Cartersville native R.B. Clyburn added to his strong golf resume this week by earning the final qualifying spot for the United States Golf Association Amateur Championship in competition Monday and Tuesday at the Capital City Club Crabapple course in Milton, Georgia. Clyburn, who now works as a college basketball official, finished in a tie for 30th recently at the Georgia State Golf Association’s 100th Amateur Championship. Monday and Tuesday he fired rounds of 67 and 66 to finish at 7-under-par 133. That was good enough to earn a spot in a playoff for the fifth and final qualifying spot from the Capital City Club qualifier. Clyburn, a member at Cartersville Country Club and a former Georgia Tech football player in the late 2000s, won Tuesday's playoff over current Georgia Tech sophomore golfer Bartley Forrester of Gainesville, Georgia to capture a spot in the 312-player field at Oakmont Country Club in Pennsylvania August 9-15. Recent Georgia Tech graduate Noah Norton shot 64-65 (11-under-par) Monday and Tuesday to capture medalist honors. Norton’s performance enabled him to qualify for the U.S. Amateur for a fifth straight year. Other golfers earning a trip to Oakmont from the Capital City Club qualifier included runner-up Deven Patel of Johns Creek (65-66), Brent Hamm of Warner Robins and Troy University (68-64), and Hunter Fry of Dacula who is a USC-Upstate senior (65-67). A total of 132 players attempted to qualify for five spots in the Capital City Club qualifier.

A pair of local Little League Baseball tournament teams will be in action at their respective state tournaments beginning Saturday. The Bartow County Little League 12U team will be hosting the Georgia Little League state championship tournament at Hamilton Crossing Park while the Cartersville Little League 11U team will be in action in Dudley, Georgia just west of Dublin. The schedules for both tournaments are listed below. Bartow 12U won the District 1 championship by winning two of three games against Cartersville Little League 12U. Cartersville 11U swept Rockmart 11U in a best-of-three series to win their District 1 title. Bartow County Little League 12U: Noah Janssen, Drew Nida, Wyatt Garlin, Zaylen Cochran, Hayden Miller, Matt Zander, Taylor Hicks, Rush Faulk, Raiden Sexton, McCayden Hufstetler, Trenton Mealer, and Drazen Jones. Manager: Joe Janssen. Coaches: Joe Jones and Tarron Miller Cartersville Little League 11U: Aiden Turner, Avery Slye, Blake Genrich, Braden Slocumb, Brant Rutledge, Brody Jones, Brooks Fulton, Cam Kachinsky, Luke Thompson, Mason Davis, Noah Kearney, River Wade, Steven Tumlin, and Will Phillips. Manager: Lee Daniel. Information for local Little League softball and baseball updates along with updates from Georgia Recreation and Parks Association baseball and softball tournaments are provided by the Cartersville and Bartow County Recreation Departments and the respective Little League Baseball and Softball organizations. The updates are presented by CiCi's of Cartersville located in the Cherokee Crossing shopping center.

Former Cartersville High baseball players continue to try and advance their careers as we progress into the second half of the Major League Baseball season. Sam Howard bounced back Friday after a tough outing to strike out the side. Meanwhile, Connor Justus was sent down to AA Pensacola after 22 games at AAA Jacksonville, and Anthony Seigler had a solid week as he continues to work his way back from injury. PRO BASEBALL SAM HOWARD — Pittsburgh Pirates (8th-year pro; Cartersville HS)… — Howard struck out the side in his lone inning of work last Monday against Atlanta. However, his final outing ahead of the all-star break went off the rails, with the New York Mets racking up five earned runs on one hit, one hit batsman and three walks in just one-third of an inning. CONNOR JUSTUS — Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp (6th-year pro; Miami Marlins organization; Cartersville HS) — Justus returned to Double-A last week and finished 3-for-15, including two doubles. He added four walks, three runs scored and two RBIs. ANTHONY SEIGLER — Hudson Valley Renegades (4th-year pro; New York Yankees organization; Cartersville HS) — Seigler returned from injury to play in the final three games of Hudson Valley's series with Brooklyn. The former first-round pick wound up 3-for-10 with a double, two walks, two runs scored and two RBIs.

