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Archives
04-23-2003
Cats remain unbeaten in district baseball play By DEWAIN E. PEEK, OCN staff The Livingston Academy Wildcats baseball team knocked off two more district opponents last week to remain unbeaten in District 7-AA. The Cats opened the week by venturing into the Dragons' den at York Institute on Monday, April 14. After a scary start, the Livingston team caught fire in the third inning. LA Baseball Coach Pat Swallows said, "We were down 2-0 going into the third inning, and finally woke up and started playing the way we are capable of playing Ð and scored 12 times in the third inning." The Cats powered through the third inning with a 3-run round tripper from Todd Rose, and a 2-run blast from Michael Poston. Rose went 3 for 4 on the day, and drove in 5 runs. Chris Nelson had 3 hits, and Johnny Cyrus, Brian Colson, and Kyle Copeland each had 2 hits in the 13-2 win. "That was a big district win for us," Coach Swallows said. The offensive outpouring helped give pitcher Cody Sells a W on the stat sheet. Sells gave up 2 runs on 4 hits. "He did a good job on the mound," Coach Swallows said. Next up on the district slate was a trip to Carthage on Tuesday, April 15 to take on the Smith County Owls. Brian Colson took the mound and took the wind from beneath the Owls' wings by pitching his second no-hitter of the season. He struck out 7 Carthage batters in the game. The Cats' bats sounded early and often, driving in 11 runs in the shutout victory, which moved the LA district record to 9-0. Todd Rose, Cody King, and Johnny Cyrus each had 2 hits. Every starter had at least 1 hit. "That doesn't happen very often either," Coach Swallows said. "That shows our consistency with the bat right now." Livingston Academy was scheduled to begin a tournament in Soddy-Daisy on Thursday, April 17 against Knoxville-Karns, but the game was rained out. "So, instead of going down Thursday night and spending the night, we decided to stay here and get up early on Friday morning and go down," Coach Swallows said. "Probably, that was not a good decision on my part because the kids had to get up at 4 o'clock in the morning to get here and get us going; and we had to play a 7:30 a.m. game, our time. "So, we were dragging when we got there. I think we had 10 minutes to get dressed, get loosened up, and play." The recipe for disaster was in place, and was served up promptly by the tournament host in the first inning. "The first inning we gave up 10 runs," Coach Swallows said. "After we finally got settled, we got beat 10-6." All was not gloom for the Wildcats in the game. "Tyler Thrasher came in and threw a great game in relief, went five and a third to relieve Cody Sells,Ó Coach Swallows said. On offense, Cody King, Kyle Copeland, and Johnny Cyrus each had 2 hits, and Michael Poston hit another prodigious clout, good for 2 runs. "After that first inning we played well, but we just dug a big hole and couldn't get out of it,Ó Coach Swallows said. "Then we turned around and played again at 1:30 against Cape Gerardo, Missouri. They were a good team, and we beat them 10-0. "We continued hitting the ball the way we have been doing of late." Kyle Copeland took the win for LA, his sixth, striking out 8 and giving up just 3 hits. Copeland helped his own cause by pounding out 3 hits. Teammate Cody King also had 3 hits in the game, and Todd Rose and Michael Poston had 2 hits each. On Saturday morning, LA played Body Buchanan and lost 5-0. "For the first time in a couple of weeks we didn't hit the ball as consistently," Coach Swallows said. "We didn't make any mistakes, but they made every play and turned a couple of double plays on hard hit balls, two diving catches in the outfield. "It was just one of those games you can't fuss about making
mistakes, because we just didn't make any. We just didn't win it.
That's just baseball sometimes." Later in the day, the Cats took on Class AAA Cleveland, and won 4-3 in eight innings. "Poston started the game and did a really good job; he just got tired late," Coach Swallows said. "I brought in Cody Sells. He pitched one inning, and did a good job. Then, I brought Kyle in for relief in the eighth. He ended up being the winning pitcher. "So he won two games in the tournament, and won his seventh game." Poston had 3 hits, Copeland had 2, and Rose, King, Murphy, Cyrus, and Nelson all had hits. "We got to play two games at Engle Stadium, which was built in 1939," Coach Swallows said of the tournament. "It's an old minor league park that is full of history. "Hank Aaron played there, and all kinds of major league players that went through the minor leagues played in that park. "The kids had a blast. They loved it. It was a great field of course, and just a great atmosphere." After traveling to Baxter to play Upperman on Monday, April 21, the Wildcats will return home for a big game on Thursday, April 24 against the DeKalb County Tigers. Coach Swallows and the Wildcats hope to see a packed house. "We want to try to see if we can fill this park up on Thursday night against DeKalb," Coach Swallows said. "We are going to try to get all of our students here. We're going to admit all of our students free, and see if we can't set an attendance record." Next up will be another home game on Friday, April 25 against Warren County. The following day, LA will host Macon County in a 2 p.m. game. The district season will end Tuesday, April 29 when the Cats travel to Gainesboro to play the Jackson County Blue Devils. "We've played well against these teams, but all that's in the past," Coach Swallows said. "We've got to forget about what happened the last time and look ahead and just play as solid as we've been playing. "We won 11 in a row before we got beat the other morning. In that little run we finally had started playing solid defense, and hitting the ball, and our pitching was solid. We put all those things together. We've just got to keep that up. "The big week will be district tournament week. We want to host it. We want to win the regular season outright."
