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THURSDAY, AUGUST 28, 2008 THE BANKS COUNTY NEWS PAGE 7B Softball continued from page 6B BCHS also played in a tournament hosted by Com merce last weekend. The first game for the Lady Leopards was against North Hall. The teams were scoreless going into the seventh in ning when the international tiebreaker was used. When the dust had settled, BCHS emerged with a 1-0 in what Lord termed a “classic pitcher’s duel.” “Our defense played great,” the coach said of the low-scoring contest. “We threw out the tying run in the bottom of the seventh for the first out of the in ning. We did a a nice job of executing a first and third defense.” The Lady Leopards’ lone setback in their last six games came in a 3-1 deci sion to Dawson County in the Commerce tournament. Thomas allowed just one earned run and recorded four strike outs. “Kim pitched a super game,” Lord said. “We made some costly mistakes in the field and had some baserun ning mistakes that hurt us. We beat ourselves in this one. Dawson’s three runs in the fourth inning were un earned.” BCHS rebounded to de feat Commerce 6-1 behind another strong effort from Rogers. “We were able to capital ize on a few Commerce mis takes and our pitching and defense was great,” Lord said. JUNIOR STANDOUT Banks County High School’s Hayley Baird has been one of the key players earlier in the 2008 season for coach Josh Lord. Photo by Lyn Sengupta HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL Season opener arrives Friday BY CHRIS BRIDGES After months of offseason work, it all begins for real this Friday night. The Banks County High School football team will travel to Washington-Wilkes to begin the 2008 season. Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m. For second-year Leopard head coach Blair Armstrong, the time is right to play a game that counts. “We have been ready for a while,” Armstrong said. “Overall, I believe we are ready physically and men tally.” While a few younger play ers on the BCHS roster are dealing with some injuries, most upperclassmen are set to go. Kane Duncan is at 98 percent, Armstrong said, while Bill Redmon will still be out another week or two. Preparation specifically BLAIR ARMSTRONG for the Washington-Wilkes game has been going on for several weeks. Members of the coaching staff scouted the Tigers’ preseason scrim mage against Greene County last week. “They are similar to us,” Armstrong said. “They have some big linemen and good skill players. They return several players. We look for them to be a quality team. They will be a huge con tender after dropping down to Class A. They were in the playoffs for a long time in Class AA.” The Leopard head coach said Washington-Wilkes, who beat BCHS twice in 2007, will be a physical team and has a winning tradition. “I hope we have been able to grow enough in the sum mer that we will be able to hang with them,” Armstrong said. Execution will be the key to victory this week, the coach said. “We have some hard work ing kids,” Armstrong said. “In our scrimmage, we had some times where nine play ers would be perfect and two weren’t. Execution is key. We gave up three big plays in the scrimmage. We can’t do that Friday night.” JUNIOR VARSITY SOFTBALL JV Leopards competitive in first games BY CHRIS BRIDGES The Banks County High School junior varsity soft- ball team has two games un der their belts for 2008 and has shown plenty of promise on the diamond, according to its coach. BCHS battled Commerce to a 5-3 game Aug. 20 and had several players turn in strong performances despite the team falling two runs short. Sabrina Porter finished with two hits while Breanna Langston and Sara Holloway both had hits. Madison Porter, Ash ley O’Kelley and Kellany MAKING A PLAY Ashley Morris tags a Commerce runner at home. Photo by Randy Crump Merck scored runs for the JV Lady Leopards. Taylor Purvis pitched for BCHS. The JV team also played Habersham Central the fol lowing day and finished in a 2-2 tie. O’Kelley, Merck and Courtney Entrekin paced the offense while O’Kelley and Merck scored the team’s runs. Purvis once again han dled the pitching duties. “It was two pretty good JV performances,” coach Josh Lord said. “We are thin on numbers and had some eighth graders playing with us both of these first two JV games. It was their first time with us so I am sure there were some butterflies and a bit of unfamiliarity.” Get all the information on your favorite local high school team! MainStreetNewsSPORTSxom • COMMENT ~ On your favorite teams • IN-DEPTH ~ Stories, stats, players and much more • SCORES ~ And results updated frequently • COMING SOON ~ Action photos from games online MainS treetNewsSPORTS covers these teams Banks County Leopards Commerce Tigers East Jackson Eagles Jackson County Panthers Jefferson Dragons Madison County Raiders Mill Creek Hawks 5,000 Prizes are ready to pop at Cellular Center! m Balloons per store for a chance to win one of f/iese prizes! k i Offer exclusively available at: Commerce 305 Steven B. Tsnqer Or. fust pasl Home Depot 706-335-9821 Jefferson US-129 S/GJW1S i Old Pendergrass Rd. 706-387-0653 www.myceiiuiantenttr.coir Don't miss The Big Red Balloon Event Friday Aug. 29th thru Labor Day Cellular Center, your premium Verizon Wireless retailer wants to give all its customers a wonderful Labor Day weekend. 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