Newspaper Page Text
Motnr g
OUR
SANPLOT
ON DECK
Today
Major League Baseball
■ Arizona at Atlanta. 7:35 p.m.,
TBS
BRAVES CORNER
Dodger 8, Braves 3
ATLANTA (AP) - Andre Ether hit a
two-run homer -
his fourth - and _ . .
drove in the go
ahead run with
an eighth-inning
single to lift the
Dodgers to an 8-3 victory over the
Atlanta Braves on Tuesday night.
Sele, denied his fourth win in his
fifth start since he was called up to
Los Angeles on May 6, walked three
and left with the game tied 3-3.
The Dodgers have won 10 of 12
and are 18-9 in May. The last time
they won 18 games in May was in
1993, when they were 18-8.
The Dodgers added three runs in
the ninth.
IN BRIEF.
Cross country series dates set
Warner Robins High School head
cross country coach David Erpelding
is pre
paring '"'z
to host
Middle
Georgia
Cfoss Country Summer Series at
Pearl Stephens Elementary School in
Warner Robins
The races are open to everyone
and the following races are planned:
■ June 15:3000 meters
■ July 6:4000 meters
■ July 20: 5000 Meters
Each race is slated to start at 7:30
p.m. on the Thursdays listed above.
Awards will be given for the top
five in each age group male and
female. 14-and-under, 15-19 and 20
and over.
The entry fee is $5. Runners
register on race day. Contact
Erpelding at 328-3208 or via e-mail
at Erpelding@bellsouth.net for more
information.
Landings offers summer special
Landings Golf Course has a sum
mer special for those ages 7 and up.
The cost is S2OO for nonmembers
and $175 for members and includes
the aforementioned clinics, two two
week programs and entry into all
junior tournaments.
Participants also receive one pri
vate lession (a S4O value).
Northside to host softball camp
Northside High School will be
hosting “Soaring Eagles" softball
camp June 12-16 at the school.
The camp is open to children age
4 on up to ninth-graders. The cost
is SSO.
Contact Mitch Horton at 397-0977
for more information or visit the
northsidesoftball.com Web site for
more. You can also e-mail Horton at
mhorton@hcbe.net.
According to a release these
areas will be taught: Hitting, bunting,
the suicide squeeze, base running,
sliding/diving, situational/position
defense, the hit and run, pitching,
catching and team competition.
WR Cheer Club to host tourney
The Warner Robins High School
Cheer Booster Club Golf Scramble
will be held June 10 at Waterford
Golf Course.
The format is four-person scram
ble - choose your own team - and
the cost is SSO per person or S2OO
per team.
The tournament is slated to begin
with a 2 p.m. shotgun start. Lunch
is at noon. The entry fee includes:
Lunch, green fee, cart and range
balls. There will be prizes for first
third (teams) and for the last-place
team.
There will also be a longest drive
and closest to the pin contests. Make
checks out to: WRHS Cheer Booster
Club and mail to: P.O. Box 456,
Bonaire, GA 31005. For more infor
mation, call 397-4596 or 923-3652.
HoCo band members to tee off
The Houston County High
School golf tournament will be held
Saturday at International City Golf
Course. The format is four-person
scramble. The cost is $35 which
indudes lunch. Registration begins
at 8 a.m. on the day with the tourna
ment slated to begin with a shotgun
start at 10 a.m.
There will be prizes awarded to
the top three teams along with a
longest drive and closest to the pin
contest. There will also be a hole in
one contest, which is sponsored by
Butler Toyota of Macon.
The event is a fund-raising event
sponsored by the Houston County
Eiand Boosters.
To register or for further informa
tion call 988-6365 or visit the Web
site: www.blackandsilverbrigade.
com. The rain date will be June 10.
THURSDAY,
JUNE 1, 2006
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Riley returns
to familiar site
By DON MONCRIEF
HHJ Sports Editor
Mary Riley of Perry will
take to the links once again
today when she contends at
the U.S. Women’s Amateur
Public Links Sectional
Qualifier at the Oaks Course
in Covington.
It’s a course and event she
knows all too well consider
ing she has competed there
and in the qualifier for the
past four years.
“It’s not a hard course,”
she said. “It’s a little long
but there’s nothing really
tough about it... not a lot of
bunkers.”
“You just have to hit it
straight down the middle,
keep it in play ... it has big
greens.”
Knowing all that intel
ligence, however, hasn’t
enabled her to secure one
of the six available primary
spots or one of the two alter
nate slots - at least yet.
This venue is also
See RILEY, page 7A
Spot ( ts
Basketball camp
About baseball - with a football note thrown in
Let’s start by warm
ing up the audience
with a few icebreak
ers (Hmmm, warm ... ice?
Oh, well.)
So Barry Bonds went
ahead and slipped past the
legendary Babe Ruth for
No. 2 on the all-time home
run list on Sunday.
He actually did it after I
penned the original draft
for yesterday’s piece, so
my thanks to Don for some
alert editing.
But I see no reason to
beat this subject with a dead
horse. (Hey! That Derby
winner is not dead yet. He’s
going to pull through, you’ll
see.)
I assure everyone no liv
ing beings were harmed in
the creation of this column,
but my dogs sure are kill
ing me after that hour-long
walk.
The last thing we need
is PETA snooping into our
operations.
