Newspaper Page Text
Sports
VetoF. L
Sports editor I
Braves have
the best and
worst teams
How about them Bravos! And,
just what is wrong with the Bravos?
The Atlanta baseball system is a
wonderful system with a pair of
teams heading in totally opposite di
rections. On one hand, you have the
parent club in Atlanta threatening
the status of the 1927 Yankees;
while on the other hand, you have
the single A Macon club doing a
startling imitation of the 1899
Cleveland Spiders.
"Who are the Spiders?" you say.
The Spiders played 154 games in
1899. They managed to win a grand
total of 20 games. The Macon
Braves will play around 150 games
this year. So far, they have played
12 games and are yet to be victori
ous.
So bad are the Single A Braves
that they are the only team in pro
fessional baseball, at any level, to be
without a win this late in the year.
Eventually, Macon will bless
Luther Williams Field with a win.
The law of averages dictates that ev
ery team will eventually win and ev
ery team will eventually lose.
The only question is how long
Macon will go without a win.
• • •
The 1983 Atlanta club is one of
my favorite clubs of all time. I re
ally liked the lineup they had.
Although Mark Lemke is a pretty
good secondbaseman, my favorite
player on that team was Glenn Hub
bard. I enjoyed the effort he gave
around the bag.
Looking back at that team, it is
interesting to note that only one
player from that team, Steve
"Bedrock" Bedrosian, on„the current
Atlanta team. He took charge of a
bullpen by committee to record nine
wins against 10 losses and 19 saves.
With the Braves 7-1 win over the
Cardinals, the current Braves now tie
that team for the best start in Atlanta
history. The 'B3 version of the
Braves opened the year with 13
wins, before losing the next five. If
the Braves win one of their next
four, they will have the best start by
an Atlanta team.
Atlanta is not the only hot team
in the Georgia area.
While the Hornets started off like
the Macon Braves, in recent days
they have played like the Atlanta
Braves, winning their last three-four
games to take second in their region.
Westfield almost has a lock on the
second place position. A few lucky
breaks for the Hornets and they could
win the region.
Perry saw its season come to an
end with a 4-1 loss to Jones County
in Gray.
However, next year should be a
very good year in Perry baseball.
The Panthers will lose only one se
nior from this year's team. While
that senior, Dallas Waldrip, will be
very hard, if not impossible, to re
place, they will return a lineup that
has been filled with no less than six
freshmen and sophomores. Perry
looks to be loaded for the next two
three years.
Also, helping some, the Panthers
move down in classification next
year, from AAA to AA. While the
Panthers were one of the smaller
schools in AAA, they should be one
of the larger schools in AA.
• • •
Speaking of Perry, if you see Ja
son Brett, congratulate him for Sat
urday. After a shaky first inning, the
Perry shortstop, appearing on the
mound against Appling County, re
turned to pitch the final inning
against the Pirates in a 13 inning 6-
5 win for the Panthers. Brett had 20
strikeouts in his time on the mound.
• It
Let me correct one little thing I
printed in this space last week. The
physicals for South Houston County
will be given at Perry High School
instead of Perry Hospital on May
21. Chip McCarty, head trainer for
Westfield and Perry High School,
said that if you want to compete in
high school or middle school sports,
male or female, you will be at Perry
High School May 21—no excep
tions. Cost is $5, and the physicals
», are required by state law.
Perry ends season with 4-1 loss at Jones
By Phil Clark
Special to the HTJ
The Jones County Greyhounds
are no strangers to baseball play
offs.
Under Cecil Patterson, they won
250 games, including the 1989 class
AAA state championship. The team
has two alumni in the major
leagues, Willie Greene and Rondell
White.
And the Greyhounds are back in
the playoffs, winning the season fi
nale Monday night over the Perry
Panthers , 4-1, in a game Perry had
to win in order to keep playoff
hopes alive.
Even if the Panthers could have
won, it would have taken one more
game, and one more win, to ad
vance. But with the victory, Jones
County joins Ware County, Wayne
County and Fitzgerald in the region
playoffs.
This game was everything a
game of this importance should be.
It was a classic pitchers duel be
tween the 'Hounds Jason Maddox
and Perry's Dallas Waldrip. Each
pitcher gave up three hits. Maddox
struck out 13, Waldrip 11.
But in the only place that counts,
Jones outscored Perry 4-1.
It was a heartbreaking loss for
coach Bob Jones and the young
Panthers. But Jones said after the
game, "We're a better team for this
experience. We're young, and we'll
be back next year with a contender.
"Our young players gained a lot
of experience, and a lot of maturity.
Dallas (Waldrip) pitched well
enough to win tonight, but their kid
Maddox pitched the game of his
life. He was stronger at the end than
he was all night.”
Maddox struck out the side in
both the sixth and seventh innings
in accumulating his total of 13.
But Waldrip was just as tough as
the big senior right hander battled
the Greyhounds inning for inning
until Jones finally broke through for
a run in the fourth.
