SPORTS OBITUARIES |
Friday's Internet Edition, 8:42 PM, May 9, 2008.
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| North Davie catcher Garrett Nestor takes a throw as umpire David Prim watches Ellis touch home. |
Ellis disposed of host South Davie 4-1. Against visiting North Davie, Corey Randall provided the pitching and Jacob Walker the pop, and together they helped Ellis crush the Wildcats 16-1 in five innings. Randall hurled a two-hitter and Walker got two hits in a six-run first and finished 3 for 3.
At South, Ryan Foster dazzled on the hill, striking out nine and giving up one hit in 6 1/3 innings. Randall got the final two outs as South fell to 5-4-1.
“Ryan pitched a heckuva game,” Ellis coach Mike Dinkins said. “It’s the best game he’s thrown all year. We usually go with (a 70-pitch count). He was throwing the ball so good and it was a warm day, so we let him go another (12 pitches). I’m not going to overthrow them. For a middle-school kid, that’s excellent.”
“Foster’s tough,” South coach Bobby Byerly said. “We tried to get his pitch count up. We were successful at that, but we sure didn’t put anything in play with any snot on it.”
Randall burned South with the bat, his single plating Ellis’ first run and his second hit driving in Ellis’ second run. During a three-run third, Foster legged out a single, stole second and crossed home on Nick Boswell’s hit.
Ellis also got hits from Jacob Walker, Jeremy Walker, Dylon Cranfill and Landon Adams.
“They’re the class of the league,” Byerly said of Ellis.
Brandon Wilson pitched seven gutty innings for South, scattering eight hits. South’s two hits came from Cameron Beck, who sent a 3-2 pitch up the middle, and Cameron Phillips, who steered one between short and third.
Boswell, the Ellis catcher, gunned down a Tiger trying to steal second ... subscribe to the Davie County Enterprise Record, P.O. Box 99, Mocksville, N.C. 27028.
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| Second baseman Sarah Alexander covers first for Davie’s varsity softball team. - Photo by James Barringer |
The split left Davie at 11-7 overall and 4-4 in the CPC. The War Eagles, though, are on the cusp of their second winning record in five years. What’s most encouraging about that is coach Janice Jackson used three seniors, three juniors and six sophomores against both West and Northwest.
“I’m looking forward to next year already, and we haven’t even gotten through this season yet,” Jackson said. “There’s a lot to look forward to.”
W. Forsyth 5, Davie 1
The second straight loss for Davie and the season sweep by the Titans overshadowed Chelsea Neal, a sophomore leadoff batter who just keeps getting better. She went 3 for 4, accounting for half of Davie’s hits, to soar to second on the team with a .439 average. Her average during an eight-game hitting streak was an eye-popping .579 (11 for 19). Neal is a slap machine.
“She was slapping it,” Jackson said. “They pulled in on her and she slapped one right through the infield.”
But overall, Davie was no match for the first-place Titans, who improved to 15-3 and 7-0. West pitcher Jordan Fulton ran her record to 11-3.
“We just couldn’t hit,” Jackson said. “We did not hit at all. People who at least get one or two hits a game went 0-fer.”
Davie 7, NW Guilford 0
The roller coaster has seen the War Eagles start 0-2, then win four straight. They lost three of four before winning five in a row. They lost two straight before upending the No. 1 team in the Metro 4-A Conference.
Davie, which beat Northwest 5-4 at home on a walk-off double by Jordan Schultz, didn’t need ... subscribe to the Davie County Enterprise Record, P.O. Box 99, Mocksville, N.C. 27028.