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Sports
More Than
The Home Of
The Braves
The Atlanta Braves are winding
up Spring training, preparing to go
to Atlanta and make another run at
a division title.
That being so, I decided to de
vote the majority of this column to
something real important, the fate
of Westfield and Perry High base
ball teams.
It is unfortunate that Westfield
has gotten off to a 2-6 record for the
first half of the year. They really are
much better than that.
One thing that points to their
being a better team than their over
all record is the fact that both of
their wins have come in region
games. When the games really mat
ter, and region games really matter,
the Hornets have managed to settle
down and come out with wins.
A second thing that points out
to their being better than their
record is the fact that they have
played seven innings in every
game. Bad teams don’t play seven
innings. They hang around for five
innings before the umpire merci
fully ends the game with one team
10 points or more ahead.
There have been very few games
the Hornets have been out from the
start this year. Earlier this year,
Westfield had a bad habit of coming
the game and, seemingly, leaving
in the fifth or sixth innings.
Unfortunately, as I have earlier
noted, the game lasted seven in
nings.
However, and fortunately for
Bert Brown, coach of the Hornets,
Westfield has stopped that practice
of late. The Hornets could very well
be above .500, if they had not
fallen apart late in several games.
The Hornets have a chance to be
a very good team. While their
pitching is not exceptional, i.e.,
they do not have a pitcher or two
capable of going out and overpow
ering any team in the nation, in
cluding those in the pros, it is very
solid.
Defense also seems to be solid.
The pattern of Hornet errors seem
to suggest lack of concentration
rather than lack of leather in the
field. But, as pointed out earlier, the
Hornets are doing better of late
keeping their heads in games, espe
cially late in the game.
The Hornets do, as many teams
from schools their size do, have a
problem with hitting in the bottom
of the order. That could cause prob
lems against teams like Tattnall,
Windsor and Stratford later on. For
that reason I don’t really see the
Hornets threatening for a state
championship.
That being said, baseball is truly
a game of defense and pitching. The
Hornets defense and pitching are
solid enough to keep them close in
most games. Teams have been
known to rise and fall on the arm of
one or two pitchers.
The Hornets are a very solid 2-6
team. If they can put it together at
the right time and if the baseball
“gods” smile down on them, well
anything is possible.
The same can also be said of the
Perry Panthers. Coach Bob Jones
has a young group of players play
ing in the pit. In a year or two,
don’t be too surprised if the
Panthers make a strong run at a
state championship, they should
have the talent to go all the way.
Youth and inexperience, how
ever, pose a great challenge to the
94 Panther team. Although Jones
can look to three seniors on the
roster, he knows that day in and day
out he will count on only Dallas
Waldrip to be in the starting nine.
Inexperience results in mental
mistakes at the wrong time. Youth
results in 14-year-old batters not
having the physical maturation to
get around on 18-year-old flame
throwers. The only cure for inexpe
rience is playing time. The only
cure for youth is growing time.
While generally solid throughout
the order batting, the Panthers do
lack some important numbers on
the mound.
Most teams would love to have
the starting trio that mount the hill
for the Panthers. Waldrip and Jason
Brett are very solid, win producing
pitchers. Troy Davis, a sophomore,
has shown a great arm, allowing
See Roley, page 7 A
Panthers Remain In Region Race
Beats Wayne County
By VETO F. ROLEY
Sun WrlUr
Jason Brett and Wendall Spradley
engaged in a pitching war Saturday
afternoon, with Brett silencing
Wayne County’s bats and Spradley
silencing Perry’s bats.
However, when the smoke had
cleared away, Brett and the Panthers
had won the war 4-1.
Perry would score three runs in
the first two innings of play to give
Brett the cushion he needed to work
with for the remainder of the game.
For the first six innings of play,
Brett would allow only one Yellow
Jacket runner to get into scoring
position, Matt Bennett with two
outs in the third.
Brett, who pitched the complete
game, gave up only five hits and
one walk.
