The Cartersville Little League Rookie level team (8U) defeated Smyrna Red 8U Saturday in both teams’ opener of the Northwest Georgia Sectional Tournament at Smyrna Little League. Cartersville trailed 1-0 early, but scored three runs in the top of the second inning to take a 3-1 lead. The 8U Canes extended their lead to 5-1 in the top of the third, but Smyrna Red responded with a four-run third inning to knot the score at 5-all. Cartersville scored three more times in the fourth inning for an 8-5 advantage and then held on for an 8-6 victory. John Brady Nichols paced the Cartersville offense with a double, a triple, and two RBI. Mason Davis also contributed two RBI. Parker Huth and Avery Slye both stole two bases. Drake Bailey and River Wade each swiped a bag. Cartersville used three pitchers in the win. Slye (1 IP, 1R, 0ER, 0H, 1BB, 3K), Wade (1.1 IP, 1ER, 0H, 1BB, 4K), and Davis (1.2 IP, 4R, 3ER, 3H, 4BB, 2K) combined for nine strikeouts. Cartersville advances to the winners’ bracket Sunday at 11 a.m. to face Smyrna Blue who blanked Rockmart in their tournament opener, 14-0. CARTERSVILLE LL 9U DROPS TOURNEY OPENER The Cartersville Little League Sandlot level team (9U) lost its Northwest Georgia Sectional Tournament opener to Smyrna Blue 9U Saturday morning, 9-3, at Rudy York Field in Cartersville. Smyrna Blue took an early lead and Cartersville never quite recovered. Smyrna out hit Cartersville eight to two and scored runs in each of their offensive frames. Cartersville trailed 3-1 after one inning and fell behind 9-1 before scoring a pair of runs in the bottom of the fourth inning. Payton Paul had one hit and one RBI for Cartersville. Dixon Lindsey added one hit for the locals. Clint Hosea, Westin Barfield, Dallen Fuqua, and Cash Priest all pitched for Cartersville in the loss. Cartersville plays in a losers bracket game Sunday afternoon at 3 p.m against South Fulton. Smyrna Blue advances to play Bartow County Little League 9U Sunday at 1 p.m. Local Little League Baseball and Softball updates are provided on BartowSportsZone.com courtesy of Play It Again Sports - Cartersville.​​ 410 Cherokee Place

Georgia Little League has released the tournament schedules for this weekend’s Northwest Georgia Sectional Championships. Cartersville Little League is the host and Bartow County Little League also has a 9U team in the Sandlot level tournament. Cartersville also has an 8U team in the Rookie level tournament in Smyrna. Georgia Little League Baseball Northwest Georgia Sandlot (9U) Championship at Cartersville Little League Saturday, June 2 10am — GM 1 — Smyrna Blue vs. Cartersville 12n — GM 2 — Smyrna Red vs. South Fulton Sunday, June 3 1pm — GM 3 — Bartow County vs. Smyrna Blue/Cartersville winner 3pm — GM 4 — Smyrna Blue/Cartersville loser vs. Smyrna Red/S.Fulton loser Monday, June 4 Monday, June 4 6pm — GM 5 — Game 2 winner vs. Game 3 winner 7:45pm — GM 6 — Game 4 winner vs. Game 3 loser Tuesday, June 5 6pm — GM 7 — Game 5 loser vs. Game 6 winner Wednesday, June 6 6pm — GM 8 — Game 5 winner vs. Game 7 winner Thursday, June 7 (if needed) 6pm — GM 9 — Game 5 winner vs. Game 7 winner CARTERSVILLE ROSTER: Clint Hosea, Westin Barfield, Dallen Fuqua, Zach Hall, Cole Henson, Dixon Lindsey, Blake Lutjens, Payton Paul, Cash Priest, Noah Cagle, Ben Cagle, and Garrett Hewlett. Manager: David Henson. Assistant coaches: Brian Barfield, Jay Paul, Dewayne Fuqua, and Chris Hall. BARTOW COUNTY ROSTER: Jabari Burleson, Preston Hazelwood, McCayden Hufstetler, Weston Wilson, Zaylen Cochran, William Wilson, Maddox Raughton, Cooper Reynolds, Jayce Little, Tavaris Burleson, Braxton Elrod, Taylor Hicks. Manager: Wade Wilson. Assistant coaches: Jonathan Raughton and Tony Hufstetler. Georgia Little League Baseball Northwest Georgia Rookie League (8U) Section