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Sports P gs||- 4filiMHK i ’M-. '-• 1 > -^, tll ' W S I g y jp ~’ m * ' \ \ 48r ' nB) I feu W^ktoK 1 vv iJm r*V-. v MSSfe txvm ■ s w J'W «r THE BEST J3V GEORGIA Coach Loren Tucker (left) and assistants Pat Ellis and Coleman Leslie (right) gather with the Georgia champions. Members of the team include (seated, from left) Marissa McGe- Georgias best! Perry Ponytails win state, head to Mississippi By ALLINE KENT HOltt JOUKNAL STATT On Aug. 6, If you are driving around Perry and see a large convoy headed out with cars and vans painted up, don’t worry, it will be the Perry Junior League Ponytails All-stars on their way to luka, Miss. The team, girls 11-12 years old, won the Georgia State Tournament this past weekend and will represent Georgia and the city of Perry in the Dixie Youth Girls World Series. Nine states will be represented in the dou ble elimination tournament, which was held in Perry last year. The Ponytails first game is scheduled for Aug. 7 for the first game of the tournament. Their opponent will be the Mississippi state champions. All though it might sound cliche, it was definitely a combination of hard work, deter mination and extreme athletic talent which earned these young ladies the state title, coaches believe. Without the berieflt Of it was straight to the state tournament after team was formed for these young ladies. . The tournament started or the team July 14 with the Ponytails bombing the team from Camden County 24-14. Kaitlin Ellis pitched all six innings of the game. Leading hitters on the night were Megan Garner who went 3-4 with 4 RBIs; Tonya Carrasco 3-5, with 4 RBIs; and Marissa McGehee 2-4 also with 4 RBl's. The defense was headed up with great plays from left fielder Heather Tucker and catcher Meghan Gamer. Gamer made sever al good stops at home and got several run ners out at they attempted to cross the plate, coachfes reported. July 15 the Ponytails suffered their only loss of the tournament against Taylor Coun ty going down 15-14 in extra innings. Katie Beth Yelton pitched a strong game and also had a strong hitting game that evening going 3-5. Marissa McGehee went 2-5 with a home run and Heather Morrill went 2-3. The Ponytails faced a rematch against Camden County July 16. The Ponytails came away again big winners with a score of 20-11. Kaitlin Ellis, with only day’s rest, pitched the whole game again and went 2-3 at the plate. McGehee had a triple and double and Brittni Adkison went 3-5. Honorable men will honor their contracts Don Sutton said it on a recent Atlanta Braves’ broadcast. “Hon orable men honor contracts", Sutton said about the news that major league baseball umpires have resigned effective Sept. 2. They have a contract which extends through the current baseball season, but have decid ed to “resign" a month before the end of the regular season, hoping to put baseball into enough of a bind that they will get their way in recent squabbles. Understand, umpires are cru cial to the game. But there are just 65 or so of them in the major leagues, so the jobs are extreme ly hard to come by. The umpires have been given some very poor advice by their head, Richie Phillips. The union seems to think that by resigning with more than a month left in the season, they will have the upper hand in future negotia tions. Phillips envisions a reorgani zation of the group into Umpires, Inc, which would then hire itself out to major league baseball. But Home Journal Photo by Alline Kent hee, Megan Garner, Brittni Adkison, Amanda Tucker, Tonya Carrasco, (back) Heather Tucker, Michelle Harris’ Hather Morrill, Katie Beth Yelton, Kaitlin Ellis, Mindy Lawhom and Ashley Gray. July 17, in the first of two games that were played that day, the Ponytails beat Taylor County 24-6. The team really came alive in the fourth scoring 11 runs in the inning. Three pitchers combined on the mound: Yelton, Gamer and Ashley Gray. Heather Tucker had a single and double and went 3- 5, McGehee had a home run in the fourth while Ashley Gray went 3-4 with a triple. Other players from the Ponytails team with strong bats that morning were Mindy Lawhorn, 2-4; Michelle Harris, 2-3 and Heather Morrill 3-3. Morrill made a game-ending unassisted double play in the fifth inning. Later that day, the Ponytails once again faced Taylor County. 16-7 McGehee pitched all six innings. Adkison went 2-4 with a home run and Amanda Tucker went 3-4 with a double. With the bases loaded, a strong throw from left center fielder Mindy Lawhorn to second baseman Yelton stopped a potential run scoring threat. Not only did the girls win the State title but also were given the Sportsmanship award. Head Coach Loren Tucker said that part of that award, selected by both umpires during the tournament Athletic Directors from par ticipating cities, was due to the fans and the parents. Tucker is assisted by coaches Pat Ellis and Coleman Leslie. “The award we were given for sportsman ship is based on sportsmanship on the field and in the stands,” Tucker said after the tournament. “We really want our fans to know how much the team appreciates them.” Tucker thanked the volunteers who helped with gate admission and preparation of field. "Our volunteers helped our team in many ways so that our parents didn’t have to. This allowed our parents to watch games.” The Ponytails will have 2 weeks of practice before leaving for the World Series in Missis sippi. Expenses incurred are the responsibil ity of the team so donations are needed. If a business or individual is interested in sponsoring the Georgia State Champion team, they can call Tucker at 987- 6490 or Ellis 892-3747. “We are very excited about going,” said Tucker. “We will do our best to represent the city of Perry and the state of Georgia well”. Phil Clark Home Journal Sports the union would govern itself. Baseball, on the other hand, wants to have the umpires under the Jurisdiction of Sandy Alver son, a league vice-president. The umpires have objected to being told by baseball to modify their strike zones, in other words, interpret the strike zone as it’s spelled out in the rules. Most ball-and-strike umpires had a strike zone that wasn't even close. Moreover, their strike zones differed dramatically from umpire to umpire. It was next to impossible for pitchers or hitters to know what to expect. Calling balls and strikes according to the rules shouldn't Page 6A Wed., July 21, 