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Cartersville Little League’s 10 and 11 year old all star baseball team has advanced to the final three teams at the Georgia Little League 10/11 state tournament. The double elimination format tournament is being hosted by Toccoa Little League at Doyle Street Park in Toccoa. Cartersville defeated Smyrna 14-4 and Hart County 8-7 last weekend, before losing to Northern Little League of Columbus 14-0 Monday night (July 13). Tournament games were rained out Tuesday, so the locals awaited the Wednesday night survivor from the losers’ bracket. Cartersville will play Oconee County in an elimination game Thursday (July 16) at 7pm with the winner advancing to the state finals against unbeaten Northern. Northern needs only one win to secure the state championship. The Cartersville/Oconee winner will need two wins over Northern to take the title. Cartersville struck for eight runs in the second inning Saturday (July 11) and cruised to a 14-4 win over Smyrna. Jake Lawson (2 RBI) , Phillips Schiltz (2 RBI with a triple) , and Jake Parker (RBI) had two hits each to lead the Cartersville attack. Ben Williams had a 2 RBI with a double and Colin Eaton drove in a run with a double. Blake Sutton and Elliott Eastin had the other Cartersville hits. Schiltz (2IP, 0R, 0H, 0BB, 4K), Parker (1.1IP, 1ER, 2H, 2BB, 3K) , Lawson (0.2IP, 0ER, 0H, 1BB, 1K), and Williams (1IP, 0R, 0H, 2K) took care of the Cartersville pitching duties in the tournament opener. Cartersville fell behind 7-1 to Hart County Sunday (July 12), before coming from behind to win in extra innings, 8-7. Cartersville rallied for six runs in the bottom of the fourth and got the game winner in the bottom of the seventh on a walk off single by Parker. Williams and Jaylon Akins walked to start the Cartersville seventh. Schiltz singled to left field to load the bases and Parker delivered the game winner. Drew Rothschild (2 RBI), Parker (2 RBI), Eastin (RBI), Lawson (RBI), and Schiltz had two hits apiece to lead Cartersville’s 12-hit attack. Sutton and Williams (2 RBI) both added a hit. Schiltz (2IP, 1H, 3K), Rothschild (0.2IP, 1H, 3ER, 2BB, 1K), Lawson (1.1IP, 6H, 4ER, 1BB, 1K), and Williams (3IP, 3H, 0ER, 1BB, 1K) were the Cartersville pitchers against Hart County. The Georgia Little League 10/11 state tournament finals are scheduled for Friday night (July 17) at 7pm. If the Cartersville/Oconee winner knocks off Northern Friday night, a second final round game would be Saturday (July 18) at noon. Photo courtesy: Toccoa Little League

Bartow County Little League 9/10 year old softball survived a second consecutive elimination game Wednesday (July 15) when they defeated Oconee County Little League 9-1. Bartow advances to face Northern Columbus Thursday night at 5:30pm. The winner of that game will meet Hart County Little League in the state finals. Hart County is the only remaining unbeaten team in the double elimination tournament. Michiah Hicks, Ansley Hight, Cassie Jones, and Lainey Baker had three hits each to lead the Bartow offense. Hicks and Baker had inside the park homeruns. McKayla Wade and Rylee Massingill each had two hits. Olivia Talarico, Haley Stiles, and Madison Flemons added one hit each. Baker recorded six strikeouts in six innings of work to earn the pitching victory.

Two local youth golfers won state titles Tuesday (July 14) at the GRPA state golf tournament. Carson Harris fired a 43 to win first place in the 11 and 12 year old boys nine hole division. Andrew Lutjens won the 7 and 8 year old boys nine hole division with a 51 and Buck Brumlow shot an 18-hole 86 to place second in the 13 year old boys division. The Georgia Recreation and Parks Association youth state golf tournament was held at Nob North Golf Club in Cohutta and hosted by the Dalton Parks and Recreation Department.

Bartow County Little League softball defeated Elbert County 11-1 in an elimination game Tuesday evening (July 14) at the 9/10 year old Georgia Little League softball state tournament in Columbus hosted by Northern Little League. Cassie Jones and Ansley Hight both went 3-for-3 at the plate to lead Bartow’s attack. Rylee Massingill was 2-for-3. Michiah Hicks was 1-for-2 with an inside the park home run. McKayla Wade and Olivia Talarico were both 1-for-3 with a walk. Lainey Baker struck out seven in a four inning complete game effort in the circle. Baker struck out seven. Bartow is back in action Wednesday (July 15) at 6pm in another elimination game against the Tuesday night Warner Robins/Oconee County winner. The double elimination tournament continues through at least Friday with an "if needed" game scheduled for Saturday morning. Hart County, who has outscored opponents 35-2 in three games at the state tournament so far, has qualified for the championship game(s) without a loss. Hart awaits the losers' bracket survivor.