The 10U Bartow County Little League team saw an early lead evaporate Sunday and was eliminated at the Georgia Little League 10U state tournament by Franklin County Little League, 8-7. Bartow built a 6-0 lead in the first three frames but Franklin County plated six runs in the bottom of the fourth inning to knot the score, 6-6. Franklin County went ahead 7-6 in the bottom of the fifth inning but Bartow County tied the score in the top of the sixth. In the bottom of the sixth inning, Franklin County loaded the bases on three walks and took the one-run win with a walk-off single. Houston Walden (3.2 IP, 3ER, 4H, 1BB, 3K) started on the mound for Bartow County and cruised through the first three frames until running into trouble in the fourth. Logan Smith (0.0 IP, 3ER, 2H) followed and was touched for three more runs before Brodie Gardner got out of the inning with a line-out to third base. Gardner(1.1 IP, 1ER, 4H) yielded a run in the fifth and Noah Rogers (0.1 IP, 1ER, 1H, 3BB, 1K) was tagged with the pitching loss in the sixth. Cade McCorkle paced the Bartow County 10U offense with four hits and one RBI. Rogers followed with a pair of hits and four RBIs. MJ Raughton and Maddox Koontz both had two hits. Joseph Frederick finished with one hit and one RBI. Walden, Gardner, and Smith added one hit apiece. BARTOW COUNTY SENIOR LITTLE LEAGUE SOFTBALL FALLS AT STATE TOURNEY The Bartow County Senior Little League softball team split a pair of games Saturday at the Georgia Senior Little League state tournament hosted by Oconee County Little League in Watkinsville, but was eliminated Sunday afternoon in a loss to Vine Ingle Little League of Macon. Information for local Little League softball and baseball updates along with updates from Georgia Recreation and Parks Association baseball and softball tournaments are provided by the Cartersville and Bartow County Recreation Departments and the respective Little League Baseball and Softball organizations. The updates are presented by CiCi's of Cartersville located in the Cherokee Crossing shopping center.

R.B. Clyburn of Cartersville shot a final round 70 (1-under-par) Sunday to finish the 100th Georgia State Golf Association Amateur Championship at Cherokee Town and Country Club in Atlanta in a tie for 30th place. Clyburn, who was the only local golfer to make the 36-hole cut in the tournament, shot rounds of 73-73-72-70 on the par-71, 7,105-yard North Course. His final round was his best of the four day event. He started slowly with a double bogey on hole No. 10, but completed the round with five birdies, two bogeys, and ten pars. Four of his five birdies came over his final seven holes of the day. Rising high school senior Harris Barth of Westminster in Atlanta won the championship by one shot over Will Kahlstorf and two shots ahead of Stephen Behr and Josh Edgar. Barth (68-72-69-67) finished the 72-hole championship at 8-under par 276. Kahlstorf, a UGA golfer from Watkinsville, fired rounds of 70-68-69-70. Behr, 27, who played at Clemson and resides in Atlanta, shot 70-71-68-69. Edgar, a graduate student and golfer at Georgia State, tied for third with rounds of 71-68-69-70. The complete leaderboard with final scores is available at — https://www.golfgenius.com/pages/2808157