Hornet thinclads see action
By VETO F. ROLEY
Staff Writer
Westfield had a preview of the GISA AAA state tournament
Saturday, taking part in a 13 team meet in Macon.
The men's team raced to a fifth place finish, while the women's team
finished in sixth.
The men's score is a little deceiving since Nathan Greer and Brad
Walton placed first and second in the pole vault, providing 18 of the
men's 34 points.
Both thinclad teams finished far behind meet winner, Stratford. In the
women’s team, the Hornets finished with a 37, 120 points behind
Stratford, which had a winning margin of 157-67.
The men's squad finished 131 points behind Stratford. Although
Stratford would enjoy a commanding lead, the margin was closer among
the men than it was among the women, with the Tattnall men finising
with a score of 129,37 points behind Stratford.
"I'm a little disappointed," said women's track coach Donna
Campbell. "I felt like we should have placed somewhere around third
place."
Although Campbell is realistic about her team's chances in the state
meet, she hasn't given up on the region meet, noting that her runners
have beaten both FPD, which finished second Saturday, and Tattnall,
which finished fourth Saturday, in other meets.
"It looks like we are going to be able to compete for the region
championship," said Campbell.
Jennifer Smith was the top point getter for the women thinclads,
collecting 23.75 of the Hornet's 37 points.
Smith was second in the long jump with a jump of just of 15 feet
Please see Thinclads, page 9A
Westfield solifies second with win over Monroe
By VETO F. ROLEY
Staff Writer
Westfield took advantage of
Mustang wildness to score four
runs in the first and four runs in the
seventh to beat Monroe Academy in
region action Monday 9-4.
The win solidifies second in the
region for the Hornets. Westfield
still has an outside shot at region
leader Tattnall, but for the Hornets
to win the region, they need help
from some of the weaker teams in
the region.
The win also extends a three
game Hornet winning streak. After
starting the season with a 2-11
mark, the Hornets have improved
their record to 5-11.
All five of Westfield's wins have
come in the region, with only two
of the 11 losses coming inside the
region.
Tm happy with the way the last
two weeks have gone," said Hornet
coach Bert Brown. "Even with the
two losses two weeks ago, v/e
showed improvement. Maybe, we
are heading to a peak at the right
time."
Senior pitcher Lon Talton is
also starting to show the form that
he showed during his sophomore
and junior year, form that helped
make him the ace of the Hornet
With one out, cleanup hitter Ja
maro Thomas lifted a foul pop
down the third base line that short
stop Jason Brett and thirdbaseman
Terry Yawn couldn't catch up with.
After the fly ball dropped be
tween them down in the bullpen,
Thomas delivered a double for the
first hit off Waldrip. Then the hit
Pirates and Panthers play 13 inning game
Perry 200 100 200 000 1 69 f
Appling 300 000 200 000 0 5 14 i
■k i
Sr A ■ - *
'V % 1 “ Wg 1
Jason Brett gets Ice applied to his arm from athletic trainer Chip McCarty. Brett took
the win against Appling County, getting 20 strikeouts In the game.
staff.
After starting the season with
five straight losses, Talton holds all
three recent Hornet wins, two as a
starter and one in relief.
"Lon (Talton) came into the sea
son with a lot of self-imposed ex
pectations," said Brown, who added
that he and Talton talked two weeks
ago, just before the Hornets and
Talton went on the winning streak.
"He’s more relaxed now. He is a lit
tle more confident about the defense
behind him."
Brown added that the Hornets
were starting to hit a little better in
recent weeks. "We are getting to the
point were we feel we have a chance
when we get behind," he said.
After allowing a single run in
the top of the first, the Hornets
struck for four in the bottom half of
the inning.
Four consecutive walks to Matt
Shepley, Billy Kitchens, Troy Nuss
and Lon Talton brought home the
first run across the plate. A passed
ball plated Kitchens, while moving
Nuss and gallon into scoring posi
tion.
Nuss scored on Jake Walls
grounder to second. Thad Hawk
singled to left-center to plate Talton
two outs in the game.
The Hornets would add a much
Houston Times-Journal
ting star for the 'Hounds, first
baseman Josh Still, delivered a line
drive double to score Thomas with
the first run of the game.
Jones got another run in the fifth
as Damon Redding reached on an
error with one out, stole second and
came around on another infield er
ror. The run came without the bene
Gators devour young Panthers
By VETO F. ROLEY
Staff Writer
Ware County scored nine runs in
the first two innings Friday after
noon to dominate Perry.
Although the Panthers would
score two runs in the first and sec
ond innings, the Gators would re
main in control, adding two insur
ance runs in the top of the fifth to
take the 11-2 win.
A win against the Gators would
have given the Panthers a chance to
make it into the Region 2AAA
playoffs with a win against Jones
County Monday night. However,
any chances of the Panthers partici
pating in post-season play were
ended when the Greyhounds came
through with four late inning runs
to beat Perry in Gray 4-1, ending
the Panthers season.