Championship at Smyrna Little League Saturday, June 2 10am — GM 1 — Rockmart vs. Smyrna Blue 12:30pm — GM 2 — Cartersville vs. Smyrna Red Sunday, June 3 11am — GM 3 — Winner Game 1 vs. Winner Game 2 1:30pm — GM 4 — Loser Game 1 vs. Loser Game 2 Monday, June 4 6:30pm — GM 5 — Winner Game 4 vs. Loser Game 3 Tuesday, June 5 6:30 pm — GM 6 — Winner Game 3 vs. Winner Game 5 Wednesday, June 6 (if needed) 6:30 pm — GM 7 — Winner Game 3 vs Winner Game 5 CARTERSVILLE ROSTER: Blake Genrich, Brandt Rutledge, Parker Huth, Avery Slye, Price Startup, River Wade, Braden Slocumb, John Brady Nichols, Drake Bailey, Mason Davis, Andy Holstein, Brody Jones, Ty King. Manager: Nick Wade. Assistant coaches: Drew Startup and Joe Slye. Little League baseball and softball updates on BartowSportsZone.com are presented by Play It Again Sports -- Cartersville. 410 Cherokee Place

Cartersville High School finished ninth overall and had the best local finish in the race for the 2018 Georgia Athletic Directors Association Directors Cup presented by Regions Bank. Twenty-five GHSA sports are counted in the Directors Cup standings each school year. Each school’s eight highest scoring sports for each gender are counted in the standings. Co-ed sports have been categorized based on majority number of participants. Cartersville finished first in Region 5-AAAA and totaled 768 points. The Hurricanes scored points in baseball, boys basketball, volleyball, girls tennis, cheerleading, boys golf, girls soccer, football, boys soccer, boys tennis, girls cross country, boys cross country, girls track and field, wrestling, and boys track and field. The Cartersville boys were eighth overall in Class AAAA. The Lady Canes were 16th overall. Marist won Class AAAA. Blessed Trinity, St. Pius X, Woodward Academy, North Oconee, Columbus, Jefferson, West Laurens, and Northside-Columbus rounded out the top ten. Woodland placed 37th overall in Class AAAAA with 461 points. The Lady Cats were 19th in the classification and the Wildcat boys were 35th. Woodland finished fourth among the schools in Region 7-AAAAA and posted points in girls cross country, co-ed cheerleading, wrestling, girls track and field, boys tennis, boys cross country, boys soccer, girls tennis, and softball. Cass was 40th overall in Class AAAAA and sixth in Region 7-AAAAA. The Colonels earned points in wrestling, cheerleading, boys track and field, boys basketball, and girls soccer. Starr’s Mill finished ahead of Buford, Carrollton, McIntosh, and Flowery Branch to win Class AAAAA. Veterans, Whitewater, Union Grove, Chamblee, and Riverwood rounded out the top ten. In Class AAA, Adairsville was 37th overall and was seventh in Region 6-AAA. The Lady Tigers were 29th in the classification with the Tiger boys placing 41st. Adairsville scored Directors Cup points in cheerleading, girls track and field, wrestling, baseball, girls soccer, and football. Westminster won Class AAA with Lovett, Calhoun, Greater Atlanta Christian, Pace Academy, Pierce County, North Hall, Morgan County, Bremen, and Pike County following in the top ten. The purpose of the Regions Bank Directors Cup is to recognize those athletic departments in all GHSA classifications who have excelled and shown superior performance. Since the 1999-2000 school year, the GADA has presented this award annually. Award-winning schools receive a Regions Bank Directors Cup Trophy and a Wall Banner. Beginning with the 2002-2003 school year, the award added a presentation to the top male program and top female program along with the top overall program in each classification. Overal winners in classifications not including Bartow County competiting schools included: Wesleyan in Class A, Elbert County in Class AA, Alpharetta in Class AAAAAA, and Lambert in Class AAAAAAA.

