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THE COURIER-TIMES | ROXBORO, NC
SATURDAY, APRIL 20, 2013
Person baseball breaks losing streak, pounds Bartlett Yancey, 14-6
Friday’s game against
Southern Durham rained out
Bartlett Yancey Wednesday on
the road.
Person scored twice in the
first inning but the Buccaneers
answered with five to take an
The Person High School base- early lead. The Rockets chipped
ball team snapped its four-game away at the lead with runs in the
losing skid with a 14-6 rout of second and third and took con-
trol of the game by scoring four
times in the fifth inning to take a
8-6 advantage.
The Rockets put the game
away with six runs in the seventh.Austin Cole had a big night
at the plate, going 4-for-5 with a
double, an RBI and three runs
scored. For the season, Cole is
batting .524.
Ty Clayton was 2-for-5 with
two RBIs, while Patrick Morgan
finished 2-for-5 with a double
and a run driven in.
Jeff Walker homered and
drove in three in his only official
at-bat, while Matt Overby and
Jon Thornburg each doubled
and had two RBIs.
Daniel Huff finished 1-for3 and drove in two runs, while
Kaleb Pope and Joel Newton
pitched in a hit and an RBI.
Clayton got the win after last-
ing six innings.
The Rockets’ game Friday
against Southern Durham was
rained out and will be made up
Wednesday.
Person will be back in action
Tuesday when it travels to Hillside for a 5 p.m. matchup.
] PERSON SOFTBALL [
Rockets bats come alive just in time
Person bats around in seventh to rally
past Northern Durham
BY KELLY SNOW
victory in Roxboro
“We just weren’t patient,”
Roberson said. “I think maybe it
was in the back of their minds
DURHAM — The last time that we were seeing the same
the Person High School softball pitcher, but for some reason, we
team visited Northern Durham, struggled against her. Maybe we
the Rockets stranded 21 runners were just flat. The tension startand lost in extra innings in a ed building up and we struggled
game that former Rocket coach a bit.”
Mike Shotwell swears will bothEverything changed in the
er him forever.
seventh.
The first six innings of Doug
Abbigale Church worked her
Roberson’s first trip as varsity way to a full count and walked
coach was nearly as bad.
to lead off the inning. Morgan
But that nightmarish game Blalock gave the Rockets a jolt
turned into a happy ending as when she laced a pitch down the
Person turned a 1-0 deficit into left-field line for a double, movan 11-1 rout
ing Church to
of Northern
third with no
Wednesday in
outs.
Durham.
Person tied
Pe r s o n
the game a cou(8-4 overall,
ple of pitches
7-0
PAC-6)
later when Hanstruggled to
nah Blaylock’s
do anything
grounder
to
o f f e n s ive ly
third was misfor six inplayed, allowing
Doug Roberson
nings before
Church to come
Person High School softball coach
erupting for
home.
11 runs in its
Three batters
final at-bat.
latter Alyssa Horton lifted PerThe Rockets brought 14 bat- son in the lead for the first time
KELLY SNOW | COURIER TIMES | THIS PHOTOGRAPH CAN BE PURCHASED AT COURIER-TIMES.SMUGMUG.COM
ters to the plate and had six hits when her flyout to center plated Person’s Hannah Blaylock slides home safely to give the Rockets a 2-1 lead in the seventh inning. Blaylock scored on a sacrifice fly to
after managing four basehits Blaylock from third.
center by Alyssa Horton.
through the first six innings.
But the Rockets weren’t finNorthern
pitcher
Callie ished.
Maunder stymied a Rocket atPerson piled up nine more
tack for six innings that aver- runs in the innings, including
aged more that 13 runs per game matching three-run homers to
against conference competition. nearly the same spot in left field
The Rockets pounded Maunder by Jasmine McCain and Miranin the first meeting between the
long time rivals, a 10-0 Person
See SOFTBALL, Page 7
COURIER-TIMES SPORTS EDITOR
kellysnow@roxboro-courier.com
‘I heard someone say after
Miranda’s homer, ‘that’s
game’. That took the wind
out of their sails.’
McCain’s outburst wakes
up team and herself
BY KELLY SNOW
COURIER-TIMES SPORTS EDITOR
kellysnow@roxboro-courier.com
KELLY SNOW | COURIER TIMES | THIS PHOTOGRAPH CAN BE PURCHASED AT COURIER-TIMES.SMUGMUG.COM
Person shortstop Jasmine McCain makes a force out at second base during the fourth inning of Wednesday’s game against
Northern Durham. McCain hit a three-run homer in the win.
DURHAM — Jasmine McCain
was mad.
She stormed in the dugout before the sixth inning and pleaded
with her teammates to get into
the game, show some emotion —
any emotion.