After Ware County rocked Perry
pitching sending 10 batters to the
plate in the first for five runs on
five hits, including a three RBI
double by Benjie James, the Pan
thers came back to break the score
board with a single run in the bot
tom of the inning.
needed insurance run in the third.
Clay Smith and Hawk reached
on errors by the Mustang shortstop.
Sheldon Shelton came through with
an infield bunt single to third to
load the bases. Once again, Mus
tang wildness forced in another run,
this time with Lance Watson draw
ing the RBI walk.
However, that would be all the
runs the Hornets could muster as
they left the bases loaded. Mustang
pitcher Johnson came back to strike
out the side, getting the top three
hitters in the Hornets order.
The third would be the second
consecutive inning where Westfield
left the bases loaded. In the first,
two walks and a hits-batsman
loaded the bases with one out.
However, a strikeout and a fly to
left would end the Hornet threat.
The Mustangs slowly chipped
away at the Westfield lead, scoring
two in the third and one in the fifth,
setting up potential disaster for the
Hornets in the later innings.
For most of the season, the
Hornets have had problems gelling
people out in the sixth and seventh
innings, losing many games in
their opponents last at-bats.
However, the situation was dif
ferent Monday at the Hornet's Nest.
With Talton tirine. Brown went to
Wednesday, April 20,1994 Houston Times -Journal
fit of a hit.
With runs on the board, Maddox
got even tougher. Jones got two
more runs for Maddox in the sixth
to take a 4-0 lead.
Maddox saw his shutout go by
the boards as the Panthers got one
in the seventh.
Jason Brett, who had two of
One of the cardinal rules in
baseball is to never walk the leadoff
hitter in an inning, especially with
a big lead. However, the Gators
would break that rule, walking
Travis Cantrell to start the game.
The Panthers would make them pay
for that mistake.
After the walk, Cantrell stole
second. He moved to third on Terry
Yawn’s grounder to second. The
Panthers scored their first run when
the Gators exchanged the run for an
out on Jamie Walker's grounder to
first.
In the second inning, the Gators
again sent 10 players to the plate,
this time scoring four runs on three
Soccer team wins fourth
By Chad Shannon Lewis
Special to the HTJ
Granted, the Perry High soccer
team doesn't have a great deal of
tradition—at least, not a winning
one.
But if they continue to improve
and keep their winning streak alive,
his bullpen to start the sixth in
ning, bringing in Brian Staines.
Staines, who started the game at
* • EXT) jl
il mmgumt 31
bp
4c wm
Clay Smith gets chased back to first against Monroe
Academy Monday. Smith paced the Hornet offense with
two base hits.
Page 7A
Perry's three hits, lined a shot past
the centerfielder for a triple to lead
off the inning. Maddox struck out
Tim Allen; but, the ball eluded
catcher William Whiddon, allowing
Alen to reach first. However, Brett
was forced to hold at third.
One out later, Nathan Long's
Please see Jones, page 9A
By VETO F. HOLEY
Staff Writer
It was a game that Perry had to
win. While Appling County had
long since been eliminated from
playoff contention, they still
wanted recognition as spoilers.
In the end, it was a classic, as
fans got to see the equivalent of
two games for the price of one,
with the Panthers pulling off the 6-
5 win in 13 innings.
Junior Jason Brett did everything
that he could do against the Pirates,
recording the win on the mound
with 20 strikeouts, and getting the
"game-winning" hit against
Appling twice, once in the seventh
and once in the 13th.
"It was a tremendous ballgame,”
said Perry head coach Jones, who
added that the effort his team
showed in hanging in through extra
innings overshadowed the mistakes
that they made. "The mistakes we
made as a team, baserunning,
fielding and hiuing, did not cost us
the ballgame."
"It was a great effort by Jason
(Brett)," said Jones. "He pitched one
of the finest ballgames I’ve seen
him throw. He did a magnificent
job in the eighth, ninth and 10th
innings hanging in there when he
was tired."
After stranding six Pirate runners
in extra-innings, Brett got the
Panthers back on top in the 13th.
Jamie Walker started the inning
Please see Extra, page 9A
hits.
The Panthers would get their fi
nal run of the afternoon in the bot
tom half of the second. Jason Brett
led the inning off with a single.
One out later, he moved to scoring
position on Ben Hulbert's single.
Derrick Oliver picked up the RBI
with a two out single.
Tim Allen and Oliver paced the
Perry offense with two hits each.
Oliver was perfect at the plate, get
ting hit-by-a-pitch on his third trip
to the plate.
The improved Ware County's
record to 17-3 on the season, and 9-
1 in the region.
they may just earn the tradition they
desire—one of a champion.
After knocking off Columbus
and Kendrick for their first-ever
back-to-back victories, the Panthers
took their record-breaking streak on
Please see Soccer, page 9A
third, would not allow a single
Mustang runner in his two innings
Please see Wastfleld, page 9A