The Cartersville Little League 10U all stars, fresh off a state GRPA championship, hit a bump in the road Monday night at the Georgia Little League 9/10 State Tournament and lost to Athens Little League 10-4 at Midway Little League in Decatur. The loss eliminated Cartersville from the tournament even though the event is a double elimination format. Cartersville had to forfeit its opening round game last Saturday because they were playing for a state championship in the Georgia Recreation and Parks Association tournament in Savannah. Even with the loss, it has been an excellent tournament season for the group. Cartersville 10U Purple finished 13-1 during GRPA and Georgia Little League post season play. In Monday’s loss, Athens jumped out to a 7-0 lead in the first three innings and never looked back. Athens rapped out 10 hits in the contest and took advantage of six Cartersville errors. Cartersville managed a run in the bottom of the third to cut the lead to 7-1, but Athens added two runs in the fifth and another in the sixth to push their advantage to 10-1. Cartersville rallied for three runs in their final frame, but it was not enough. Cartersville used four different pitchers in the contest. Drake Carver (1IP, 0ER,1H, 2K), Will Litton (0.2IP, 0ER, 2H, 1K, 1BB), Paul Gamble (2.2IP, 3ER, 5H, 1BB, 1K), and Isaac McNair-Seigler (1.2IP, 0ER, 2H, 2BB) spent time on the mound. Hunter Kelly had a pair of hits including a three run homer in the sixth. Carver had two hits and drove in a run. McNair-Seigler, Trip Bradley, Nicholas Kennedy, and Litton had the other Cartersville hits. The Cartersville team is managed by J.J. Norris. His coaches are Jeremy Carver and J.J. Jones. Team members are Avery Higgins, Trip Bradley, Will Litton, Thomas Norris, Paul Gamble, JaKiyon Porter, Brice Craig, Drake Carver, A.J. Christina, Hunter Kelly, Isaac McNair-Seigler, and Nicholas Kennedy. The Cartersville 12U Little League team opens Georgia Little League state tournament play Saturday, July 25 at Holland Park Youth Complex in Athens. The Cartersville 11/12 all stars will play the winner of District 7 at 1:30pm. Other teams already qualified for the Georgia 11/12 state tournament include Northern Columbus, Warner Robins American West, Smyrna, Athens, Midway Heights, and Peachtree City American. The winners of District 7 and District 6 have not yet been determined. The Georgia Little League 11/12 state tournament concludes July 31 with the winner advancing to the Little League Southeast Regional played this year in Warner Robins, GA.

Like all high school football programs across the state of Georgia, Cass head football coach Bobby Hughes and the Cass Colonels have been hard at work this summer preparing for the 2015 season. The Colonels have been in the weight room, on the field conditioning, and at camps, workouts, and passing tournaments throughout a busy summer. “We took the first week off after school dismissed for the summer and we couldn’t work out during the GHSA dead week, but other than that we’ve gone 9am until noon every Monday through Thursday or we’ve been at a camp or 7-on-7 event,” said Hughes. The Colonels head coach said his participation numbers have been as high as the low nineties, but seventy-five to eighty have consistently been at workouts and practices. “The leadership with our core group of returning players has continued to improve. We made great strides in that area last year and we feel like we’ve been able to build on that again this year,” noted the head coach. He also said he has witnessed other key improvements over the summer. “Our work in the weight room will be noticeable and we feel like our physical conditioning has improved,” said Hughes. Cass has less than two weeks remaining in their summer workout routines before they begin official practices. Those practices begin with five days of Georgia High School Association required acclimatization in helmets and shorts only. Hughes talked about the upcoming practice schedule for his team. “With school starting so early in August these days, we really only have one week of practices in pads before we get into a regular school day routine. After that, we begin putting in our game plans and getting ready for our first game. The school calendar, as much as anything, has dictated how we structure the pre-season practices.” This past weekend, Cass attended a 7-on-7 event at Douglas County High School. It was the third year in a row the Colonels have attended the event. Jason Respert, offensive coordinator on Hughes’ staff when he was in Macon, is now the head coach at Douglas County. Other schools in the event included Glade Central (FL) now led by former Cass head coach, Rick Casko, 2013 state champions Creekside, Lithia Springs, Banneker, Colonial Hills, Douglas County, and Whitifled Academy among others. Hughes said his squad held its own in the win-loss category, but noted his staff may utilize the passing tournaments differently than other programs. “7-on-7 events are good, but we take a different approach than many of the teams we see in the summer. Some of the coverages implemented by teams can be a little unrealistic to real game situations, so it gets a little frustrating sometimes for the offense. We try to work on things within our base schemes that we will do in a real game. We don’t scheme just for a competition.” Coach Hughes said he was pleased with the outcomes at Douglas County. “Our kids played in eight straight 30-minute games and the format was down and distance, so the offense stays on the field if they convert a first down. We got some good work in for both our offense and our secondary. The competition was intense and the game tempo was pretty similar to Friday night conditions. I was really glad to see our conditioning pay off in that setting.” The 2015 Cass Colonels will travel to Adairsville for a pre-season scrimmage August 14 and will open the regular season at home August 28 against Cartersville. Bartow Sports Zone and AM1270 WYXC will broadcast all ten Cass regular season football games this year, plus four Adairsville games, three Woodland games, and Cartersville at Cass. The games will also be available over any internet connection using www.bartowsportszone.com and on mobile devices via the free TuneIn app.