The Rockets’ junior shortstop’s voice was quivering as
she practically begged her teammates to get off the bench, make
some noise and help as the PAC-6
leader was teetering towards its
first loss in conference play.
And then McCain took matters into her own hands — more
specifically, her own bat.
Person had just taken a 2-1
lead after a sacrifice fly by Alyssa Horton, but McCain landed
the knockout blow with a towering three-run bomb that landed
on the track several feet beyond
the fence in left-field.
That got her teammates off
the bench, as they swarmed her
at home plate.
“Somebody needed to say
something,” Person coach Doug
Roberson said. “She took it upon
herself to wake them up. It was
addressed to the whole team.
She wanted something to happen and she knew we needed to
get that game.”
McCain singled to center in
her first at-bat, but struck out
two consecutive times, the last
one on a pitch in her eyes.
“I think it was all of her emotions after what she was doing
KELLY SNOW | COURIER TIMES | THIS PHOTOGRAPH CAN BE PURCHASED AT COURIER-TIMES.SMUGMUG.COM
hitting-wise,” Roberson said. Person rightfielder Morgan Blalock fires a ball to first base after
See MCCAIN, Page 7
scooping up a liner in the second inning. Blalock’s alert play
saved a run.
] RCS BASEBALL [
Bulldogs cruise to easy conference wins this week
Friday’s game against
Franklin Academy washed out
The Roxboro Community
School baseball team picked up
a pair of lopsided victories this
week.
The Bulldogs buried River
Mill Academy 18-1 Tuesday at
home and followed that with a
9-0 victory against Raleigh Charter a day later on the road.
The Bulldogs raced out to a
6-0 lead after two innings against
River Mill and put the game
away with 10 runs in the third
inning.
RCS pounded out 10 hits, led
by Collin Winstead and Drew
Long. Both finished with two
hits and drove in three runs.
Brandon Wilborn, Samuel
Whitt, Travis Hodgin, and Tucker Hord each drove in two runs.
Jarren Winstead and Tanner
Powell each had a hit and an RBI
and Michael Holbrook chipped
in with a basehit.
Jarren Winstead surrendered
just one hit and struck out 10.
The Bulldogs steadily pulled
away for a 9-0 win against Raleigh Charter Wednesday.
RCS scored once in the first
and two runs in the second and
third innings before pulling
away late.
Whitt led the Bulldogs, going
1-for-4 with two RBIs, while Collin Winstead finished 2-for-4 with
a run scored and one driven in.
Hord finished 1-for-4 and
scored twice, while Hodgin and
Wilborn each drove in a run.
David Rice was 1-for-4 with a
double.
Gary Peterson picked up the
complete-game victory for the
Bulldogs after giving up just
four hits.
The junior struck out three
and walked only one.
The Bulldogs’ game Friday
against Franklin Academy was
postponed because of rain.
RCS will be back in action
Thursday when it faces crosscounty rival Person.
SPORTS
SATURDAY, APRIL 20, 2013
THE COURIER-TIMES | ROXBORO, NC A7
SOFTBALL: Eleven-run seventh inning
carries Rocket softball past Northern Durham
2B
7
2B
1B
7
E5
H
R
P
K
-W
1
H
R
3
1B
BP
H
21
21
— Morgan Blalock’s
double to left ignited
the rally. Put runners in
scoring position with no
outs.
— Miranda Davis being
alert enough to run to
first on the dropped
strike three loaded the
bases with no outs.
— Horton’s sac fly to
center gave the Rockets
the lead and relaxed
everything.
21
Ann
23 Leigh
Charles
F4
FC
SAC
F8
Janelle
Sanford
3
23
15
E4
BB
14
3
4
22
22
Jasmine
McCain
7
22
14
16
Alyssa
Horton
7
Taylor
Davis
22
4
7
Miranda
Davis
1
1
4
7
14
SB
] RAISING UP [
14
match.
The Rockets’ third-seeded
team of Phelps and Cody Carver
edged Knight and Wiggins 8-5.
Mayer teamed with Andrew
Carver to knock off Wiggins and
Johnson 6-2 in the second match.
Hannah
Blaylock
21
on the season.
Moss and Mayer blanked
Johnson and Perez 8-0 in the first
match at number-two doubles
and Moss and Phelps teamed
for a 6-1 win against Perez and
Phillip Williams in the second
3
5-2
21
KELLY SNOW | COURIER TIMES | THIS PHOTOGRAPH CAN BE PURCHASED AT COURIER-TIMES.SMUGMUG.COM
Person’s Brandon Chambers reaches out for a short backhand
during Wednesday’s match against Hillside.
Morgan
Blalock
22
The Person High School tennis team wrapped up its regular season home schedule with
a doubleheader victory against
Hillside.