Cartersville native and current Coastal Carolina University Men’s Head Golf Coach Jim Garren was named Sun Belt Conference Coach of the Year this week in a release by the conference. The Chanticleers’ head coach was one of several golf recognitions for the 2018 Coastal Carolina team. First-year player Morgan Deneen was named Sun Belt Newcomer of the Year and was voted first team All-Sun Belt. Luis Ruiz was tabbed second team All-Sun Belt and Thadd Obecny II was selected third team All-Sun Belt. Garren took over the Chanticleer men’s program last August with only four golfers and one signee in the program. He held an open tryout and added two players to the roster in September. Conference first-team selection Deneen, a student in the University’s PGA Golf Management program, was one of those two players. CCU took a convincing stroke-play victory at the conference championship and then defeated South Alabama and Georgia Southern in the match-play portion to advance to the program’s 12th NCAA postseason appearance. Coastal finished tenth at the 54-hole NCAA Reunion Resort Regional won by the University of Florida May 14-16. The Chanticleers shot 290-288-281 for a 5-under-par total. Ruiz led CCU with a tie for 14th (4-under) in the individual competition. Deneen tied for 26th at 2-under-par. Along with the Sun Belt Conference Championship, Garren led Coastal to one of its best seasons ever. The team’s scoring average, number of birdies, par-3 scoring average, and par-4 scoring average all ranked in the top four or better for any team in program history. The 15 rounds of par or better by the Chants was one shy of the school record. “I’m honored to be named Coach of the Year,” Garren said. “This is truly a program award. Even though my name is on it, (assistant coach) Jeremy Alcorn and all our players deserve credit for the recognition. Thank you to the Sun Belt coaches for recognizing our season.” Prior to taking the CCU job, Garren spent three seasons as the assistant coach for the Oklahoma Sooners men's golf program and helped guide that program to the 2017 National Championship. His ten years of collegiate coaching experience have also included stints at Southern Mississippi and New Mexico as an assistant.

Kingston native and Darlington grad Spencer Fields put forth an excellent showing in his debut at the NCAA Division III Championships last week. The long-distance specialist had qualified in the 10k with the 14th best time of any D-III runner during the season. He outperformed that with a ninth-placed showing in the event Thursday morning at the NCAA Division III Track and Field Championships Thursday at LaCrosse, Wisconsin. The junior crossed the finish line in 31 minutes, 10.21 seconds — almost exactly four seconds behind the eight-placed finisher. After the race was bumped up three hours in hopes of avoiding the heat, Fields finished in a little over 31 minutes in a pretty tight pack among the sixth- through 10th-placed finishers. Just a junior, Fields, no doubt, will look to build on the experience in hopes of returning to the NCAA championships next spring.

The Cartersville Little League Rookie level and Sandlot level teams won Georgia Little League District 1 titles over the holiday weekend. The 8U Cartersville Rookie League team defeated Rockmart in a best-of-three series, while the 9U Cartersville Sandlot team won with a two-game sweep of the Bartow County Little League Sandlot team. Cartersville Little League wins District 1 Rookie level championship The Cartersville Little League Rookie League team (8U) won the Georgia Little League District 1 championship Monday by edging visiting Rockmart 13-12 in the rubber game of their best-of-three title series. Not only was the title game a back-and-forth affair, but so was the entire series. Rockmart won the series opener on Saturday 9-7, with Cartersville forcing a third game with an 11-2 win in Game 2 Sunday. In the third game of the series Monday, Rockmart held a 2-1 lead after one inning and led 12-9 going into Cartersville’s final at-bat. The locals had an answer, however, and scored four runs in the bottom of the fourth to take the district title with a 13-12 walk-off victory. Blake Genrich — who also pitched two and two-thirds innings and allowed only one