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Thursday, May 5, 2011
FHU hosting TranSouth softball tourney The TranSouth Conference postseason softball tournament is set for Morgan Stadium at Associates Field at Freed-Hardeman University, May 3-6. Trevecca Nazarene University, the defending tournament champions, is the top seed again this year after claiming the regular season championship. The Trojans have won five out of the last six regular season titles. Union has locked up the No. 2 seed while FreedHardeman University is the No. 3 seed narrowly edging out No. 4 seed Cumberland University. Martin Methodist College will be the No. 5 seed while Lyon College takes the No. 6 seed by virtue of the head-to-head tiebreaker over Bethel University, which is the No. 7 seed. Mid-Continent University is the No. 8 seed while first-year program Blue Mountain College is the No. 9 seed. The tournament began with the 8/9 game on Tuesday, with the remaining games beginning on Wednesday, May 4.
Yates, Cousar named all-conference
Photo by James A. Webb, Independent
Freed-Hardeman shortstop Jill Brock leaps for an overthrown ball as a Lyon base runner slides into second. The action came during the Lady Lions’ regular season home finale Thursday.
Brittany Yates and Sarah Elizabeth Cousar were named first team TranSouth all-conference selections in the postseason awards released on Monday. This is the third year that Yates, a 5-foot-8 junior from Jackson, has been selected as an all-conference player. She was a second-team selection as a freshman in 2009 and a sophomore in 2010. This season, Yates batted .310 with nine home runs and 31 RBIs to lead the Lady Lions in both categories. Cousar, a 5-foot-8 freshman from Covington, was FHU’s No. 1 starter and leadoff hitter for much of the season. She batted .295 and led the team with 10 stolen bases. In the circle, she went 13-9 with a 3.43 ERA and 84 strikeouts.
CCHS hosting baseball district,
Lady Lions split with Bethel, finish third in conference softball at Selmer, Saturday The Freed-Hardeman 9 a.m. Wednesday. FHU started strong in game two, going three-forLady Lions’ softball team finished the regular season by splitting with Bethel University Saturday, winning 4-3 in the opener and dropping the finale 7-5. Freed-Hardeman hosts the upcoming TranSouth C o n f e r e n c e Championships which began Tuesday. FHU gets the No. 3 seed in the tournament and plays Lyon at
The Lady Lions built a 4-0 lead in game one after the top of the fifth inning before Bethel came back with three in the bottom of the frame, but Savannah Cole kept the Lady Wildcats from tying the game in the final two innings to earn the save. Bailey Morgan hit a solo home run while Brittny Johnson went two-forthree with two RBIs.
game two as well, getting four runs in the first and another in the second to take a 5-0 lead. But again, Bethel scored three times in the fifth and was able to get the split with four runs in the bottom of the seventh off of Summer Cole, finished off by Katie Pacifici’s two-run walk-off home run. Brittany Yates continued her hot hitting in
four with her ninth home run of the year and three RBIs.
Senior sweep Yates hit a walk-off single to complete a comeback victory in the first game of a double-header, then homered and drove in three runs as the FreedHardeman Lady Lions swept Lyon, 5-4 and 9-1,
Chester County’s Eagle Field is the site of the 2011 high school baseball district tournament. First round games were scheduled Tuesday at the top four seeds, with the remainder of the tournament set for Eagle Field through next week. The district softball tournament begins this weekend at Selmer. CCHS softball is the number two seed and plays Saturday at 4 p.m. CCHS boys soccer is still in regular season play with two games remaining before the regional begins next week.
See FHU, Page 3-B
Arthur named all-conference, seven named scholar-athletes Leamond Arthur was voted to the All-TranSouth Conference second team for the second year in a row, but was FHU’s only player represented on the all-conference squads released on Saturday, April 30. Arthur, a senior catcher from Ripley, finished the regular season with a .314 batting average and .411 on-base percentage with 17 dou-
bles, five home runs and a teamleading 48 RBIs after starting 49 games for the Lions. Seven Freed-Hardeman Lions were named TranSouth Conference Scholar Athletes. They are Evan Mansell, Charlie Overturf, Kyle Parrish, Justin Mackey, Jonathan Soto, Ben Graddy and Hunter Newby. To qualify for the award, student-
athletes must have a cumulative grade point average of 3.0 or higher and be a sophomore or above in academic classification. Freed-Hardeman finished the regular season with a 27-26 overall record and 12-12 conference record. The Lions had a strong finish in conference play, winning nine of their last 12 to move into fifth place.
Regular season ends with 9-6 Lion victory Robert Prieto and Kyle Dearing both had three hits as the FreedHardeman Lions’ strong play continued in the last game of the baseball regular season with a 9-6 win over Martin Methodist on Saturday afternoon in Pulaski. The Lions (27-26, 1212) took a 9-2 lead into the home half of the ninth inning before the RedHawks created a bit of a scare, scoring four times and bringing the tying run to the plate. Matt Singleton, though, worked out of the jam and wrapped up the victory. It finished a strong close to the regular season for FHU, which has
won 12 of its last 16 games and nine of its last 12 conference games. Martin Methodist took an early lead after scoring once in the second inning but Dearing and Prieto answered with RBI singles in the top of the third to put FHU on top. The Lions added to their lead in the fifth on an RBI double by Prieto and a sacrifice fly by Evan Mansell. Leamond Arthur added an RBI single in the seventh and a two-run single in the eighth, and Kirkland Wheeler hit a solo home run in the eighth for his second in as many games. Dustin Speight scored on See LIONS, Page 3-B
Photo by James A. Webb, Independent
Augusta McClary of Freed-Hardeman fields a sharplyhit ground ball in the Lady Lions’ doubleheader sweep Thursday at Morgan Stadium.
Lions’ golf wraps up return
Photo by James A. Webb, Independent
FHU pitcher Amos Bingham delivers a pitch during the Lions’ victory over Christian Brothers April 26 at Carnes Field.
The Freed-Hardeman Lions’ first golf season since 2005 came to a close April 22 at the Union University Spring Invitational held at Wingfoot Golf Club in Union City, where FHU placed 11th out of 13 teams. Freed-Hardeman shot a two-day, three-round total of 955 (321-314-320) on the 6,835 yard, par 72 course with its secondround 314 being the team’s lowest score of the
year. Darren Bart was again Freed-Hardeman’s low finisher, placing in a tie for 30th place at 231 (76-7778). Bart ranked second in the tournament in total pars with 37. Jonathan West (81-7881=240) finished 47th followed by Scott Milam (8280-79=241) and Bryant Cashion (82-79-82=243). Carson Wiley rounded out the team’s scores with a 256 (84-84-88).
Victory in tourney for CCJHS soccer Chester County Junior High grabbed its first ever post-season tournament victory with 4-0 washout of Dyersburg Saturday. CCJHS got goals from Tyler Holeman, Braden Lott, Ryan Stanfill, and Michael Whitehead. Destiny Morris recorded the shutout in goal. “This win has given the
team a great boost in confidence,” said Chester County head coach Tommy Kirk. “They are no longer satisfied just being in the tournament, they know that they can win it all.” The victory sends the Junior Eagles to Tuesday meeting with Covington. Results were not available at press time.
Eagle seniors Photo courtesy Kelly Hatch
Chester County seniors played their final regular season home games over last weekend. From left are CCHS assistant coach Ryan Coleraine, Adam Crouse, Josh Cupples, Eagle head coach Mike Goff, Josh Hatch, Andrew Hunt, and Mason Wells. CCHS is currently hosting the district tournament at Eagle Field.