The 10U Bartow County Little League team stayed close until the end, but it was Warner Robins 10U with a three-run, top of the sixth inning to pull away for a 6-3 win in both teams’ opening game at the Georgia 10U state championship tournament. The 2021 tournament for 8-10 year-olds is being hosted by Martinez-Evans Little League just outside of Augusta at Crawford Creek Park. Bartow County held an early lead with single runs in both the bottom of the first and second innings, but Warner Robins chipped away with single runs of their own in the second, third, and fourth frames to take a 3-2 lead. Both offenses went scoreless in the fifth inning before Warner Robins grabbed a 6-2 lead in the sixth. Bartow 10U threatened in their half of the final inning and even loaded the bases after scoring a run to narrow the margin to 6-3. A groundout, however, ended the threat and the locals suffered an opening round three-run loss. Bartow utilized five different pitchers in the loss. Cade McCorkle was tagged with the pitching loss in relief of starter MJ Raughton. McCorkle, who gave up only one earned run on three hits and did not walk a batter, took the mound in the fourth and worked into the sixth inning. Raughton allowed two runs (only one earned) on four hits and two walks. He struck out five. Prior to McCorkle taking over, Noah Rogers struck out the only batter he faced to close out the third inning. Bartow reliever Houston Walden was touched for three earned runs on four hits in the sixth inning. Brodie Gardner hit a batter, but got a come-backer to end the Warner Robins’ sixth. McCorkle had a pair of hits for Bartow including a triple. Rogers had a hit, a walk, and two RBIs. Logan Smith, who also stole a base, contributed a double and a walk to the Bartow attack. Gardner and Walden both chipped in with one hit apiece. Will Whitman swiped a pair of bases. Bartow 10U will play in an elimination game Sunday afternoon at 2:30 p.m. against Franklin County. BARTOW COUNTY SENIOR LITTLE LEAGUE SOFTBALL SPLITS TWO GAMES SATURDAY AT STATE TOURNAMENT The Bartow County Senior Little League softball team (13-16 year-old) split a pair of games Saturday at the Georgia Senior Little League state tournament hosted by Oconee County Little League in Watkinsville. Bartow Senior softball fell to Vine Ingle in their first round game, but picked up a win in their second game against the Warner Robins American. Bartow now has a rematch against Vine Ingle Sunday at 2:15 p.m. in an elimination game. A win would advance Bartow to the finals against West Point at 4:15 p.m. The Bartow team would also need a win in that game to force an “if needed game” in the finals that would be played Monday night at 7 p.m. Information for local Little League softball and baseball updates along with updates from Georgia Recreation and Parks Association baseball and softball tournaments are provided by the Cartersville and Bartow County Recreation Departments and the respective Little League Baseball and Softball organizations. The updates are presented by CiCi's of Cartersville located in the Cherokee Crossing shopping center.

R.B. Clyburn shot a 1-over-par 72 in Saturday’s third round of the 100th Georgia State Golf Association Amateur Championship in Atlanta and moved up a few spots on the leaderboard. Clyburn, who was the only one of five local golfers in the tournament to make the 36-hole cut with a pair of 73s, moved up from 46th place to a tie for 39th after three rounds. The final round in the 72-hole event will be conducted Sunday at Cherokee Town and Country Club. With split tee times Saturday, Clyburn started on hole No. 10 and made a birdie-2 on his second hole of the day. He later made bogey at No. 16 to turn his first nine holes at even par for the day. Back-to-back bogeys on No. 2 and No. 3 were followed by a birdie on the par-5 fifth hole. Clyburn then parred his final four holes of the day to finish with a 72 on the par-71, 7,105-yard North Course. Matt Hughes of Dalton, a senior golfer at the University of Alabama, is tied for the 54-hole lead with University of Georgia junior and Watkinsville native Will Kahlstorf at 6-under-par. Hughes (70-70-67) and Kahlstorf (70-68-69) will be joined by Kennesaw State sophomore Takafumi Shimoji in Sunday’s final threesome. Shimoji, along with Australian and Georgia State grad student Josh Edgar plus UGA junior Eli Scott of Hartwell are tied for third place at 5-under-par. In total, 21 players are 1-under-par or better heading into Sunday’s final round.

