 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|
Archives
04-16-2003
Wildcats win tournament in Kentucky By DEWAIN E. PEEK, OCN staff Wildcats rule. The Livingston Academy baseball team reigns supreme after taking the tournament crown at Cumberland County, KY. The week leading up the Cats' crowning achievement involved watching the sky cry. Games scheduled against Celina, York Institute, and Upperman were all rained out. "The week was a wash," LA Wildcats Coach Pat Swallows said. "We were rained out five days in a row." Rain caused the Kentucky tournament held in Burkesville to be pushed back a day. "We played three real good clubs from Kentucky," Coach Swallows said of the tournament. "We ended up playing extremely well." The Cats opened the tournament against Southwest Pulaski on Friday, April 11. "They were as solid as most any club we've faced all year,Ó Coach Swallows said. Kyle Copeland led LA with 3-hit pitching over the complete game, and hitting a home run for the game's only score. "We had Kyle on the mound, and we play well behind him, and have a lot of confidence in him,Ó Coach Swallows said. "He had a great day. "In the bottom of the sixth, they loaded the bases on us with one out. We got out of the inning. "With two outs, they hit a little chopper right in front of the plate, almost like a squeeze bunt. Kyle came in and fielded it. If he had tossed it, the catcher would never have got him, but his momentum just carried him across the plate, and he stepped on the plate right before their guy did for a force. "That was a huge, huge play because it would have tied the game up, and they would have still had the bases loaded. "We played some very good defense, and just did a lot of things right,Ó Coach Swallows said. "I was real proud of them, the way they played against that team, because that team was probably picked to win it." In the semi-finals on Saturday morning, LA faced Marion County, KY. Cody Sells pitched the Wildcats to an 8-2 win, going six innings and allowing just a single hit while striking out 11. Offense was provided by Todd Rose, Michael Murphy, Cody King, Michael Poston, and Johnny Cyrus, who all had 2 hits apiece. Rose, Murphy, Poston, and Colson all drove in runs. "Again we played a good defensive game," Coach Swallows said. In the championship game, the Cats played McCreary County. "I started Brian Colson on the mound, and he went three innings, and he gave up no runs with one hit, but he reached the pitch count so I had to bring him out." Michael Murphy came into the game and was followed by Michael Poston.
"Michael went the last four innings and did a great job, his best pitching outing of the season," Coach Swallows said. In those last four innings, Poston allowed only 2 hits and no runs. Poston again produced offensively as did Rose. The two drove in 2 runs each. Chris Nelson broke a 2-2 tie in the sixth inning with a 2 RBI single. Poston, Copeland, Murphy, and Sells also drove in runs in the 6-2 championship win. "That's nine in a row," Coach Swallows said of his team's string of victories. "Things are rolling around a little bit right now. They're making the big plays when they need to. "They've got a lot of confidence right now in what they can do." That confidence has pushed the team's overall record to 12-6-1. After traveling to Jamestown on Monday, April 14 to play a make-up game against York Institute, then traveling to Carthage to take on Smith County's Owls on Tuesday, April 15, the Wildcats will play in another tournament, this time at Soddy-Daisy. LA will open the tournament against Knoxville-Karns at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, April 17, then the Cats will take on the host team at 7:30 a.m. Friday, April 18 and finish the day against Cape Gerardo, MO, at 12:30 p.m. Livingston will play Boyd Buchanan on Saturday morning, then the rest of the tournament's pairings will be determined according to each team's record in the tournament. Livingston Academy will host the Upperman Bees on Monday, April 21 to start next week's play.
Cal Ripken 9-10 season opens at ball park Overton County's Cal Ripken League for 9 and 10 year-olds opened the 2003 season Saturday, April 12. Results are as follows: Livingston Regional Hospital defeated First National Bank 10-5. LRH was led by Colby Reeder's pitching and his 3 for 3 hitting. Justin Savage also pitched well for FNB in the loss. In a well-played game by both teams, Family Dentistry defeated American Bank & Trust 9-8 in Saturday's late game. Family Dentistry was led by the pitching of Austin Bledsoe and Chance Clark. ABT was led by the pitching of Justin Perdue, who struck out 12 batters in the losing effort.