hit — smacked a double into centerfield to score Brandt Rutledge with the go-ahead run. Genrich finished the day with three hits. “The boys really played well defensively,” said Cartersville Purple head coach Nick Wade. “We know we have some work to do going into the sectionals next weekend, but I was please with the way the boys reacted when they were down.” Cartersville pitchers Parker Huth and Rutledge each retired four outs each to close out the victory Monday. Avery Slye, Price Startup, and River Wade also pitched for Cartersville during the three-game series. Genrich completed the series with five hits and six RBI. Rutledge and Braden Slocumb contributed a pair of hits apiece. John Brady Nichols, Drake Bailey, Startup, and Wade each added one hit. Mason Davis drove in two runs. Other members of the Cartersville 8U team include Andy Holstein, Brody Jones, and Ty King. The assistant coaches are Drew Startup and Joe Slye. Both Cartersville and Rockmart will advance to the Rookie Northwest Georgia Sectional Championship at Smyrna Little League this weekend. Cartersville Little League tops Bartow County Little League to win District 1 Sandlot title The Cartersville Little League Sandlot team (9U) captured the Georgia Little League District 1 championship Sunday by completing a two-game, best-of-three series sweep over Bartow County Little League. Cartersville won 13-7 on Saturday and 17-10 Sunday. Both teams will advance to the Northwest Georgia Sectional Championship hosted by Cartersville Little League that begins Saturday. Cartersville 9U manager David Henson credited the pitching of Clint Hosea, Westin Barfield, and Dallen Fuqua as leading his team to the series win over Bartow County. Zach Hall was the Cartersville’s leading hitter. In addition to those mentioned, the Cartersville 9U roster includes Cole Henson, Dixon Lindsey, Blake Lutjens, Payton Paul, Cash Priest, Noah Cagle, Ben Cagle, and Garrett Hewlett. Assistant coaches for Cartersville include Brian Barfield, Jay Paul, Dewayne Fuqua, and Chris Hall. The Bartow County Little League sandlot team played the District 1 playoff series on the heels of wrapping up the league’s season and playoffs last Thursday. “We were only able to practice twice as a team prior to the playoffs,” noted Bartow manager Wade Wilson. “We didn’t win, but I’m optimistic about what we can do once we get to the Sectionals and have some practice time together. We showed a lot of grit and fight in that last game. We were down 10-0 and battled back to tie it in the next to last inning.” Wilson credited pitchers Jabari Burleson, Preston Hazelwood, and McCayden Hufstetler for their work on the mound in the District playoff. Weston Wilson, Zaylen Cochran, and William Wilson were noted as the team’s top hitters. Other members of the Bartow County sandlot team include: Maddox Raughton, Cooper Reynolds, Jayce Little, Tavaris Burleson, Braxton Elrod, and Taylor Hicks. Assistant coaches are Jonathan Raughton and Tony Hufstetler. Cartersville Sandlot 9U opens the five-team, double-elimination Sectional Tournament at Smyrna Little League Saturday at 10 a.m. against Smyrna Blue. Bartow County Sandlot 9U willl play the winner of that game Sunday at 1 p.m. The Cartersville Rookie League team, who is hosting the Northwest Georgia Sectional Tournament, also begins play Saturday. Game time assignment will be determined at a meeting this week. In other recent Cartersville Little League news, the Indians won the 2018 major league playoffs. Link to results: Click Here. The Indians' roster, managed by Landon Adams with assistant coaches Jay Frazier and Geoff Shrewsbury, includes: Weston Chatman, Dawson Bishop, Owen Dunn, Logan Shrewsbury, Gavin Shrewsbury, Drew Perry, Jackson Harwell, Cooper Adams, Lucas Henry, Andrew Lutjens, Maddox Frazier, and Maverick Madonna. ​NOTE: Pitching data not provided for all BCLL games. Games not completed or not posted on the respective leagues' GameChanger sites are not included, but will be added to future posts when made available. Bartow County Little League and Cartersville Little League capsules and game results are provided to BartowSportsZone.com by the two leagues and are sponsored on Bartow Sports Zone by Play It Again Sports at 410 Cherokee Place in Cartersville.