“I was very pleased with the way
he threw,” said Perry coach Bob
Jones, who noted Brett only threw
87 pitches in the game. “He stayed
ahead of the hitters and had good
control. He let the kids back him
up.
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Troy Davis prepares to come home as a Jones County runner Inches off third.
Golfers Compete In Weekend Matches
By VETO F. ROLEY
Staff Writer
The Perry High School Panther
golf team met the Innsburk Golf
Course in White County, with the
golf course coming out ahead.
Competing in the White County
Invitational, the Panthers came in
sixth of 21 teams, finishing the 36
hole tournament with a 683, 35
strokes behind the leader.
Stan Gann was the leader for the
Perry duffers, finishing as low
medalist for the Panthers with a
two day total of 160, 16 strokes
ahead of Andrew Willard, who fin
ished the weekend event with a 176.
Westfield Maintains Region Lead With 8-7 Win
By Phil Clark
Spoctal to the HTJ
Bert Brown's Westfield Hornets
have won just two games going into
the spring break, but fortunately
both have come in region 2AAA.
Friday at Morgan Field in
Macon, Thad Hawk was the hitting
star as the Hornets beat the Mount
de Sales Cavaliers 8-7 to improve
to 2-0 in the region, taking the early
lead over Tattnall, losers Friday to
Athens Christian. Tattnall is 1-1. ]
Westfield returns from the break
with a game Thursday at John
Milledge, then will meet Tattnall at
home Friday afternoon in a region
game.
Westfield jumped out to an early
lead in the Mount de Sales game.
Clay Smith reached on an error
but was forced by Sheldon Shelton.
But Hawk came through with the
first of three run-scoring doubles,
driving in Shelton with the first run
of the game.
Westfield added two more in the
inning as Hawk came around to
score on a Billy Kitchens single.
Matt Shepley forced Kitchens, but
Brian Staines came through with
the Hornets second double of the
inning to score Shepley and give
the Hornets a 3-0 lead.
After Lon Talton retired the
Cavaliers in the second on a
“He was in command, even
though he is not overpowering,”
Jones said of Brett, who struck out
only three batters on the day. “That
is the key to Jason (Bren) having
success. Don’t walk anybody and
make them hit it.”
With one out in the first, Terry
Yawn got the Perry offense going
with a single to right. Brett fol
lowed with a single to center to put
runners on first and second. Dallas
Waldrip put the first two Perry runs
across the plate with a double to
left-center.
Perry scored its run in the second
without the help of a hit. Jamal
Reynolds led the inning off with a
walk, moving to second on Jamie
Walker’s slow grounder to second.
Nathan Long tapped a grounder
to third. The Yellow Jacket third
baseman flipped the ball across the
diamond. However, the Wayne
County firstbaseman dropped the
ball, putting runners on the comers.
Reynolds would score on a wild
pitch to give the Panthers a 3-0
See Win, page 7A
Woody Sundquist shot a 179,
Jim Birdsong a 182 and Paul Smith
a 191 to round out the Panther
team.
“We shot well the first day,” said
coach Johnny Barton. After 18
holes, the Panthers were fourth on
the leader board with a 333.
However, Perry shot 17 shots
worse the second day to move out
of contention and into sixth place.
“The course was extremely
tough,” said Barton, who added that
it showed no mercy to bad shots.
“It was a very hilly course with nar
row fairways. If you hit a ball out
of the fairways, it was disaster.”
harmless single, Westfield went
back to work at the plate.
Troy Nuss was hit by a pitch to
open the inning and after a Talton
single moved him into scoring
position, Nuss scored on a Clay
Smith fielders choice.
Later in the inning, Hawk
delivered his second double of the
game plating Shelton, who had also
reached on a fielders choice. Smith
also scored in the inning, making it
6-0 Westfield after two and a half
innings.
