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Sports
Phil 3
Masters'
green stays
foreign
European dominance of the
prestigious Masters golf tournament
continued at Augusta last week.
Webster defines prestigious as
honored, distinguished, famed,
renowned, reputable and notable.
He doesn’t say a thing about Euro
pean dominance.
When Jose Marie Olazabal (Ahl
a-thob-ul) closed out the last chal
lenger, Tom Lehman, on the 18th
hole Sunday afternoon, he became
the sixth European in the past seven
years to win the Masters' champi
onship and the coveted green
jacket
But while Olazabal was going
about his job in a methodical,
workmanslike manner, defending
champion Bernhard Langer was
having all sorts of problems.
Langer's troubles came on the
treacherously fast greens, and the
German never broke par in a single
round.
The Americans had a few bright
spots in the early going. In fact,
Lehman led going into Sundays fi
nal round. The same Tom Lehman
who finished third last year. The
same Tom Lehman that just three
years ago was playing on the Hogan
Tour (now Nike) and made stops in
Macon.
But it was Lehman's inexperi
ence down the stretch that opened
the door for Olazabal. When the
Spaniard drilled a 30-foot eagle at
number 15 to take a one shot lead,
the American, with just three holes
left, couldn't catch up again.
Lehman's bogey at 18 was mean
ingless, since Olazabal parred from
off the green.
The fast greens at Augusta are
best suited for the style of play Eu
ropeans are accustomed to. They
play on such courses all over.
Most courses on the PGA tour
are designed with relatively soft
greens which reward shooting at the
flag. Augusta will punish a golfer
for doing it
That's why the European players
are able to execute the bump and
run more effectively at Augusta.
They do it all the time. That's why
Greg Norman has a hard time at
Augusta.
Norman, himself a European,
hits the ball extremely high with a
lot of bite. Consequently, his style
is to fly the ball straight at the flag.
But then, Greg Norman, as good
as he is, has never won the Masters.
The course just doesn't fit his style,
and that of most American golfers.
There was cause to be hopeful
Thursday, Friday and Saturday as
Lehman, Larry Mize, Tom Kite,
and, for a while, Tom Watson,
stayed in or near the lead.
But it was the relentless style of
Olazabal on Sunday that captured
the green jacket. He joins the Ger
man Langer in 1993, lan Woosnam
of Wales in 1991, England’s Nick
Faldo in both 1989 and 1990 and
England’s Sandy Lyle in 1988 as
recent wearers of the fabled jacket.
Only Fred Couples in 1992 has
been able to break the recent Euro
pean domination. Couples missed
this years tournament with a back
problem.
If you go back a dozen years,
you find just four American win
ners, Couples, Mize in 1987, Jack
Nicklaus in that dramatic 1986 win,
and Ben Crenshaw in 1984. Langer
won in 1985 and Steve Ballesteros
of Spain in 1983.
Pre-tournament favorites like
Norman, Faldo, .'lick Price, and
sentimental favorites like Cren
shaw, Watson and Ray Floyd all
agreed on one thing. You have to
use your head to play Augusta Na
tional.
Most of them didn't.
Crowd favorite John Daly made
the cut, but that's about all. The
long bail hitter doesn’t have the
touch around the greens to play
Augusta yet.
Speaking of long hitters, Daly
and lan Woosnam were paired to
gether all four days, and have now
played ten rounds together at the
Masters.
Olazabal's nine-under total of
279 is actually a stroke under the
average Masters winning score of
280, despite four days of wind and
Please see Clark, page 8A
Hornets play their way to playoffs
Beat Bulldogs...
By PHIL CLARK
Special to the HTJ
It was short and sweet out at the
Hornets Nest Thursday afternoon.
It was short because the Hornets
disposed of George Walton on the
10-run, five inning rule, beating the
Bulldogs 10-0 when Billy Kitchens
doubled home two runs in the bot
tom of the fifth.
It was sweet because it was the
Hornets' second straight victory, the
first time the team has accom
plished that feat this year.
It was also a region game and
improves the Hornets to 4-2 in re
gion 2AAA, behind Tattnall's 5-1.