At the professional level, Connor Justus hit .333 for the week to improve his season batting average and Sam Howard remains inactive on the Albuquerque disabled list. On the collegiate diamonds, several teams and a handful of local athletes at the NCAA Division I level await their post-season fate with the Field of 64 field to be announced Monday at noon. The pro and college baseball weekly update for the week ending Sunday, May 27. MiLB SAM HOWARD — Albuquerque Isotopes (5th-yr. pro; LHP; Colorado Rockies organization; Georgia Southern University; Cartersville HS)… remains listed on the Isotopes’ 7-day disabled list and has not pitched since injuring his throwing shoulder May 12 during a baserunning slide at home plate against Salt Lake. Based on scheduled starters on the Albuquerque web site, Howard is not scheduled to start again until at least after Thursday’s game. The southpaw has a 2-3 record this season in seven starts. He has a 5.01 ERA and 30 strikeouts in just over 32 innings pitched. CONNOR JUSTUS — Mobile BayBears (3rd-yr. pro; MIF; L.A. Angels organization; Georgia Tech; Cartersville HS)… finished the week with a flurry Sunday by going 3-for-3 with two walks and a run scored in a 6-3 home loss to division-leading Biloxi. Justus was 6-for-18 for the week (.333) with one RBI, four runs scored, and three walks as the BayBears went 4-3 to remain 3.5 games behind Biloxi in the Southern League’s Southern Division. His batting average is now up to .216, the best it has been since the third week of the season. Mobile (26-23) starts a five-day, five-game series at the Tennessee Smokies Tuesday before playing at the Chattanooga Lookouts Sunday through June 7. COLLEGE BASEBALL ELLIOTT ANDERSON — Auburn University (So., LHP, Cartersville HS)… struck out the only batter he faced this week during a 7-0 SEC Tournament game loss to 4th-ranked Ole Miss. 23rd-ranked Auburn went 2-2 in the tournament with wins over Ole Miss and 26th-ranked Kentucky. The Tigers (39-21), who will find out their NCAA Regional assignment Monday, had SEC tourney losses to Texas A&M and Ole Miss. MASON ROBINSON — Louisiana Tech (R-Jr., OF, Woodland HS)… went 2-for-11 in three Conference USA tournament games Saturday and Sunday in Biloxi, Mississippi. Robinson had one RBI in the Bulldogs’ 7-5 win over Florida International Saturday. Louisiana Tech (39-20) also had C-USA tournament losses to Rice and Florida Atlantic. The Bulldogs, who entered the week on the bubble of qualifying for their second NCAA Tournament in the past three years, will now await Selection Monday to see if their season will be extended.

Both the Bartow County Little League and the Cartersville Little League completed their league championship playoffs this past week. The A's edged the Rangers to win the BCLL (majors) while it was the Indians blanking the Colts to win the CLL (majors). Next for both leagues will be the selection of tournament teams and then pre-district and the Georgia District 1 championship tournament. BARTOW COUNTY LITTLE LEAGUE (major) LEAGUE PLAYOFFS First Round Saturday, May 19 METS 7, TIGERS 4 Mets: Jordan Durham one double, one triple; Joseph McGrew one hit, one RBI; Christopher Burns one hit, one RBI. David Kelly (5.2 IP, 4R, 1ER, 3H, 1BB, 14K); Durham (0.2 IP, 0R, 0H, 1K). Tigers: Carson Gray one double, one RBI each; Tre Winters one double. Winters (3 IP, 5R, 4ER, 2H, 4BB, 5K); Gray (2 IP, 2R, 0ER, 2H, 1BB, 5K); Hadyn Hawkins (1 IP, 0R, 0H, 3K) CARDINALS 6, GIANTS 4 Cardinals: Connor Jenkins two hits; Benjamin Bowman one hit, one RBI; Trey W. one hit. Jenkins (2 IP, 3R, 0ER, 1H, 6BB, 4K); Sahaj Patel (4 IP, 1ER, 3H, 1BB, 6K) Giants: Jake Clowers one hit, one RBI; Hayden Reeder, Rylan Brigman, and Dakota Richards one hit each; Hudson Parr one RBI. Carson Waits (3 IP, 3R, 1ER, 2H, 9K); Reeder (3.1 IP, 3R, 1ER, 2H, 2BB, 7K). Quarterfinals Monday, May 21 RANGERS 11, CARDINALS 7 Rangers: Kaiden Pirkle two hits including one double, one RBI; Fischer Arnold one double, one RBI; Malachi Linley one hit, one