Cartersville’s R.B. Clyburn fired a pair of 2-over-par 73s and is tied for 46th place at the Georgia State Golf Association’s 100th Amateur Championship being conducted July 8-11 on the par-71, 7,105-yard North Course of Cherokee Town and Country Club in Atlanta. Clyburn carded a pair of birdies Thursday to offset four bogies in an opening round 73. Friday he made four birdies to go with four bogies and one double bogey. The starting field of 144 players earned spots in the championship by exemptions from previous U.S.G.A. or G.S.G.A. tournaments or they qualified at one of a dozen qualifying sites competed May 25-June 21. William Love of Atlanta, a rising senior at Westminster, holds the tournament lead at the mid-point at 9-under-par. Love, who has committed to Duke University, shot 67-66 to lead Eli Scott of Hartwell and Luke Ferrara of Atlanta by three shots as the tournament moves into the weekend. Scott is a junior at the University of Georgia and a member of the Bulldogs’ golf team. Ferrara is a 2021 graduate of The Lovett School. Deven Patel, who led Johns Creek High School to a fifth straight Class 6A title in May, along with Georgia Bulldogs’ junior Will Kahlstorf of Watkinsville and Kennesaw State sophomore Takafumi Shimoji round out the top six at 4-under-par. In total, 16 players are under par through the first 36 holes of the 72-hole event and 76 players advanced to weekend play. The other Cartersville golfers who qualified for the 100th Georgia Amateur Championship failed to make the 6-over-par, 36-hole cut. UGA’s Buck Brumlow shot 74-76. Dallas resident and Cartersville Country Club member Tevis Upton had rounds of 76-77. Chanc Willis of Cartersville shot 81-78 and Chad Branton withdrew due to injury after an opening round 78 and a poor start on Friday. The tournament continues Saturday and Sunday.

The Daily Tribune News has announced its 2021 girls and boys All-County soccer teams. Adairsville senior Cat Wheeler was named the Bartow County girls Player of the Year with Cass senior Kaleb Speights taking the boys Player of the Year honor. GIRLS PLAYER OF THE YEAR Cat Wheeler, Adairsville senior GIRLS ALL-COUNTY TEAM Kendyl Anderson, Cartersville senior Abbey Craig, Cartersville junior Tiera Feanny, Woodland senior Megan Hardin, Adairsville junior Yecenia Hernandez, Cass senior Devondria Johnson, Cartersville senior Sadye Johnson, Adairsville senior Ellie McBride, Adairsville senior Lillie McBride, Adairsville senior Chloe Ravish, Woodland junior Taylor Rhoades, Adairsville senior Madison Shook, Cass senior Leidi Toribio, Cass senior Hattie Williams, Cartersville freshman GIRLS HONORABLE MENTION Emma Baker, Cartersville senior; Abby Carlsen, Woodland junior; Emma Collins, Adairsville junior; Trista Kelly, Cartersville senior; Annie McCormick, Adairsville sophomore; Meli Reyes, Cass senior; and Mia Scott, Adairsville junior. BOYS PLAYER OF THE YEAR Kaleb Speights, Cass senior BOYS ALL-COUNTY TEAM Braxton Benham, Cass senior Jackson Brennan, Cartersville senior Hunter Echols, Woodland sophomore Omar Garcia, Cass senior Giovanni Jacobo, Cartersville senior Emanuel Lopez, Adairsville senior Magno Moreno, Cass senior Alex Rios, Cartersville junior John Robinson, Cartersville senior Isai Romero, Cass senior Chris Sanchez, Woodland freshman Joel Zazueta, Cartersville senior BOYS HONORABLE MENTION Daniel Abeja, Cartersville sophomore; Caden Anderson, Cartersville sophomore; William Gonzalez, Adairsville senior; Ricky Le, Cass junior; Kevin Polo, Cass senior; Edgar Rojas, Adairsville senior; and Cooper Varga, Woodland sophomore. For more details on the DTN Girls All-County Team For more details on the DTN Boys All-County Team GIRLS https://daily-tribune.com/stories/2021-dtn-all-county-girls-soccer-team,29220? BOYS https://daily-tribune.com/stories/2021-dtn-all-county-boys-soccer-team,29174?