The NSA already has me
so worried that I broke out
into patriotic songs every
so often while making my
Mother’s Day phone call.
Thanks to the miracle
of cable
t ele vi
sion, I
recently
saw a
replay
of some
thing
called the
Orange
and Blue
Debut.
That’s
the fancy
term
for the
W^S
w V*
PU-
Matthew Brown
HHJ Sport* Writer
University of Florida spring
football game. Didn’t see
the whole thing, but there
was some mention during
halftime of a “questionable
touchdown call.”
All I could think was,
“Those Gators can’t play
each other without cheat
ing.” Or, “I guess they have
to practice that part of their
game also.”
That’s enough humor.
Now on to a serious topic.
HoCo to host 30 teams
in Handball tournament
Demons, Panthers and Eagles to contend
By MATTHEW BROWN
HHJ Sports Writer
While the preference
would be to prepare for a
state championship series,
Andy Gentry still has a
mission for the Houston
County High School base
ball program.
This weekend, while 10
lucky high school teams
will battle it out for five
state titles, the Houston
Bears are welcoming 30
other teams to the Bear
Den for a little Hardball
Tournament.
The 2006 baseball season
for Houston County ended
in the quarterfinal round
last week with back-to
back losses to Collins Hill
High School in Gwinnett
County. It was also the
last time Gentry’s strong
senior class donned the
Bear uniform. For some of
those seniors, and certainly
for all those coming back,
baseball isn’t over with by
a long shot.
The Hardball
Tournament starts what is
basically a “spring train
ing” period for the Bears.
Middle Georgia Baseball League
returns to good, 'clean' fun *
By DON MONCRIEF
HHJ Sports Editor
It smells like a winner.
Players of the Middle
Georgia Baseball League
have just sniffed out a spon
sor for their special wooden
bat series Sunday.
It will now be called
the Odoßan Wood Bat
Series, thanks to sponsor
ship via the Clean Control
Corporation, which manu
factures the odor-eliminat
ing product.
It’s an important step
for now and for the future
of the league, said Middle
Georgia Baseball League
President (and player)
Chris Dunn, who added
they were also being court
ed by Outback and that
sponsorship may too pan
out before game day.
One, he said, it will allow
them to hold more wooden
bat venues and two, it will
allow them the option of
giving back a portion of
what they receive and/or
purchase with the sponsor
ship - i.e. balls, bats and so
Because some people may
have thought I was joking
around when I introduced
the independently-run
Matthew Brown University
of Georgia Bulldog Football
Trivia Contest.
It was brought to my
attention by someone I
know to have associated
with Yellow Jackets and a
Gator or two in the past
that I was basing this con
test on the assumption that
Bulldogs know how to read
and write.
I say we show them, all of
them, we can put a complete
sentence or two together ...
Actually ... well ... 0.K.,
tell you what, I’ll scrap the
part about writing the essay
on why it’s great to be a
Georgia Bulldog.
Instead, I’ll take the first
three Houston County
Georgia Bulldog faithful
followers to step forward
and answer the challenge.
Remember, I plan to ask
a series of questions about
Georgia Bulldog football
from the past 25 years.
I want to know who can
PAGE 6A
Gentry said the goals are
to move players around
for tryouts at different
positions, give his young
pitchers a chance to build
innings against varsity-cal
iber hitting and build solid
team chemistry.
In addition to teams
within Houston County, the
Hardball Tournament will
include Westside-Macon,
Jones County, Columbus’
Northside High and
Hardaway, Lee County and
a host of Atlanta schools,
including Luella. Gentry
expects around 90 games
total in three days begin
ning today.
Perry High School,
Warner Robins High
School and Jones County
High School are also host
ing similar tournaments in
June.
As for the 2006 season,
Gentry knew the potential
for big results was there.
However, he said only one
of the three team goals
were met.
That one was making the
state playoffs.
See TEAMS, page 7A
forth - to benefit the host
school’s program.
Plus, he said: “We want
ed to do something local-
ly. This
allows
us to do
that and
the com
munity
to be able
to come
out and
watch
us play
(free of
charge).”
As far
as ‘ why
wooden
bats are
impor
tant
to the
league,
which
sched
ules 21
AT A
GLANCE
What: Odoßan
Wood Bat Series
When: Sunday
Where: Thompson
Middle School:
Nationals versus
Astros, 1 p.m.;
Angels vs. Eagles,
4:30 p.m. Northside
Middle School:
Cardinals vs. Red
Sox, 1 p.m., Tigers
vs. White Sox, 4:30
p.m.
games, three of which are
of the wooden bat genre,
Dunn said it’s important
for several reasons.
See CLEAN, page 7A
come up with the answers
at the snap of a finger. And
there is a prize for the win
ner.
If anybody is wondering
when this will take place, it
will be anytime before the
start of August, before foot
ball practice starts occupy
ing all of my time. All other
details will be sorted out
with the contestants.
So contact me
through e-mail at
mbrown@evansnewspapers.
com or call me at 987-1823
ext. 237 to express your
interest.
Back on the subject of
hallowed baseball numbers,
here’s one not many people
think about. It’s the num
ber 100, as in 100 mph on
the radar gun.
It’s the kind of number
topped by Nolan Ryan and
Rich Gossage of the old
school and Billy Wagner of
the new school, and can
also put some people in the
stadium seats.
If you surveyed any
See BROWN, page 8A