RBI; Jarrett Scott one double; Harrison Cole one hit. Cardinals: Luke Hollis two hits, two RBI; Reece Alexander one double, two RBI; Connor Jenkins one double; Ethan E one RBI. A’s 11, METS 4 A’s: Landon O’Neal two hits including one double, three RBI; Robert Mitchell one hit; Hayden Blalock and Hayden A two RBI each; Dawson Craig, Andrew Foster, and Thomas Wells one RBI each. Mets: Jordan Durham two hits including one home run, three RBI; David Kelley one RBI. ORIOLES 9, TWINS 5 Orioles: Christopher Romo two hits, two RBI; Talen Nix and David Jinks two hits including one double, one RBI each; Joshua Love one double, one RBI; Cameron Adams and Brayden Davis one hit each. Twins: Jackson Nelson two hits including one double, one RBI; Cadyn Wade and Isaiah Ford one double each; Reece Heaton one hit. CUBS 6, BRAVES 5 Cubs: Eddie Boggs one grand slam, four RBI; Andrew Stiles one triple; Dillon Sanford, DJ Brookshire, and Gareth Kincannon one hit each; Colton Tucker and Mason Mize one RBI each. Braves: Caleb Freeman one double, one RBI; Wesley Collum one hit, one RBI; Joshua McBroom and Israel Contreras one hit apiece; Bryson P. one RBI. Semifinals Tuesday, May 22 A’s 10, CUBS 1 A’s: Dawson Craig two hits including one double, two RBI; Landon O’Neil one hit, one RBI; Hayden Blaylock one hit; Robert Mitchell, Riley Belcher, Jett Johnson one RBI each. Cubs: Mason Mize one double. RANGERS 4, ORIOLES 2 Rangers: Daniel Stevenson two hits including one double; Kaiden Pirkle one double, two RBI; Brady Kerlin one double. Jarrett Scott and Noah Williams one hit each. Orioles: Kamarion Profitt and Brayden Davis one hit, one RBI each; Cameron Adams, Talen Nix, and David Jinks one hit each. Championship Game Thursday, May 24 A’s 2, RANGERS 1 A’s: Dawson Craig and Landon O’Neal one hit, one RBI each; Hayden Blalock one hit. Craig (4 IP, 1ER, 7H, 2BB, 7K); Landon O’Neal (1 IP, 0R, 1H, 2K). Rangers: Kaiden Pirkle two hits, one RBI; Harrison Cole and Fischer Arnold two hits each; Brady Kerlin and Malachi Linley one hit each. Jarrett Scott (1 IP, 1ER, 1H, 1BB, 2K); Pirkle (3 IP, 1ER, 2H, 1BB, 5K). CARTERSVILLE LITTLE LEAGUE (major) League Championship Playoffs Monday, May 22 Elimination Game COLTS 11, DODGERS 6 Colts: Turner Abernathy four hits, one RBI; Grant Knight three hits including two doubles, two RBI; Davis Wilkey three hits including one double, one RBI; Luke Altizer two hits including one double; Trevor Harris two hits; Hunter Shirley one double, three RBI; Brett Good one hit, one RBI. Hunter Shirley (4 IP, 3ER, 4H, 3BB, 8K); Brett Good (1 IP, 2ER, 0H, 3BB, 3K); Davis Wilkey (1 IP, 1R, 0ER, 1H, 1BB). Dodgers: Stephen Rowser two hits including one triple; Justin Peace one triple, one RBI; Ayden Ray and Peyton Bowen one hit, one RBI; Landon Heath and Brelace Williams one RBI each. Justin Peace (2 IP, 3R, 1ER, 5H, 1BB, 3K); Ayden Ray (2.1 IP, 8ER, 10H, 3BB, 4K); Jimmy Channell (0.2 IP, 1H). Winner’s Bracket INDIANS 8, BRAVES 5 Indians: Logan Shrewsberry and Drew Perry three hits including one double each; Maverick Madonna two hits, three RBI; Lucas Henry two hits; Jackson Harwell one hit, one RBI; Gavin Shrewsberry one hit. Gavin Shrewsberry (0.1 IP, 1ER, 2H, 2BB, 1K); Dawson Bishop (5.2 IP, 4ER, 4H, 2BB, 5K). Braves: Miles Owen one home run, three RBI; Brenden Bryant and Thomas Peters one hit, one RBI each; Caleb Daniel, Charlie Crum, and Evan Archer one hit each. Six pitchers combined for nine strikeouts. Semifinal Wednesday, May 23 COLTS 6, BRAVES 4 No game report. Championship Game Thursday May 24 INDIANS 10, COLTS 0 No game report. ​NOTE: Pitching data not provided for all BCLL games. Games not completed or not posted on the respective leagues' GameChanger sites are not included, but will be added to future posts when made available. Bartow County Little League and Cartersville Little League capsules and game results are provided to BartowSportsZone.com by the two leagues and are sponsored on Bartow Sports Zone by Play It Again Sports at 410 Cherokee Place in Cartersville.