Cats lead in soccer, add three more wins By LYNDON JOHNSON, OCN staff The Livingston Academy Wildcats soccer monolith refuses to budge from the top spot in the district, adding three more wins. First of the team's recent conquests was Boyd Christian Academy. The LA team loaded up the bus and strapped on the shin guards to face the Broncos in McMinnville. With this game came a relative shock in the form of a goal scored against the Cats, who had, up to this point, managed to hold scoreless every opponent faced . LA Soccer Coach Ethan King said of the streak-stopping goal, "Drew initially stopped the shot, but it got away from him and he couldn't haul it in before it was too late." The goal came in the first half of play, but would not go unanswered. LA put the goal ratio at 2 to 1 by the end of the first half. The first-half goals were scored by Jacob Pennington and Westley Burnett. Up by a point at halftime, the Wildcats still had a lot of sweating to do before the game could be called in their favor. During the second half, the Broncos were awarded a penalty kick. Coach King explained, "They gave a yellow card to Drew, our goalkeeper, so he had to leave the field for a play, which was the penalty kick. So, we had to sub in our backup keeper (Graham Goodman). "They scored on the penalty kick, but it's hard to stop those." The game remained tied at 2 apiece until the waning moments of the game, when Westley Burnett crossed the ball to Jacob Pennington, who headed the ball in over the Bronco goalie and effectively assured another notch in the belt of the Wildcat soccer slayer. It was the second such last-minute goal this season for the Cats. The next two games on the schedule, an away game against DeKalb County and a home game against York Institute, were cancelled because of inclement weather and indecent field conditions across the greater mid-state area. As soon as somewhat sunnier weather prevailed, LA played Smith County's Owls at home on Tuesday, April 15. "It was nice to play at home after so many away games," Coach King said. Perhaps it was just the team getting used to playing on their own pitch again after such a long stay on the road, but the coach said the team's performance in the early minutes of the game was less than stellar. "The first 10 minutes, we didn't play very well," he said. Not to worry, though. The monolithian Wildcats would recoup and play good, sound footy for the remainder of the game. Not only that, they'd play soundly enough to win the game. Hat tricks abounded in the dominant Wildcats performance, firstly for Westley Burnett, who scored two goals in the first half and another in the second, and secondly for senior Cody Boles, who had three crucial assists that led to goals tallied in the Wildcat column. In addition to the assists, Boles also scored a goal of his own. Other goals were scored by Alex Gunnels and Andy Gunnels, who each scored 1. At the closing whistle, the tally board read 6-0 in favor of the Wildcats. After the win against Smith County, the Cats faced Mt. Juliet Christian at home. The game opened up well enough to appease the home team. At the end of first-half play, the Wildcats were leading 1-0, courtesy of a goal scored by Alex Gunnels. Junior Robert Brady then lit up the scoreboard in the second half to put the Wildcats up 2-0. Secure the game may have seemed, but a penalty committed in the box by Livingston set Mt. Juliet up with a penalty kick, which they would score from. The game score was 2-1, and the foreigners were trying to rally. In an effort to quiet the restless, Wildcat Westley Burnett scored another goal late in the game, dousing any flame that Mt. Juliet might have had and crushing any hopes they might have had of leaving Livingston with anything less than a loss on their record. The ruling iron fist of the Wildcats would not be denied, not on home soil. Livingston won the game 3-1, keeping the season's continuity in check and preserving their winning record. The Wildcats have a busy week at home this week, playing Boyd Christian again on Tuesday, April 22, DeKalb County on Thursday, April 24, York Institute on Friday, April 25, and Cumberland County on Saturday, April 26. The contest against Cumberland County will present a special challenge and at the same time a good opportunity to the squad's younger players, who will have to step in and play for the missing seniors who will truly be "goin' to Disney World" with the LA senior class. Coach King said, "If we do well this week, hopefully we can get some rest with a bye in the first round of the district tournament. "Right now, we're first in the district." Lady Cats take big win, follow with big loss By ASHLEY HUNTER, OCN staff The Livingston Academy soccer team isn't the only team at the school that knows how to deal a shutout. The Lady Wildcat softball team posted an amazing 38-0 victory over the Pickett County Bobcats on Tuesday, April 15. In the first inning alone, Livingston scored 21 runs. Pickett County just couldn't seem to get the balls rolling and Livingston only threw 12 pitches the entire three-inning game. Practically everyone in LA's starting batting lineup scored a run in the first inning alone. The last couple of innings were played with junior varsity players, who also looked promising. This was Livingston's most decisive win of the season,. LA Coach Mike Johnson said, "Our girls played excellent, excellent softball. They just tore the cover off the ball. "Pickett County has a weak team this year and we were able to capitalize." The Lady Cats then went on to play a doubleheader against DeKalb County's Tigerettes on Friday, April 18. The girls know how to win in