Walton drops to 2-4 in the region,
while Athens Christian, losers to
Tattnall Thursday, are 3-3, same as
Mount de Sales.
Lon Talton pitched by far his best
game of the year, facing just one
batter over the minimum over five
innings, giving up just two base
hits, with six strikeouts and no
walks, while the defense behind
him was flawless.
rat
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Lon Talton had gone most of the year without a win, before collecting wins against
Mount de Sales and George Walton last week.
Panthers get revenge over Fitzgerald to stay in PO hunt
By VETO F. ROLEY
Staff Writer
The Perry Panthers scored three
runs in the top of the first, and then
held on to defeat the Fitzgerald
Purple Hurricanes 6-5 in Fitzgerald.
The win keeps Perry in the
region race with three games to go.
the Panthers must win one of the
next two region games before
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Perry coach Bob Jones must find a way to get four
games In five days out his three starters If the Panthers
are to make the region playoffs this season.
One of the baserunners, Matt
Perkins, was gunned down trying to
steal third base with two out in the
second inning. Michael Gibbs was
the Bulldogs only other baserunner
with a fifth inning single, but he
was left on base as Talton got des
ignated hitter Chris Ralston to pop
to shortstop Matt Shepley.
Bulldog freshman starter Tony
Biscaglia eased through the first
two innings, giving up just a one
out single to Jake Walls in the sec
ond. Walls was picked off first,
though, so Biscaglia faced just six
batters in the first two innings.
But in the third, his control sud
denly left him and he walked the
first three batters in the third as
Thad Hawk, Sheldon Shelton and
Lance Watson drew walks before
Matt Shepley's grounder was mis
handled at third.
Hawk had alread scored the Hor
nets first run when catcher Jason
Barnes threw past third trying to get
Please see Bulldogs, page 8A
traveling to Jones County.
The Panthers played Ware
County, a team which beat Perry
14-5 last week in Waycross, Friday
after the paper had went to press.
On Saturday, the Panthers travel to
Appling County, who they beat 7-1
on March 19, for a 3 p.m. game.
Even should the Panthers beat
the Gators and the Pirates, the game
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Thad Hawk, who beats out a single Saturday vs. Glenwood, homered to lead the
Hornets against Mount de Sales, and collected three hits to lead them against
George Walton.
Monday against Jones County is
still the most crucial game of the
Panther’s season.
Both teams should come into the
season final with identical region
records. However, Jones County
holds the advantage over the
Panthers due to a 6-1 win in Perry
on March 24.
The win Thursday afternoon, the
Panthers avenge a tough early
season loss to Fitzgerald, who beat
Perry at home 7-1, almost a month
ago. The loss was tough since
Dallas Waldrip carried a 1-0 lead and
a no-hitter into the sixth inning.
The Purple Hurricanes were able
to turn a couple of Perry fielding
errors into two runs in the sixth to
Soccer team collects second win of year
By VETO F. ROLEY
Staff Writer
After going two years without a
win, the Perry soccer program is
trying to shed its image of an easy
mark.
Tuesday, the Perry spring foot
ball team took an enormous step
towards respectability, beating a
solid Columbus High School team
1-0 for their second win on the
year.
Although the Panthers had won
earlier against Vidalia, Vidalia was
a first year team. "This was our
Houston Times- Journal
... beat de Sales
By PHIL CLARK
Special to the HHJ
It wasn’t easy, but the Westfield
Hornets finally showed they can
come back and win a game in the
late innings.
That's what they had to do Tues
day afternoon at die Hornets Nest,
getting an important Region 2AAA
win over the Mount de Sales Cava
liers, 8-7.
Getting what Coach Bert Brown
called a "contribution from every
body, either on offense or defense",
the Hornets improved to 3-2 in the
region while Chester Pierce saw his
Cavaliers fall to 3-3.
"Region wins are the important
thing," said Brown. "We’ll be
matched with Region 3AAA in the
playoffs. We use the same format
as football, where nwmber one
plays four and two plays three."
Westfield disposed of Cavaliers
starter Jason Balkcom in the first
inning, scoring four runs on just
one base hiL
Matt Shepley and Billy Kitchens
drew walks ahead of an infield sin
gle by Troy Nuss which loaded the
bases. After Lon Talton walked to
force in the Hornets first run, Balk
com was replaced by Kevin
Demichiel, who opened in center
field.
