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Archives 04-30-2003
Sports
Cats clinch regular season title against DeKalb
Livingston Academy's Brian Colson, #11, receives a "high 10" after scoring a run, while the dejected DeKalb County pitcher walks back to the mound. By DEWAIN E. PEEK, OCN staff After a disappointing district loss to Upperman to start last week's play, the Wildcats played rude host to DeKalb County's Tigers to clinch the regular season championship in District 7-AA. The Cats took their first district loss of the year on Tuesday, April 22 when they went to Baxter to take on Upperman. The Bees stung LA for 11 runs, with only a single Wildcat crossing the plate in the game. Wildcats Baseball Coach Pat Swallows said, "We played probably as poorly as we've played in over a month. We didn't do anything right. "We had three fly ball errors in the outfield. We didn't run the bases well. We got picked off. "We got thrown out at the plate, which was my fault. I'm not just blaming the kids; I'm blaming myself. "Everything we did was wrong, and everything they did was right. They played an error-free game," he said of the Bees. Brian Colson was the unfortunate LA pitcher to take the mound at the beginning of the massacre. He was tagged for 6 runs on 3 hits in his inning and two-thirds stint. "That made the Thursday game against DeKalb so much more important,Ó Coach Swallows said. "We came back and played a lot better on Thursday night." Kyle Copeland took the ball for LA on Thursday, April 24 and came out a winner of a 4-3 game decided in the bottom of the seventh inning. Todd Rose scored the winning run in the bottom of the seventh without the benefit of a hit. "They made a big mental error," Coach Swallows said. After reaching second base, Rose took a secondary lead after the pitch. The Tiger catcher decided to try to throw behind the LA baserunner. Rose chose to go forward and try for third. The catcher's throw was off target and trickled away from the shortstop. Coach Swallows sent Rose toward home plate, where he easily scored the winning run. "That was a big, big win for us," Coach Swallows said. "That locked first place. "Kyle gave up three runs; all three were earned for the first time in a while. He pitched well enough to win. "I don't think he had his best stuff that night, but it was good enough." The decisive win came with only two hits from LA bats ÐÊone from Todd Rose and the other from Michael Murphy. "We scored four runs because we just made some things happen,Ó Coach Swallows said. A walk, which turned into a stolen base, was converted into a run on a single. For another run, an LA player was hit by a pitch. A single moved him to second. A fly ball moved him to third. Then, a fielder's choice brought him home. The third run came after a Wildcat player drew a walk, then was moved up by an error and a fielder's choice before being brought home on a ground out. "Then, that last inning, we walk," Coach Swallows said. "Todd hits a fielder's choice, steals second, and scores on an error. "So, we manufactured some runs when our bats weren't carrying us." Coach Swallows gave much credit to the defensive prowess shown in the victory. "We played an error-free game, and it had to be," he said. "Cody Sells did a great job at third base. He made two or three real big plays Ð one backhand play in the hole that really helped us." Right fielder Michael Murphy was kept busy. He made 6 putouts in the game. "Kyle had them hitting the opposite way," Coach Swallows said. "It was our best defensive game, and we needed it, at a time when our bats didn't come through. We've been carried by our bats and our pitching for a while. Our defense has not lived up to expectations. But then Thursday night our defense outshined everything else." The Wildcats played three innings against Warren County on Friday, April 25 before the game was washed off the record books by rain. Without the presence of seniors, Livingston took on Macon County's Tigers in a makeup game Sunday, April 27. The seniors were missed as Macon County downed LA 6-3. "Cody Sells pitched a good ballgame, but he made a couple of mistakes," Coach Swallows said. "Again, we didn't hit the ball the way we have been." Michael Murphy provided some fireworks for the Cats when he hit a 3-run homer to put Livingston ahead 3-1. But the Tigers tipped a 2-run homer off the top of the fence to tie the game, and went on to pull ahead. The week's play moved LA to 18-10 overall and 10-1 in District 7-AA. After playing Jackson County on Tuesday, April 29 to close out the regular season's district play, Livingston Academy will host the District 7-AA Tournament on Monday, May 5. Contenders in the tournament will come from this weekend's elimination round at the higher seeds' home fields. Seed 2 will host seed 7, seed 3 will host seed 6, and seed 4 will host seed 5. LA gets a bye until next Monday.