The Rockets won both matches 8-1.
Person won the top-five singles matches in both ends of the
doubleheader and swept doubles.
Top-seed John Ornitto defeated Hillside’s Matthew Miller and
Miles Williams by matching 8-0
scores. Ornitto improved to 10-6
for the season in singles action.
Chambers matched Ornitto
with 8-0 wins against Miller and
Williams in number-two singles,
while Person’s Hunter Moss
blanked Eduardo Perez in both
matches.
Person’s Hunter Phelps defeated Phillip Williams 8-0 in the
first match and followed with an
8-1 victory in the second event.
Person’s fifth seed Matthew
Mayer knocked off Javien
Knight 8-1 and D’Ontry Johnson
8-0.
Ornitto and Chambers took
down Miller and Williams 8-1
in the first match and 6-1 in the
nightcap. The Rockets’ top-seeded doubles team improved to 9-5
14
22
PHS netter sweep doubleheader against Hillside
Abbigale
Church
16
Members of the Person High School tennis team include: coach Bill White, Andrew Cothran, Brandon Chambers, Hunter Phelps, John Ornitto, Cody Carver, Matthew Mayer, Hunter Moss, coach
Mitch Pergerson.
21
3
SUBMITTED
da Davis.
The Rockets brought 14 hitters to plate in the seventh inning.
“For us to bat around that
inning, was just unbelievable,”
Roberson said. “It was just basehit after basehit. Jasmine was
struggling a little, but she relaxed and took one out and Miranda did too. I heard someone
comment after Miranda’s homer,
‘that’s game’. That took the wind
out of their sails. For us to put
up 11 runs after as well as Northern played was something.”
Northern took a 1-0 in the
second inning on grounder by
Stacey Price, and had numerous
chances to stretch its lead. With
runners at the corners with
two outs, Macie Ashby ripped
an Alyssa Horton pitch to right
field, but Blalock scooped up the
liner on a hop and fired to first
base to get the force out and end
the inning.
For the game, Northern
stranded 10 runners, including
failing to score with the bases
loaded and one out in the third
inning.
“We had some big outs
throughout the game,” Roberson said. “They had second and
third a couple of times and we
just kept making big outs to get
out of it. That says a lot about
how important they knew this
game was.”
Person will be busy next week
with three games including road
games Monday and Tuesday. The
Rockets will travel to 2-A power
Bartlett Yancey Monday for a
7 p.m. matchup and will return
to conference play Tuesday at
Hillside. First pitch at Hillside is
slated for 5 p.m.
14
] THE SEVENTH INNING EXPLOSION [
FROM PAGE 6
— Jasmine McCain and
Miranda Davis’s threerun bombs were the
knockout punches
MCCAIN: Shortstop’s words and swings
ignite emotional rally against Ladies
FROM PAGE 6
“She wasn’t hitting it well. I
think it was a combination of
the team being quiet, how the
game was going and how she
was playing. For her to come up
and relax and hit that out says a
lot about her character. Frustration was building up, but once
she let it out, you could see that
it just all went away.”
The Rockets struggled to get
anything going at the plate until
Morgan Blalock drilled a double
to the fence in left that put runners in scoring position with no
outs.The rest was a blur of balls
getting pounded all over the diamonand and over the fence as
Person put the tough-minded Ladies away.
“(Blalock’s double) was a big
hit for us,” Roberson said. “She’s
worked hard throughout the season. A lot of the girls were trying
to hit that line and she finally got
one down. After that hit, I took a
look at the dugout, and that got
everyone up.”
] RECREATION NEWS [
Local Hershey’s Track and Field Meet slated for May 4
KELLY SNOW | COURIER TIMES | THIS PHOTOGRAPH CAN BE PURCHASED AT COURIER-TIMES.SMUGMUG.COM
Person’s LeRon Cash tries to clear the bar in the high jump during Wednesday’s conference meet
against Riverside.
The Person County Recre- Ages for division will be based
ation, Arts and Parks Depart- on participant’s age as of Dec.
ment will be hosting the local 31, 2013.
Hershey’s Track and Field ComWinners at the local level will
petition Saturday, May 4 at 9 a.m.
at the Person High School track.
The event is open for boys and
girls ages 9-14. The event is free,
but pre-registration is required.
The deadline to register is
April 26 at 5 p.m.
Events include the 50-meter
dash, 100-meter dash, 200-meter
dash, 400-meter dash, 800-meter
run, 1,600-meter run, 4X100 meter relay, standing long jump and
softball throw. Athletes may enter two track and one field event
or one track and two field events.
Reach
Over
60
%
of Person County Households
With Your Advertising In
The Courier=Times
be eligible to travel the regional
competition in Cary.For more
information, contact the recreation department at 597-1755.