The Cavaliers used three singles
and a walk to produce a run in their
half of the third, but Westfield
promptly got it back in the top of
the fourth without the benefit of a
hit. A hit batsman, two walks and
an RBI grounder by Clay Smith got
the run in as Westfield regained the
six-run lead.
But the wheels came off
defensively for Westfield in the
Cavaliers fourth as two errors, a
misplayed pop fly and a muffed
run-down play between third and
home help Mount de Sales to five
runs in the inning to cut the lead to
a single run at 7-6.
Kevin DeMichiel led off with a
single, followed by a single by
Cobb, a double by Hale and a wa;lk
to Keen. The walk chased Talton in
favor of freshman Staines, who got
1
A Wayne County runner dives back ahead of Jason Brett’s throw Jamal Reynolds.
Barton said course management
was the key to success on the
Innsburk course. “The course pays a
premium for people who keep the
golf ball in the fairways,” he said.
“Course management is critical, ex
tremely important. In high school
play, it is probably one of the last
things young players learn.”
On Monday, it was Willard, in
stead of Gann, who set the pace for
the Panthers in the Tift Blue Devil
Invitational. Willard finished with a
75, taking home sixth place honors
in a 105 golfer event. Willard fin
ished four shots behind low medal-
See Golf, page /A
a fly ball out before a Keith Hatcher
single and an infield error.
By now, three runs were in with
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Brian Staines gets a Mt. de Sales batter to swing at a pitch In Macon.
Houston Hmes-Joumot
Page 6A
But Loses To Jones
By VETO F. ROLEY
Staff Writer
Perhaps they shouldn’t have can
celled Hawkinsville to make up
with Jones County.
The Panthers were scheduled to
face the Greyhounds from Jones
County on Thursday, but rain mov
ing through the area caused the
game to be postponed. For Friday,
Perry had scheduled a short bus ride
down 341 to take on Hawkinsville.
However, Hawkinsville was a
non-region game, and Jones County
was a region foe. The one day delay
had little effect on the Greyhounds,
who are expected to compete with
Ware County for the region title,
with Jones County taking Perry 6-
1.
Greyhound pitcher Rico
Washington had his way with the
Panther batters, who managed just
one run and three hits against the
hard throwing lefty. Washington
sent 15 batters back to the Panther
dug out with a third strike, eight
after looking at the third strike and
Pirates Hijack
Panther Netters
By VETO F. ROLEY
Staff Writer
It’s been a long season for the Perry Panther men’s team, who have
lost all six of their 1994 matches.
Saturday, the season got longer as the Appling County Pirates took
the Panthers 5-0 in a region match. The women’s team also lost to the
Pirates 5-0, moving the Lady Panthers to 3-3 overall and 1-2 in the
region.
Even though his men’s team is 0-6, tennis coach Luke Smith said
there has been improvement over the year. “If you gauge success by
winning, then we are not doing well,” he said. “But, if you gauge it
(success) by improvement, then we are doing well.
See Tennis, page 7A
two runners still on base. Herndon’s
single plated another and the fifth
run of the inning scored on another
Wednesday, March 30,1994 "Houston Times-Journal
seven swinging.
“He (Washington) did a great
job,” said Bob Jones, who added
that Washington could also throw
his breaking ball for strikes. “He
was extremely tough. He did throw
it by some of us.”
Some of Washington’s strike
outs came because the 17-year-old
senior was pitching against 14-year
old freshmen who had a difficult
time getting the bat around. “We
didn’t have the bat speed to get
around on the pitches,” said Jones.
“A iot of bat speed is strength.
That’s just maturation.”
Jones County was able to take
advantage of several Panther mis
cues, including three errors and a
bunt hit that was not covered by the
pitcher, in the second to take an
early 3-0 lead.
The Greyhounds would add a
single ran in the fifth and two in
the sixth to take a commanding 6-0
lead before the Panthers would be
able to mount a serious threat.
See Loss, page 7A
infield error. DeMichiel ended the
inning, tapping back to the pitcher
See Westfield, page 7A