About The Banks County news. (Homer, Banks County, Ga.) 1968-current | View Entire Issue (May 1, 2013)
— www.MainStreetNewsSports.com — Section B May 1, 2013 The Banks County News THOMPSON ON THE FIELD Senior Tanner Thompson makes contact with a pitch in the first inning against the Vikings. WARMS UP Senior Tyler Hellmeister gets warmed up during the pre game festivities. Celebrating the seniors Leopards honor graduating team members while dealing with a string of losses FIRST RUN SCORED Senior Austin Smith finds home plate for the first run scored by the Leopards. Photos by Randy Crump BASEBALL SENIORS Seniors Billy Hudgins, Austin Smith, Tyler Hellmeister and Tanner Thompson pose for a group photo for the last home game of the season. TO SECOND BASE Dylan Suttles takes sec ond base to be in scoring position for the Leopards. BY RANDY CRUMP Banks County High School’s varsity Baseball woes continued this week with three more games in the loss column. East Hall beat the Leopards at home 4-3 and the Leopards lost to North Hall 10-0 and Fannin County 8-0 on the road to end the season. The Banks County Leopards celebrated Senior Night before the East Hall game last Monday evening. Seniors Tyler Hellmeister, Billy Hudgins, Austin Smith and Tanner Thompson took to the field with parents in tow to receive medals for the accomplish ments made during their high school years on the team. All four seniors have played on the team for four years. The Leopards opened senior night against the East Hall Vikings with a two out play on a base runner and a bunt. Jacob Bullock took down the third batter with a strike out at the plate. Austin Smith got on base and stole second to be driven home by a single by Taylor Turner for the Leopards 1-0 lead. But the Leopards left one on base at the end of the inning. Bullock walked two in the top of the sec ond inning before the team could catch up and helped him out of the inning. BCHS made some connections at the plate but failed to score any runs during the bottom of the inning. Bullock walked the first batter of the third inning. The second batter was retired from the Vikings lineup. The bases were loaded on two beaned batters from Bullock. The Vikings went ahead by two runs on a shot to left field. A wild pitch got past Taylor Turner at the plate to score the fourth run of the inning for the Vikings. Bullock retired the next batter to end the top of the third inning 4-1. The Leopards bats failed to produce any runs in the bottom of the third inning and the lead stayed 4-1 Vikings. East Hall put two run ners on base in the top of the fourth inning. Bullock picked one of the runners off trying to steal second and the last batter of the inning hit a short pop fly to short stop Billy Hudgins to end the top of the inning. Dustin Ledford got the leadoff walk and Austin Segars got a hit to load first and sec ond base for pitcher Jacob Bullock. Bullock reached first and the bases were loaded for senior Tyler Hellmeister at the plate but he failed to get a hit at this at bat. Tanner Thompson hit a shot deep to center field to score Dustin Ledford and Austin Segars. The Vikings lead shortened to 4-3. Bullock took the first batter of the inning down with a strike out. The Vikings got a double on a shot to the fence in center field. The Leopards kept the Vikings from scoring in the inning with a couple of infield plays to first base. Then, the Leopards went down at the plate watching the ball as the top of the sixth inning started, Vikings lead 4-3. Thompson threw the first batter of the sixth inning out at first and Bullock retired the second batter of the inning. A beaned batter gave East Hall a base runner. A second batter was walked and the Vikings had a runner in scoring position in the top of the sixth. A pop fly to the infield ended the threat to score a run from the Vikings. Nothing happened with the Leopards bats and they were put down at the plate and at first base to end the bottom of the sixth inning. East Hall put a runner in play and he stole second base on a wild pitch. Thompson caught a pop fly for out two in the top of the inning. The Leopards got out of the inning with Turner making the third strike play to first base. Two well hit balls gave the fans a glimmer of hope that the Leopards could pull out a win. Austin Smith took to the plate with two outs. Smith went out to short left field to end the game was 4-3 Vikings. On Wednesday, “rain” was the central theme at North Hall. However, after a two hour and fifty-five minute rain delay, North Hall and Banks finally got started. Unfortunately, the Leopards never could get anything going against North Hall’s number one pitcher Adam Kelley. Kelley struck out nine Leopards while giving up only one hit, a single by Billy Hudgins. The final score was 10-0 in 5 innings. On Thursday, Banks County traveled to Blue Ridge for the 2013 season finale. Unfortunately, Banks was unable to end the season on a winning note. The Leopards lost 8-0. Leading hitter for the Leopards in their four hit attack was Taylor Turner who was 2 for 2 with a walk and two stolen bases. The Leopards ended the season 1-20 with a .048 winning percentage. TRACK SENIORS Banks County High School track seniors, Tori Smallwood, Eli Smallwood, Ryan Seabolt, Mason Patton, Francisco Hurtado, Tyler Hubbard and Hayden Dilbeck, celebrated Senior Night at the varsity baseball game on Monday evening. Rayshawn Hunter was also a senior on the track team but not present for the cel- WRESTLING Hanley named Coach of Year BY RANDY CRUMP Banks County High School wrestling coach Kasey Hanley will receive the High School Coach of the Year Award by the National Wrestling Hall of Fame - Georgia Chapter after taking his team to the first state title for any sports team in the Leopards history. “I am extremely honored by the award,” Hanley said. “I know that none of this would have been possible without all the hard work of our wrestlers and our coaches. I realize that my name may be on the award, but it was not my effort alone that made it possible. This award represents the effort and time of all our coach es and wrestlers. Coach Sam Baxter, Coach Mark Crook, Coach Tyson Baxter, Coach Adam Nichols, our USA coaches and myself all play different roles. This award represents all of us. I believe one of the keys to the success we have had is that there are no egos on our coaching staff. I am thankful for all of them.” The award will be presented at the National Wrestling Hall of Fame - Georgia Chapter 2013 Banquet at the Hilton Atlanta Northeast in Norcross Sunday, May 5, at 4 p.m. Inductees will include John Kalvelage, “Outstanding American.” “Lifetime Service to Wrestling” will HANLEY TO BE RECOGNIZED Coach Kasey Hanley will receive the High School Coach of the Year Award from the National Wrestling Hall of Fame at a cer emony in Norcross on May 5. be awarded to Bob Eddy, Jay Gassman (posthu mous), Rick Hennebaul, Gary Humphries and Nick Janoulis. There will also be awards given by the Georgia Chapter of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame for “Most Outstanding High School Wrester,” “Most Outstanding College Wrestler of the Year” and “Most Outstanding Official.” ebration. Photo by Randy Crump Hewell headed BY RANDY CRUMP The Banks County High School Leopard track team competed in the state sectionals at Bulloch High School on April 27. Makayla Hewell placed third in 3200 girls meter run with a school record time of 12:07.56. Makayla will be participating in the AAA state to state in track final track meet in Albany Georgia on May 9. Jaylyn Lack participated in the girls 400 meter dash, Greg Cannon in the boys 400 meter dash, and the 4x400 meter boys relay team consisted of five seniors, Tyler Hubbard, Francisco Hurtado, Greg Cannon, Eli Smallwood, and alternate Ryan Seabolt.