LA Soccer Team headed to tournament as top team Lyndon Johnson/OCN staff
Livingston Acacemy sophomore Jeffrey Cummings throws the ball in to Wildcats teammate Westley Burnett as a visiting York Dragon anticipates the play.
By LYNDON JOHNSON, OCN staff The Livingston Academy Wildcats faced a busy soccer schedule during the week past, playing four games in five days. Fortunately, the games were all on home soil. On Tuesday, April 22, the Cats faced the first of the week's opponents in Boyd Christian Academy, with senior player Joe Nigro returning to the field for the first time in several weeks. The BCA team was not about to allow an easy win of any sort, but neither were the Wildcats. After 80 minutes of somewhat rough gameplay, and an injury suffered by LA senior Brian McDonald, the score remained tied at 0-0, giving the Cats their first non-winning game of the season. Livingston Academy Soccer Coach Ethan King said, "It was a pretty physical game. "We had lots of shots on goal, we just couldn't get any to go in. "It wasn't our best game," the coach said of the scoreless contest, "but we held them to not scoring also.Ó The Cats returned to the home pitch to play rival DeKalb County on Thursday, April 24. In yet another physical contest, the result would again end up a tie, this time with a goal to each team's credit. After DeKalb scored in the first half on junior goalie Drew Randolph, Alex Gunnels fired the answering salvo in the second half to set the score level again at 1. The game-tying goal was the product of a stepped-up LA offense, which fired several shots on goal in the second half, something it seems to be quite good at doing. On Friday, April 25, the Cats not only honored their senior players (two of which, Brian McDonald and Donovan Reid, currently reside on the team's disabled list,) with shiny new soccer balls, they also dished out a whopping 5-0 loss to the visiting York Dragons. Westley Burnett scored 2 goals, while Jacob Pennington, Alex Gunnels, and Jonathan McGill scored one apiece. As if scoring five goals in a game wasn't impressive enough, the contest was called just as the second half got underway because of incoming weather inclemencies, namely a thunderstorm. The game was unusually short, but to those in the know there was something even more unusual about the game. York didn't use some of their players at all. Coach King explained, "They had a fight between Boyd and York the night before and had some ejections. "I don't think their heart was in it that night," said the coach. So, due to the ejections and suspensions from the game previous, some of the York players had to sit out the contest. Then on Saturday, April 26, the Cats played their third consecutive game in as many days against Cumberland County's Jets, who are not in the same division as the Wildcats. The game would be a tough one, as all of LA's seniors were making small talk with Mickey and the boys down in Disney World. With just two substitutes on the bench, LA had to face the larger Cumberland County team. Some of our players who don't normally get a lot of playing time got to play a lot in that game," Coach King said, "which was good for them." Despite their best efforts, the Cats saw themselves down 3-0 with 20 minutes left to play in the second half. Time for the dynamite defense and outrageous offense to do their thing and play catch-up. And catch up they did. In less than 16 minutes, the Cats were trailing by only one, with Jonathan McGill scoring by penalty kick, and Jacob Pennington making good on an LA corner kick. It was now completely feasible that LA could make a comeback and, at the very least, tie the game before it ended. Alas, despite one incident in which the ball struck the goalpost, only to bounce right into the hands of the Jets' goalie, the Cats could not manage to tie the game. The contest ended in Livingston's first loss of the season, 3-2. With Cumberland County not in the same division as Livingston Academy, the losing game did not effect the district standing of the Cats. Coach King said, "It was good for the younger players even though we lost. They showed a lot of character and heart coming back and getting two goals, making a game out of it in the last few minutes. "I think it gave them a lot of confidence that, next year when our seniors are gone, they'll still be able to compete with a lot of teams." The Wildcats play their last regular season game Thursday, May 1 against DeKalb County. The coach assured that regardless of the outcome of the game, "We're pretty much guaranteed a number one seed." Provided the Cats win the contest against DeKalb County, the first game played in the district tourney will be at home. Times, dates, and brackets have yet to be formulated for the tournament.