a shutout, but they also know how to lose in one, too, as they took a 25-0 defeat. That's about how it went in the first game against DeKalb County. The Tigerettes held a 12-run lead after one inning, and just kept right on pouncing all over Livingston, running up the score even more and taking the 25-0 victory. Coach Johnson said of the loss, "A couple of our girls couldn't make it to the game, and one of them was our pitcher. Whitney Walker pitched for us and just didn't have her best game on and struggled a bit. Most of their runs were scored on walks." Later that day, in the second game against DeKalb County, it was an improved LA team taking the field. Yet they were still a losing team, as they were canned 3-1. LA scored a run in the third, but those pouncing Tigerettes came back in the fourth to score 3 runs and win again, this time 3-1. Coach Johnson said, "Walker's pitching day got better and she had more control. "We played great for three innings, but kind of let it slip away in the fourth. They got ahead and we couldn't recover. "Overall, we played much, much better." This week's action for the Lady Wildcats includes games against York Institute on Tuesday, April 22 and Wednesday, April 23. The next day, Thursday, April 24, the Lady Wildcats will take on Pickett County again. On Friday, April 25 and Saturday, April 26, the team will travel to Cookeville to play in a tournament. The Lady Cats will close out the regular season at Gainesboro on Tuesday, April 29 against the Jackson County Lady Blue Devils. Wildcats track team set to round out season By KEVIN BURMEISTER, OCN staff The Livingston Academy track and field team has persevered through a plethora of obstacles this season, and Coach Merle Smith believes that, although his team is comparatively small, a number of his players can have a significant say in the upcoming state tournament. But at the beginning of the season, winning events was handed the second fiddle, while actually forming a group of players to compete was the primary ambition. "Mainly, the goal that we've got set is to try to get more people involved in the sport," Smith said. "We can go to these track meets and do pretty well individually, but as a team we can't score that many points because we don't have enough runners and people to do the events." Despite lacking in manpower, Smith believes that his players, namely his two seniors, Deidra Garrett and the injured Brandon Tavelin, can prosper in the sectionals and possibly even the state tournament. "Brandon Tavelin is still not well," he said. "He's had a stress-fracture in his foot. And he's training but he hasn't run yet. But he can compete with most boys around here." Garrett has drawn from her cross-country background to assist the team in their two-mile runs. "She is wonderful in the two-mile," Smith said. "So she came and ran it the other day against Cookeville and got first place easily in the two-mile. She's good." Another bright spot for Smith's squad has been Crystal Kinnaird, who has competed in LA's speed events as well as the long jump, and placed first against Cookeville during the Tuesday, April 15 competition. "She's been improving on the long jump," Smith said. "She can compete at 14 or 15 feet." Even with first place offerings by Garrett and Kinnaird on their side, Livingston's lack of players forced them to the back of the bus, as they placed third with a somewhat wimpy 6 points, compared with first place Cookeville's 146.5. The process of becoming a local track and field power will be a long one, especially for Smith's younger players, who tend to be gobbled up by their outstanding peers. "We just have to keep training," he said of his younger team members. "Because this right here is a hard sport. And you have to train for it. You just can't go out and run a two-mile race just any day; you have to train vigorously for it." Against Macon County on Thursday, April 17, two of Coach Smith's young players managed to place. Kinnaird came in third in the long jump as well as the 100-meter, while Chris Looper placed fourth in the two-mile, and once again nabbing the lead medal with a fourth place finish in the 800-meter race. Livingston began a double-header of sorts against York Institute, traveling to Jamestown on Tuesday, April 22 to take on the more healthy Dragons. Livingston will complete the double dose on Friday, April 25. Cal Ripken League
continues play LRH was led by the hitting of Colby Reeder and Justin Timmons. Jim Officer threw two scoreless innings in relief for LRH. Family Dentistry 12, In a game that was tied until the last inning, Family Dentistry pulled out a victory 12-6 over UC Sports. Austin Bledsoe pitched the complete game victory with 10 strikeouts. Chance Clark led Family Dentistry with 3 hits. T.J. Walker also pitched an excellent game for UC Sports. Tuesday, April 15 UC Sports went up against AB&T in a closely contested battle. UC Sports took the early lead only to see AB&T battle back and take the lead going into the last inning. UC Sports managed to score 2 runs in the sixth to have a 1-run lead; however, AB&T was not finished. They scored a run in their last at bat to tie the score at 7-7. UC Sports was led by Logan Ramsey with 2 hits and 2 runs scored. AB&T was led by Justin Perdue with 3 runs scored. Family Dentistry 10, First National Bank 5 Family Dentistry defeated First National Bank 10-5 in Tuesday's second game. Family Dentistry was led by the pitching of Chance Clark, M.J. Lockhart, and Carson Bailey. Kyler Davis led FNB in hitting with 2 RBI.
Cal Ripken 11-12 year-olds begin season
Overton County News
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