It was a near miss and yet another feather in the cap for Cartersville Country Club’s Scott Hamilton Golf Academy and his group of talented professional players this past week. Tom Gillis, one of the Scott Hamilton Golf Academy affilliated players, narrowly lost in a playoff Sunday to Jordan Speith at the John Deere Classic. The tournament was played on the TPC Deere Run course, July 9-12, in Silvis, Illinois. Gillis earned his spot in the two-man playoff by firing rounds of 66-65-69-64 (20-under), but lost on the second playoff hole. The win by Speith was his fourth of the 2015 PGA Tour season and his fifth overall. Speith, who turns 22 in two weeks, trails only Tiger Woods (6) in PGA Tour victories for a player under 22 since 1940. Results for other players at the John Deere Classic affilliated with Scott Hamilton Golf Academy included: T41 — Jim Renner (-8) T69 — Boo Weekley (+2) T72 — Harris English (+3) SH Academy players Steven Bowditch and Chris Kirk missed the cut at Deere Run. Acworth’s Jason Bohn, a former affiliate of the SH Academy, tied for 12th with rounds of 68-68-69-64. On the web.com Tour, SH Academy player Hunter Hamrick tied for 45th at the Albertson’s Boise Open played at Hillcrest Country Club in Boise, Idaho. Hamrick finished sixteen shots behind champion Martin Piller who won by six shots. SH Academy players Kelvin Day, Brent Witcher, and Mark Silvers missed the cut in Boise. This week (July 16-19), many of the top professionals will be at The Open Championship on the Old Course at St. Andrews in Scotland. The regular PGA Tour event will be the Barbasol Classic. It is being played at Grand National Golf Club on the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail, Auburn/Opelika, Alabama. The web.com Tour event is the Stonebrae Class in Hayward, California. Scott Hamilton is the longtime Director of Golf at Cartersville Country Club. He works with many prominent professional golfers with his teaching and instruction through Scott Hamilton Golf Academy. Bartow Sports Zone tracks the players affiliated with that organization each week. Photo courtesy: www.dow.com

The Bartow County 10U Little League Softball team was shutout 10-0 Saturday morning (July 11) by Northern Little League of Columbus in both teams’ opening game at the Georgia Little League State Tournament. Emma Frothingham’s single in the fourth inning was the only hit Bartow managed in the contest. Bartow pitcher Saydee Najarro started the game and struck out a pair in two and two-thirds innings in the circle. Lainey Baker also pitched two and two-thirds and recorded two strikeouts. Bartow returns to the diamond Tuesday (July 14) at 5:30 in an elimination game. The tournament is being played at Pioneer Little League in Columbus and continues through Saturday, July 18.

The Bartow County Tigers 13-year-old team finished third at the Dizzy Dean state tournament this weekend (July 10-12) at Hobgood Park in Woodstock. Bartow finished 1-2 in the tournament. The Tigers had a 6-3 loss to the Kennesaw Generals and dropped a 16-4 decision to the Rossville Outlaws. Bartow’s win in the double elimination tournament was 6-5 over the Alpharetta Eagles. Dawson Hamby had a game winning, walk-off hit in the victory over Alpharetta. John Webster also had two hits to help lead the Bartow County offense. Dakota King, Zane McCracken, Trenton Porter, Tyler Strickland, and Jason Wade added one hit apiece in the win. Wade and Porter shared the pitching duties and combined to strike out nine Alpharetta batters. In the loss to Kennesaw, Jayden Brown, King, and Wade had one hit each. Porter, Webster, and Wade shared the pitching duties combining for six strikeouts. Against Rossville, Webster and Wade again shared the pitching duties. Brown, King, and Webster had two hits each. Hamby and Wade added base hits.