Lady Cats take big win, follow with big loss By ASHLEY HUNTER, OCN staff Busy, busy, busy. That's exactly how the Livingston Academy softball team could be described lately. The Lady Cats played 7 games this past week, winning 2 and losing 5. The team began its week-long odyssey last Tuesday, April 22 at Jamestown versus York Institute. This game was incredibly uneventful for those who like a lot of scoring. The game was a pitcher's battle all the way through. York's pitcher struck out LA batters 14 times. The game stayed in a deadlocked 0-0 until the final inning, when York popped the lid off the game like a jar of pickles, scoring 2 runs and taking the 2-zip victory over the Lady Cats. Lady Wildcats Softball Coach Michael Johnson said, "Well, it was really close for the first five innings, and then their pitcher, who is really good, hit one to the fence. They got a couple of runs and it was over." The next day, Wednesday, April 23, the team played York once again, this time at Livingston Academy. LA finally got a run in this game, but it wasn't enough to surpass York's surprising offensive prowess. LA's run came in the second inning and was scored by Lisa Reeder. Of York's 14 runs, 11 of them came in an Energizer Bunny type of fifth inning. When they seemed to be finished hitting, they would just keep going and going. The game ended up being a 14-1 LA loss. Coach Johnson said, "They just killed the ball against us. They had two home runs, and then they had an inning where they played awesome and always seemed to hit the ball to locations where no LA player seemed to be at the time." The Lady Cats stayed busy as they stayed at home the next day, Thursday, April 24 to play Pickett County. Last week, Livingston smoked the Bobcats 38-0. In this game, the case was not really that different, as the team posted a 12-0 victory. Scoring runs for LA were Sarah Maynord with 3, and Aspen Allen, Althea Allred, and Stasha Babb all with 2 runs apiece. Ashley Johnson, Lisa Reeder, and Whitney Walker scored a run each to give LA the commanding victory. Coach Johnson said, "Once again, a good game. Everyone that batted got a hit. It was productive." In keeping with that Energizer Bunny spirit, LA played again the next day, Friday, April 25 in the opening games of a two-day tourney in Cookeville. The team opened up with a game against Jackson Christian Academy. Once again, the Lady Cats ran into a situation in which the game was all tied up until the last minute. The game was decided with the International Tie-Breaker Rule in which each team has a runner on second and the winner is the team that scores the most runs. JCA scored 4 runs to Living-ston's 1 and took a 5-2 victory. Coach Johnson said, "We played really hard up until the end, and then just let it slip away from us." Immediately following the game against Jackson Christian, the LA team was matched up against Sparta's White County Warriorettes. This is the third time this season that Livingston has faced off against White County. Coming into Friday's game, the season series was split 1-1. Not anymore. LA played a phenomenal game and appeared to be the epitome of a hard-working team as they took a 7-5 win. The game began swimmingly for the Lady Wildcats, as their first three batters scored a run. Unfortunately for the Cats, though, White County scored 3 runs in the first inning to match Livingston's inning number one scoring. Both teams were quiet offensively in the second inning, scoring no runs. White County out scored LA 2-1 in the third to take a 5-4 lead going into the fourth and final inning of the game, but it was LA's turn to out score as they outran the Warriorettes 3-0 in the final frame. LA took it's second victory of the week, 7-5 and moved on to the next day's tourney action. The team took on Clinton County, KY, on Saturday morning, April 26. LA once again began with a fiery vengeance, this time with their first four batters scoring runs. Once again, the second inning was quiet for both teams. The fiery vengeance kicked in for Clinton County in the third inning, as they scored 7 runs to LA's nada to give them a commanding 7-4 lead over LA. The Lady Cats picked up a run in the fifth inning, but that wasn't enough as Clinton County scored a run in the fifth and 2 in the sixth to take a 10-4 win over the Lady Cats. Scoring runs for LA were Andrea Borden with 2 runs, and Aspen Allen, Stasha Babb, and Sarah Maynord each with a run. The Livingston team's final game of the week came on Saturday versus the Lady Bears of Antioch High School. LA never seemed to get the ball rolling and only scored a single run in the game. Antioch picked up 2 runs in the second inning, a run in the third, and 4 runs in the fifth inning to take a 7-1 win over Livingston. Coach Johnson said of the last week's action, "Overall, we could've played better. We just made a few little mistakes that proved to be costly when it came to trying to post victories. "We're looking forward to ending the season and trying to win district tournaments." Following a game at Jackson County on Tuesday, April 29, the Lady Cats return home to take on the Upperman Lady Bees on Wednesday, April 30. The next day, they stay at home to face Celina. On Friday May 2, the girls take on Coalfield in their last game of the season. The District 7-AA Tournament kicks off Monday, May 5 in Smithville.