Heather Reeder wins pre-state B-B gun match Heather Reeder wins pre-state B-B gun match Heather Reeder won the pre-state B-B gun match held recently at Bend of the River. Reeder had the score of 535 out of 600. Travis Webster of Carthage was second with 518 Points. Third was a hard fought tie. Coty Hargis from Livingston was the winner with 503 and by having a higher Shoot-Off score of 83 to Brandon Clayton from Livingston with a 71. The Champion of Champion match was won by Jake Schmidt from Sparta with 541. Schmidt won by a point over Rachel Banks from Cookeville with 540. The test portion of the match had 50 questions over gun safety, rules of match shooting, and general gun knowledge. The test stage was won by Raleigh Dale of Sparta with 88. Brandon Clayton of Livingston and Amanda Hargis, also of Livingston, tied for second at 86. The prone stage was won by Brandon Clayton of Livingston with 93. Margaret Brown of Livingston was second with 92, and Jamie Conley of Sparta was third with 91 Dylan Loftis from Livingston took first in standing with 86. A three-way tie for second and third was decided with Raleigh Dale taking second with two centers and Margaret Brown taking third with no centers but one 10 over Amanda Hargis of Livingston with no centers and no 10s. Sitting was tied with David Brown of Livingston coming in first with 94 and six 10s, leaving Brandon Clayton of Livingston in second with 94 and five 10s. Third place went to Emily Looper of Livingston with 87 and a center over Evan Loftis of Livingston with 87 and no center shots. Kneeling was a three-way tie at 87, decided with Margaret Brown winning with a center, a 10 and six 9s. Second went to Brandon Clayton with a center, a 10, and five 9s. Third went to David Brown with no centers. Bend of the River ÔPossums won first place in team competition with 1640. The team is manned by Travis Webster, Raleigh Dale, Jamie Conley, and Cory Sinnott. Second place team went to Livingston Silver Bullets with a close 1637. The Livingston team is made up of Heather Reeder, Coty Hargis, David Brown, and Mikala Hargis. The third team was Montgomery Bell Academy Big Red with 1432, made up of Graham Coburn, Benjamin Fredericks, and Andrew Snow, all from Nashville. Shooters who attended the international matches last year were in the Champion of Champions Match. The match was won by Jake Schmidt of Sparta with 541 out of 600. Rachel Banks of Cookeville was second with 540. Jacob Conley of Cookeville was third with 535, and Marie Murray of Cookeville was fourth with 527. The match was determined by 10 shots in each of the prone, standing, sitting, and kneeling positions and a 100 point quiz over gun safety and a 100 point shoot-off, a total of 600 points, The Bend of the River competition practice portion of the program runs on Saturdays from 9 a.m. until 11 a.m. in the morning. The program begins in January and continues until the state championships on April 19, which will be held in Livingston this year. The program is open to individuals from ages 8 to 14. Both boys and girls are encouraged to participate. Many of the current college and Olympic shooters have come from this program. The Jaycees B-B gun program has been in existence for 32 years. Teams from Bend of the River have been a part of shooting for more than 20 years. Cost of the program is $25. Guns, targets, and B-Bs are provided for those in the program. For further information contact Charlie Pardue at Bend of the River, 2880 Standing Stone Highway, Cookeville, TN 38506, (931) 498-2829, or at cpardue@ multipro.com. The next competition at Bend of the River is the NRA High Power Match on May 4, followed by a 2700 pistol match May 11. LA Tennis commanded into defeat By KEVIN BURMEISTER, OCN staff Livingston Academy's tennis teams had been comparable to a racket-wielding wrecking crew in recent weeks, but, as Coach Rick Moles has become accustomed to, all good things must draw to a close. The Wildcats and Lady Wildcats headed to Lebanon to face Friendship Christian Academy on Monday, April 7, and were promptly regurgitated into a lifeless ball of fur by the top-seeded Commanders. "We'd like to put that behind us," Moles said of the 0-8 drubbing sustained by his girls. "It wasn't a pleasant experience. "We played terribly that day. My girls played like they had never seen a tennis court before in their lives." Both Dana Ledbetter and Wrenda Curd were defeated by a 5-8 margin, while Rachel Barlow took a 4-8 loss to add to the Lady Cats' mounting pile of FCA-inflicted troubles. The Ledbetter-Ledbetter pairs combination was back in full swing, but the sisters couldn't scrounge more than a trio of successful games, losing their match 3-8, while Curd and Barlow were doubly floundered in a 4-8 defeat. The boys side failed to improve LA's outing, with Friendship standout Will Cotton effectively ramming Daniel Sweeney into the ground in an 8-1 set. Phillip Murphy was spanked in another 1-8 set, while Andy Sathern took a 2-8 set flogging. Murphy and Sweeney didn't fair much better as a pair, losing their doubles set 4-8, while Rex Dale joined Sathern to be subjected to a 2-8 beating. Aside from exhausting the world's negatively connotative adjective supply, the matches served little purpose for Coach Moles and his team's quest for a district title. "We just didn't play well against Friendship Christian," he said. "We lost all the games. "We just didn't play well, but we'll catch them in the tournament. We'll hit them where it counts." Livingston is riding the second spot in the district standings, lagging behind none but the frighteningly commanding Commanders. Barring any tournament upsets, the two would face each other in the upcoming final. "All I can tell them if they get to the finals against Friendship is it's either do or die time. You've got to play like you know how to play or we'll go home," he said of the possible district tournament final match-up. Livingston Academy was scheduled to host DeKalb County on Wednesday, April 9, but the Tigers were unable to come, forcing the matches to be cast into the throes of rescheduling, which landed the contest on Tuesday, April 15. Van Buren County was intended to host the Cats on Thursday, April 10, but unseasonal snowfall forced the matches to be rescheduled for Thursday, April 17. The Cats did host Macon County on Monday, April 14. "It should be a good close game against Macon County,Ó Moles said before the matches.
Overton County News
|