The Bartow County Little League 10U baseball team heads into the 2021 Georgia Little League Championship Tournament this weekend at Crawford Creek Park near Augusta as the District 1 champions. Bartow County 10U defeated Cartersville 13-6 and had a pair of wins over Rockmart, 14-3 and 11-1, to capture the District 1 championship back in June. The state 10U tournament, hosted by Martinez-Evans Little League, includes eight district champions in a double-elimination format. Play begins with all eight teams in action Saturday and will continue through at least the following Thursday with a potential “if necessary” championship game on Friday, July 16. 2021 Georgia Little League Baseball 10U Championship Tournament Members of the Bartow County 10U team include: Karsin Darby, Joseph Frederick, Brodie Gardner, Maddox Koontz, Cade McCorkle, Benjamin Nida, Noah Rogers, Logan Smith, Houston Walden, Leroy Watts, MJ Raughton, and Will Whitman. Manager: Dustin Smith. Coaches: Justin Watts, Khyri Rogers, Jeremy Gardner, and Robbie McCorkle. Information for local Little League softball and baseball updates along with updates from Georgia Recreation and Parks Association baseball and softball tournaments are provided by the Cartersville and Bartow County Recreation Departments and the respective Little League Baseball and Softball organizations. The updates are presented by CiCi's of Cartersville located in the Cherokee Crossing shopping center.

Following a week-plus on the injured list due to knee tendinitis, Cartersville High graduate Sam Howard made his return to the Pittsburgh Pirates bullpen this past week. The left-handed hurler went right back into his role of pitching in nearly every other game for the Pirates. Entering Monday's game against Atlanta, Howard had pitched in 36 of 74 possible games for Pittsburgh — not including the nine he missed while on the 10-day IL. Away from the diamond, former Canes hoops standout A.J. Mosby wrapped up his first season in The Basketball League. Mosby's Shreveport Mavericks suffered a first-round sweep, but he continued to impress with 41 points, 12 rebounds and 11 assists in the series. PRO BASEBALL Sam Howard (Pittsburgh Pirates; Cartersville) — Howard returned from the injured list and pitched two total innings across three outings last week. After allowing an earned run on three hits in two-thirds of an inning June 30 at Colorado, the southpaw posted a pair of scoreless outings against Milwaukee. Howard recorded one out in a brief July 1 cameo, and the former Georgia Southern standout struck out two in a full inning of work two days later. Connor Justus (Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp, Miami Marlins organization; Cartersville) — Justus finished 2-for-11 with a walk and a run driven in across three starts for Jacksonville in a series last week at Memphis. Anthony Seigler (Hudson Valley Renegades, New York Yankees organization; Cartersville) — The former first-round pick went 1-for-10 last week in three appearances against Jersey Shore. Seigler's lone hit was a double, and he also drew a walk. PRO BASKETBALL A.J. Mosby (Shreveport Mavericks; Cartersville) — The Mavericks suffered a two-game sweep at the hands of the Houston Push in the opening round of The Basketball League playoffs. Houston earned a slim 102-99 victory in Game 1 Thursday on the road before rolling to a 127-98 win in Game 2 Saturday at home. Across the two games, Mosby scored 41 points, pulled down 12 rebounds and dished out 11 assists. He also recorded a steal in each contest. -- contributed by Nicholas Sullivan, The Daily Tribune News

Spencer Fields of Kingston completed the AJC Peachtree Road Race 10K this holiday weekend in 20th place out of the 24,328 runners participating in 2021. The Peachtree was competed over two race days this year plus there were another 8,000 runners who took part virtually as a result of COVID-19 protocols. Fields, a Rhodes College graduate, was also the top runner for the state of Georgia. The 23-year-old completed the 6.2 miles in 30:35 averaging 4:55 per mile. Atlanta’s Chris Marco (26, 31:15) finished 23rd overall as the next best Georgia finish. Sam Chelanga (36, Niceville, Florida) finished two seconds ahead of Fred Huxham (25, Ross, California) and Clayton Young (27, Provo, Utah) to win the 2021 Atlanta event. Chelanga finished the course in 28:43.