Coach Valerie Linley, who played at Cass High School and Florida State University and also served as a women's assistant coach at Florida State and College of Charleston, will conduct a free basketball camp at the Excel Christian Academy Gym Tuesday, May 29 - Friday, June 1. For more information and registration, use the link below or call 678.719.9003. https://go.netcamps.com/events/748-destined-to-succeed-free-basketball-camps

A scrappy Jefferson Dragons baseball team showed why it was dangerous offensively in Game 1 of the Class AAAA State Championship best-of-three series Monday night, but then struggled defensively, committing 11 total errors in the latter innings of that game — a 5-4 win — and in Game 2 that Cartersville won 9-3. Wednesday night at State Mutual Stadium in Rome, the Dragons again showed their early firepower in a winner-take-all Game 3 to take a 5-0 lead in the top of the first inning. 

This time, however, Jefferson played spotless defense without committing an error and held off a late threat by Cartersville to win 6-3 and collect the school’s first-ever baseball state championship. For Cartersville, the result is a third state runner-up finish in the last 18 years to go with the Hurricanes’ six titles. The Dragons (28-12) posted their five runs in the top of the first inning on four hits, two walks, a hit batsman, and a balk. Justin Cole singled with one out and Jefferson loaded the bases on walks to Lane Watkins and Ryan Godfrey before Billy Finch was hit by a pitch for the game’s first run. A bases-loaded balk plated the second run and moved runners to second and third in front of a two-RBI double by Clayton Jones. Sammy Elegreet tacked on a fifth run with an RBI line drive single into center field and the Dragons were off to a fast start, 5-0. Cartersville picked up a run in the bottom of the third without benefit of a hit. Ian Inaba was hit by a pitch to start the Canes’ third inning. Then Preston Welchel and Josh Davis sandwiched walks around a line out by Anthony Seigler to load the bases. Mason Barnett followed with a sacrifice fly to center field and the Hurricanes had narrowed the gap to 5-1. The Canes loaded the bases in the bottom of the fourth with one out to force Jefferson head coach Tommy Knight to bring in his ace and Game 1 winner, lefty Patrick Hickox. The Dragons’ previous pitcher, Will Wood yielded singles to Jordan Wilkie and J.P Martin to open the frame and Inaba coaxed a walk to fill the bases. An RBI groundout by Welchel made the score 5-2, but Hickox got out of the inning with no further Hurricane damage. He intentionally walked Seigler with first base open and then recorded his first strikeout to end the threat. Gooch and Warner had one-out singles for Cartersville in the fifth and sixth innings respectively, but the Purple Hurricanes failed to cut into the Dragons’ lead. Meanwhile, Canes’ pitcher Gage Morris — who followed starter Cohen Wilbanks and reliever Levi Ayers — kept Cartersville in the game and allowed only one baserunner on a walk until the top of the seventh. A Cartersville infield mistake led to a Jefferson insurance run in the top of the seventh. Cole was hit by a pitch. A sacrifice bunt moved him to second base and the Canes set up the infield force play with an intentional walk to Godfrey. Finch hit a grounder that might have been an inning-ending double play, but an errant throw kept the inning going and allowed a run to score. Cartersville made it interesting in their final offensive frame. Seigler hammered a solo shot over the left field wall to make the score 6-3 and open the Hurricanes’ threat in the top of the seventh. Davis followed with a double before Gooch singled and moved Davis over to third. Gooch took second base on the throw to bring the potential tying run to the plate with one out and two baserunners in scoring position. Unfortunately for the Canes, Hickox got Jordan