But Demichiel had his own
problems, throwing two wild
pitches which scored Kitchens and
Nuss. Talton scored the fourth run
of the inning on an RBI grounder
by Clay Smith.
The four-run lead was short
lived, though, as the Cavaliers came
right back to score five in the sec
ond inning, the only bad inning for
freshman Brian Staines.
John Carey and DeMichiel
opened with singles. A Wesley
Cobb walk loaded the bases for
Cody Hale, who promptly delivered
take the lead. The no-hitter was not
broken until the seventh, when
Fitzgerald took advantage of a tired
Waldrip to score five runs.
Perry head coach Bob Jones has
said several times that the loss to
Fitzgerald, and a later loss to Dodge
County in Eastman, were two
games he would like to have back.
Perry started the game by taking
advantage of the wildness of Blake
Wilson, despite the availibilty of
Keith Morris, who beat Perry early
in the season.
Travis Cantrell and Terry Yawn
started the inning by drawing
walks. A fast ball in the dirt moved
the Perry runners to second and
third.
first year against anyone with an
established program," said soccer
coach Carl TTiomas.
"It was probably the best game
that we have played all year," said
Thomas.
"We are at the point in our pro
gram where any win is an impor
tant win," said Thomas. "We are
trying to build the program from
the down up.
"In a lot of ways 2-5 (Perry's
record on the year) doesn't sound
like a great record," said Thomas.
However, he said the record was
Saturday, April 16,1994
Page 6A
a two run double. Balkcom’s single
scored Cobb, and both Hale and
Balkcom scored on Keith Hatcher’s
single.
The inning could have been big
ger for the Cavaliers, but Sheldon
Shelton threw out Hatcher trying to
steal, the first of two runners Shel
ton would throw out on the after
noon.
Brown said, "Shelton's two
caught stealings and Stains' two
pickoffs in the middle innings were
crucial plays."
Still, the Cavaliers took a 5-4
lead. But, they held it just briefly as
the Hornets used singles by
Kitchens and Nuss and an RBI
grounder by Jake Walls to tie the
game at three after three.
It stayed that way until the bot
tom of the sixth as both Staines and
DeMichiel settled down on the
mound. Thad Hawk, who had three
RBI doubles in the first meeting be
tween these two teams, put the
Hornets on top with a lead-off
home run in the sixth as he took a
DeMichiel fast ball over the right
center field fence for a 6-5 lead.
It was really looking good for
the home team when Staines
coaxed Lance Keen and Balkcom to
lift pop flies to the right side of the
infield for two quick outs opening
the Mount de Sales seventh.
But a two-out walk to Hatcher
prompted Brown to make a pitching
change, bringing in Lon Talton to
face Herndon; but, the Cavaliers
third baseman hit a sharp single to
center, with Hatcher stopping at
second.
Brandon Lockhart then hit a
grounder past third baseman Jake
Walls, and when the ball eluded the
left fielder, both Hatcher and Hern
don scored for a 7-6 Cavaliers lead.
Please see de Salsa, page 8A
Jamie Walker flied out to
centerfield for the first Perry out of
the day. However, his fly ball gave
Cantrell the room he needed to
score. Waldrip then swatted a single
by a diving Hurricane thirdbaseman,
scoring Yawn.
Although the fifth batter in the
Panther order would look at a third
strike for the second out, Waldrip,
who was running on the pitch, was
safe at second for a stolen base.
Terry Allen drove in Waldrip when
his grounder to third bounced off
the bag and into left field, giving
the Panthers the early 3-0 lead.
The saying is that any pitcher
can win when he is own. The good
Please see Perry, page 8A
somewhat surprising since the Pan
thers were moved from the Macon
league to the Columbus region,
which has two of the top 10 soccer
programs in the state. "If we were
playing in the same league that we
were playing in last year, we could
be around .500."
Thomas also noted that the two
Panther wins have come on home
turf. "At least we are starting to
play better and defend our own
turf."
One of the problems that Perry
Please see Win, page 8A