Cartersville Purple 10U exploded for six runs in the fifth inning against Clayton County to break open a tight game and seize the 2015 GRPA state championship in Savannah. The state GRPA title comes on the heels of a Georgia District 1 championship and berth in the Georgia Little League state tournament. The state championship game was tied 1-1 going to the bottom of the fifth when the Cartersville offense caught fire to capture a 7-1 victory. Hunter Kelly started the rally with a leadoff double to right field before Will Litton doubled him in with the go-ahead run making the score 2-1. Avery Higgins reached on a bunt single that moved Litton over and Higgins eventually scored to make it 3-1. Brice Craig singled to move Higgins to second in front of JaKiyon Porter’s RBI single that scored HIggins and advanced Craig to third. After Paul Gamble walked, Craig scored on a sacrifice fly by Drake Carver. Cartersville added a final run and made it 7-1 on a hit by Trip Bradley and an error on the Clayton County defense. Six of Cartersville’s nine hits in the game came in the fifth inning surge. Cartersville trailed Clayton County 1-0 going to the bottom of the fourth inning. Drake Carver tripled with one out and Isaac McNair-Seigler drove him in with a single to tie the score. Kelly was the only Cartersville player with two hits. In addition to his fifth inning double, he singled in the second inning. Paul Gamble scattered five hits and allowed only one run for a complete game pitching victory. He struck out eight and walked two. Cartersville rolled through the double elimination tournament undefeated with victories over Savannah Hot Rods, Sumter County, and twice over the Clayton County A’s. Cartersville will now play in the Georgia Little League 9/10 state tournament beginning Monday at 5:30pm at Midway Heights Little League in Decatur.

The Cartersville 12U GRPA tournament team finished fourth at the 2015 state tournament held this past week at E.B. Hamilton Complex in Tifton. Cartersville had tournament wins over Tift County, Union City, and Clayton County Brothers. Their losses in the double elimination tournament were at the hands of Thomasville YMCA and the Savannah Sun Devils. Bainbridge and Thomasville YMCA were playing Saturday (July 11) for the state title. Cartersville Tournament Highlights: Savannah Sun Devils 16, Cartersville 14 Nick Bailey pitched three shutout innings with two strikeouts. Christian Martin, Alex Freeman, and Micah Earwood had two hits each. Jackson Cline totaled four RBI. Charlie Heidmann had three RBI. Cartersville 16, Clayton County Brothers 5 Christian Martin (2.2IP, 2K) picked up the pitching win. Micah Earwood (2.2IP, 6H, 5ER, 5K, 2BB) and Nick Bailey (0.2IP, 2K) also pitched. Earwood was 4-for-4 at the plate with an RBI. Bailey was 3-for-3 with 3 RBI. Jackson Norris was 2-for-2 with 3 RBI. Matthew Surrett drove in a pair of runs with 2 hits. Thomasville YMCA 7, Cartersville 6 Micah Earwood had two hits and Jackson Norris drove in a pair of runs with a homerun and a pair of walks. Cartersville went up 6-4 in the top of the fifth on hits by Christian Martin and Earwood, but Thomasville responded with two in the bottom of the fifth and the game winning run in the bottom of the sixth. Cartersville 8, Union City 3 Ethan Wolfe (3.2IP, 2H, 0R 5K 3BB) picked up the pitching victory. Christian Martin and Micah Earwood had two hits each. Jackson Norris drove in three runs with a homerun and a pair of walks. Cartersville scored six runs in the first three innings to take a 6-2 lead and put the game away with a pair of runs in the top of the sixth. Cartersville 21, Tift County 4 Cartersville cruised to a first game victory at the state tournament scoring 13 runs in the bottom of the first and eight more in the second. Nick Bailey led the offense with three hits and five RBI including one of Cartersville’s three homeruns. Michah Earwood went 3-for-3 with three RBI. Jackson Norris had two hits, including a homer and a pair of RBI. Ethan Wolfe drove in a run with three hits and Matthew Surrett hit a homerun. Tyler Putz and Charlie Heidmann each had RBIs and two hits apiece for Cartersville. Martin (2.1IP, 3H, 1ER, 1BB, 1K) earned the pitching victory. Cartersville 12U will open the 2015 Georgia Little League State Tournament Saturday, July 25 at Holland Park Youth Sports Complex in Athens.

The Georgia Krush eighth grade girls travel basketball team hosted a kickball tournament Saturday, July 11 at ATCO park. Eight teams competed all day and Richie Stoddard's team, Anonymous, won the tournament. Georgia Krush competes in a variety of santioned club/travel basketball events and used the event to raise funds. Travel and club teams are invited to connect their team web sites with Bartow Sports Zone for free. Bartow Sports Zone will also publish sports news stories and share information about your club or travel team. Use the "Contact" page on bartowsportszone.com to submit your information and a representative will get back in touch if more information is needed.