Wilkie to pop up and J.P. Martin to ground out and the Dragons celebrated a 6-3 win and their first-ever baseball state championship. Hickox (3.2 IP, 1ER, 5H, 1BB, 1K) earned both wins in the series after tossing the final two and two-thirds innings Wednesday night. Vinny Farley (2 IP, 1ER, 0H, 2BB, 1K) was the Game 3 starter for the Dragons and Will Wood (1.1 IP, 1ER, 2H, 2BB, 1K) pitched in middle relief. Cohen Wilbanks (0.1 IP, 5ER, 2H, 2BB) started for Cartersville and Levi Ayers (1.2 IP, 0ER, 3H, 1K) followed on the mound. Morris (5 IP, 1R, 0ER, 0H, 3BB, 3K) worked the final five innings allowing only one, unearned run. Gooch had two hits including a double for Cartersville. Seigler homered and was walked twice. Davis contributed a double while Wilkie, Martin, and Devin Warner had the other Hurricanes’ hits. Barnett added a sac fly and Welchel a groundout RBI for the remainder of the Cartersville offense. Cole was 2-for-3 and scored twice to pace the Jefferson offense. Jones blasted a two-run double. Elegreet contributed an RBI single, while freshman catcher Mason Cooper added the Dragons’ only other hit. Finch had the other Jefferson RBI. Cartersville’s season comes to a close with a Region 5-AAAA title, the Class 4A state runner-up designation and a 32-10 record in coach Kyle Tucker’s first season at the helm. The Hurricanes had 2018 playoff series wins over Pickens, Marist, Spalding, and Heritage-Catoosa. Tucker and the Canes’ have an abundance of talent returning next season but will miss graduating seniors John Reed Evans, Jake Gooch, Levi Ayers, Ladarius Winburn, Anthony Seigler, Curtis Wilkes, Devin Warner, Jake Norris, Josh Mayo and Garrett Shelton.

Pope rallied in extra innings of Game 2 of the Class 6A baseball state championship series Tuesday night to force a Game 3 on Wednesday. As a result, Game 3 of the Class 4A state title series between Cartersville and Jefferson will be at 5 p.m. Wednesday evening at State Mutual Stadium in Rome. The rubber game of the Pope/Allatoona series will follow the Cartersville/Jefferson game at approximately 7:30 p.m.

Due to weather, the Class 4A state championship golf tournament will be limited to Monday's 18-hole results. That means Cartersville's Buck Brumlow will finish runner-up individually and Cartersville will finish 8th. Brumlow was 2-under par after four holes Tuesday before the round was first delayed, then cancelled. Brumlow’s 4-under-par 68 Monday led Cartersville to the eighth place finish. What was scheduled to be a 36-hole championship was conducted at Achasta Golf Club in Dahlonega. The AAAA boys played the course at 6,434 yards to a par-72. Columbus High School raced to a big lead Monday after 18 holes. The Blue Devils had three individuals fire under par rounds and won the state championship with a total of 10-under-par. St. Pius was the only other team under par. The Golden Lions were eight shots back at 2-under-par. Marist (+3), Woodward Academy (+8), and Oconee County (+12) rounded out the top five teams. North Oconee and Richmond Academy tied for sixth at 13-over-par. Cartersville was 20-over-par. Brumlow fired matching nine-hole rounds of 2-under-par 34 to lead the Purple Hurricanes on Day 1. Dalton Henson was next for Cartersville with a 75. Blane Davis shot 81 and Christian Martin 84 to round out the counting scores for the locals. Jake Benefield (87) and Chanc Willis (89) completed the Canes’ lineup but their scores did not count. Teams count the best four rounds each day from their six players. The remainder of the 16-team field and their first round scores include LaFayette (+22), Northside-Columbus (+27), West Laurens (+29), LaGrange (+32), Cedartown (+39), Blessed Trinity (+46), Perry (+48), and Mary Persons (+64). Ben Carr of Columbus had the low individual score Monday. His 5-under-par 67 edged Brumlow of Cartersville and Columbus teammate Jonathan Parker by a single shot.