Wildcat track stars prosper against York By KEVIN BURMEISTER, OCN staff The Livingston Academy track team packed their bags for Jamestown on Tuesday, April 22 to face York Institute. LA's Chris Looper and Crystal Kinnaird hardly played the role of a cowardly peasant in the face of the Dragons, but more adequately filled a dashing knight's armored boots throughout the afternoon meet. Looper's best efforts were reserved for the grueling 800-meter race, in which he whalloped the competition by coming in second to none. LA Track Coach Merl Smith said of his first-place runner, "He played very well for us." Crystal Kinnaird placed well for the Cats as well, lunging into the second-place spot in the long jump. She sprinted into second once again in the 100-meter event, while placing third in the 200. Friday's contest against York Institute featured the familiar cast, but harvested somewhat less successful results. Chris Looper continued in his current habit of strong performances through his third place finish in the 800-meter. This event, however, proved to be a mere flash in Livingston's proverbial pan, as it produced LA's only points of the day. Crystal Kinnaird did not compete because of an injury. Livingston's double dip against York marked the end of the regular track season, with the district tournament revving up on Monday, April 28.
Cal Ripken 9-10 League
play continues Cal Ripken 9-10 year-old league play continued last week. Game scores are as follows: Tuesday, April 22 Family Dentistry 16, Livingston Regional Hospital 3 In a battle of unbeaten teams, Family Dentistry defeated LRH. Family Dentistry was led by Austin Bledsoe's hitting and pitching. All starters also scored at least one run. First National Bank 12, Upper Cumberland Sports 9 Upper Cumberland Sports took on First National Bank in a thriller. UC Sports took the early lead only to see First National come back to take a bigger lead. UC Sports mounted a comeback in the final inning, only to fall a little short for a final score of 12-9. First National Bank was led by Justin Savage, who was the winning
pitcher and also had 2 hits. Babe Ruth League begins 2003 season
For the new season, Pickett County has added an expansion team, Dale Hollow Power Sports. Copeland Trucking (CTI) is a new sponsor, replacing West End BP. In the jamboree, Copeland Trucking and Livingston Family Dentistry looked sharp, each winning both of their games. The regular season began Monday, April 21. Rain was the winner the first night, cancelling all games. The next night saw the first Babe Ruth games played at Pickett County High School. In the opening game, Copeland Trucking beat Dale Hollow Power Sports 14-3 behind Jamie Vaughn's 4 RBI performance. Jeremiah Copeland scored Dale Hollow's first run. In the second game, Union Bank defeated Byrdstown Medical Center 3-2 in a seven-inning pitcher's duel. Travis Murphy struck out 14 while fashioning a complete game; and Brett Roddy struck out 13 in a losing cause. On Friday, April 25, Dustin Boles looked sharp in pitching Copeland Trucking past Mark White Tire 5-0 in a game shortened to five innings by rain. The second game was rained out. Rain continued to be the winner as Saturday's games were also postponed. Men's Softball League
starts new season This season the league has 11 teams: Jaycees, K and J Inc., Livingston Labeling, Berkline, Medlin Motor Sports, Huckeby Construction, Miller Lite, Dale Hollow Power Sports, Anderson Express Market, T.K.M. Construction, and Pugs Tanks. Game scores for last week are as follows: Wednesday, April 23 Livingston Jaycees 16, Livingston Labeling 3 K & J Inc. 27, Berkline 8 Anderson Express Market 22, Dale Hollow Power Sports 6 T.K.M. Construction 25, Medlin Motor Sports 11 Thursday, April 24 Huckeby Construction 18, Miller Lite 9 K & J Inc. 31, Livingston Jaycees 8 Anderson Express Market 38, Livingston Labeling 7 Berkline 24, Dale Hollow Power Sports 21 Men's League Standings W L
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