1999 be too much to ask, should it? The umpires thought so. All sea son, they have had short fuses when it comes to ejections. And it all goes back to the Roberto Alo mar spitting incident, the penal ty for which the umpires were very displeased. But then, so was the general public. In that incident, sympathy was with the umpires. But I fail to generate any sympathy for them and their threatened resignation before their contract expires. By resigning, though, they will each receive a severance package of something like $400,000. The umpires were further infu riated recently when Tom Haitian was suspended for bumping a player. Shouldn’t he have been? When a player bumps an umpire, it’s automatic. The arro gance of Phillips has carried over to many of the umpires such as Angel Hernandez and a few oth ers who apparently have placed themselves above the game they officiate. Richie Phillips is at the root of it all. He envisions coercing the GISA prep all star games on tap this week at Macon fields Br PHIL CLARK Local sports fans should remember this week’s Geor gia Independent School Association all-star games in basketball and football since eight former Westfield stars have been named to the various teams. The squads are divided Into South and North, with the best senior players from all classifications compris ing the teams. For the South girls. West field's Laura Posey will be playing her final high school basketball game, MR; . m. P'' - THE WINNERS With their trophies are members of the Perry Junior League 7-8 year old all stars. They are [front, from left) Perry Kiser, Taylor Crook, Clint Mixon, Thomas Arrington, Sam Kinnas, Junior League 7-8 year-olds finish fifth in state By ALLINE KENT Horn JOUKKAL BTAfT It might not have been as far as they wanted to go. but the Perry Jr. League 7- 8 year old All-Stars went much farther than most. The All-Stars earned both a district title and came in fifth in Georgia during last weekend state tournament. The tournament started off for the Perry team with a loss to Loganville. The All- Stars led the game 5-0 Girls softball team wins District 6 title SrtClAI. TO THE Home JOUttWAI fhe berry Recreation Department girls' 11 and 12 year old All-Star team won the Georgia Recreation Park Asssociation Dis trict 6 softball champions, with an 11 to 10 victory over the Washington County All- Stars. Joe Hendrix is the coach for the team. Carl Fairfax and Craig Smith are assistant coaches. The girls will go to the state tournament in Vidalia on July 30 and 31. Players are Houston Him Journal while on the boys’ side, Brian Hartley and Robert Causey have been named to the squad. Billy Sellers, the West field girls' coach last year, is serving as a South assis tant coach. In football, Ronnie Jones of Westfield heads up the South squad, assisted by Jamey Watson. Jones will take along five of his out standing seniors from last year’s team including quar terback Trevor Jones, full back Jared Shell and line men Chad Ekey, Matthew Lee and Robbie Heaton. going into the final inning. “We started to have prob lmes with our pitching," explained head coach Ken Davis, “and then had a bad call at first that sent us into extra innings.” The Perry All-Stars beat Fayette 3-1 July 18 in the first game of a double head er but lost to Collins Hill in the next game in a game that coaches say could have gone either way. “We really played good minor league umpires into his dispute, thinking by doing so. he can control the profession. I’ll say this, if I were a minor league umpire, working my fanny off for years in the minors for an oppor tunity to make it to the big time, I’d think a long time about letting Richie Phillips throw it all away for me. There are only about 65 jobs in the majors, and many umpires stay on the Job for 20 years or more, so it isn’t like there are hundreds of new faces every year. Yes, I’d think long and hard before I listened to Richie Phillips, who lets his enormous ego get into the way of reason. To resign before the end of the season is the most absurd ges ture I’ve seen. They can’t strike, since they have a no-strike clause in what’s left of their con tract. Major league baseball should just go ahead and accept the res ignations and go in another direction. There are many umpires apt there, good ones, who would be willing to work for The basketball games will be played July 22 at First Presbyterian Day School, with the girls game starting at 6:30, with the boys game to follow. The football game is scheduled for July 23. with an 8 p.m. kickoff. The game will also be played at FPD. Fans should be warned that there is considerable on-campus construction going on at FPD. and the most convenient parking for all games will be in the football parking area behind the gymnasium. Nicholas Kinsley, (second row) Clint Kirk, Jordan Stephens, Casey Young, Dustin Sanders, Chad Roughton, Brooks Moody, Adam Davis and (back) coaches Trey Moody, Ken Davis and Perry Kiser. enough to win that one, said Davis. “It might have been different if we could have had some more hits. We did struggle with pitch ing some, but our kids don’t pitch during regular season and alot of these teams do. But through out it all, we never gave up. We were in it trying the whole time." “We had good competi tion and a good time. We just came up a little short of our goal," he said. The Perry girls will play in the state tourney in Vidalia July 30-31. Leslee Hendrix, Lori Calloway, Erica Fluellen, Ann Buckholtz, Ashley Lane, Ash ley Langston, Ashley Fairfax, Dameka Har ris, Rashoda Cheatham, Latosha Sparrow, Kristin Schratt, Stacey Askew and Mandy John. major league baseball. The best advice I could give them is tear the resignations up, tell Richie Phillips good-bye, and stay on the job. Honorable men honor con tracts. Sutton’s words, taken from a newspaper editorial he’d read while in Boston for the All- Star game, ring very true. There are way too many whiners out there who are perfectly willing to break a contract at the drop of a hat. Right here at home, Atlanta Falcons’ running back Jamal Anderson is a prime example. Refusing to attend mandatory camp, and threatening to sit out the season if his demands aren't met, Anderson has blatantly dis honored his contract. One running back does not a team make. The Falcons should wave bye-bye to Anderson. Maybe he can get a job with Richie Phillips, if both egos could fit into the same room. Special Photo