook, line and sinker (you’ll pardon the pun). As the trio fished, Baker commented about how hot it was. Lund suggested that Baker strip down to his skivvies and take a swim. Baker did just that, much to the surprise of Higgins. Higgins turned to comment to Lund, only to find himself alone in the boat. Baker surfaced, and was bob bing happily on the water’s sur face when, according to Higgins, a look of terror crossed his face, and he disappeared under the water. He re-appeared briefly moments later, screaming for a rope, a boat paddle, or anything else he could get. What had happened was Lund had dived off the boat the same time that Baker did, swam under the boat, came up under Baker, and grabbed him in, shall we say, a delicate spot. Baker thought it was a rogue alligator, until Lund popped up behind him, laughing like mad. Higgins said later, he asked Baker why he didn’t just swim in the other direction. Baker reportedly told Higgins “Tom, when you think an alliga tor’s got you by that part, you go where the alligator goes.” Brandon Reed is a reporter for MainStreet Newspapers. E-mail comments about this column to brandon@mainstreetnews.com. brandon reed www.mainstreetnews.com f 1 ' fy yyf. AT'kk.,. .vAA .i.Ne .i.Ne :y*K a f ^ '%.Y H.f y %.f '7 A ' H.f y %.f '7 A ' ¥ *' .f ;y H.f y %.f '7 A ' ¥ *' -f ;y H.f ¥ .aST .aST .aST es-./fyy %:* he * he * he * he * f f fyy % f y 1 ' %y fy % f y 1 ' %y fy % f y r %y fy % f y r f f fyy RECOGNITION OF AND APPRECIATION TO ■1. •' / ■ if.': - js' w \y ■n f ■p'prih. \y if •h - y 1 ' %§ w \y # % y yy he* \y MRS. JONNIE LEE EMMETT DALTON ON HER 90TH BIRTHDAY BORN - MARCH 11, 1918 To God - a faithful servant; To John & Ruby (Guest) Emmett - a precious daughter; To 6 sisters & 4 brothers - a dear sister; To husband of 68 years, Cranford Dalton - a loving wife; To Lester & Lillie (Meeks) Dalton - an honorable daughter-in-law; To your 3 children - Laurell, Carol & Jerry - a devoted mother; To grandchildren & great-grandchild - a gracious grannie; To special sister, Loutrelle Kesler - a reliable neighbor, friend & confidante; To family next door, Louise Dalton - wonderful friendship - L.T.& Cranford - brothers & farm partners; To youngest sister, June Chesser - a loyal mother figure; To instructors @ Hickory Flat School, Piedmont College & UGA - an honor student; To coworkers @ Lumite & Banks Co. School System - dependable & professional; To hundreds of students over a span of 30 years - a fair & capable teacher/mentor; To neighbors, extended family/friends - a sharing & helpful individual; To church relationships - a supportive person with integrity & a gregarious personality; To Mrs. Alice Denton - with whom you exchanged poems - inspiration to each other; To Mr. John Turner - a noble friend and he called you “sister”; To the community - Banks Co. Citizen of the Year 1998; knowledgeable historian; To Tom Thumb Wedding children for 25 years - enthusiastic co-director; To The Old Maids Convention play presentations - entertaining in your lead role; To the BCHS Class of 2000 - sponsor of 3 scholarship awards; To AARP - Pledge to the Flag leader; friendly, always smiling; To events @ Hickory Flat/Mt.Carmel/family reunions - wonderful gatherings; To the grateful many whom you helped anonymously - a caring lady; To recipients of your “penny” post cards - a thoughtful friend. Your accomplishments & unselfish contributions through the years are measureless. Your service to God, family & friends is impressive. You face life positively & courageously with focus on others. You have touched innumerable lives which continues to influence generations. You’ve always said “just one rose will do” but you deserve a parade of yellow roses. Thank you for going beyond the call of duty for your loved ones. Precious rewards await you inside the gates of God’s heavenly domain. Your trust remains in HIM. ■n f ■p'prih. \y if •h - v*' -y'.ySsr'y w \y # % y yy he* \y 'y -■ •h - y 1 ' %y A' / ;S " Happy 90th birthday & may yon celebrate many more! Sincerely w/love, your daughter & family Laurell, Howard, Cranley, Joy, Thomas Ward %.* %■* %-* ’fc-7 ’fck* %.* ■ty f -ty ,r 4% f 4% f :.r -ty f ty f f fy.ft ■» :•' -i ;• / -" / -" / -" ■1 :•' -i ;• / -" / -" •h - y 1 ' %y A'