SPORTS
Golf Clarke one of many top seeds to win in Rowan Masters/2D
June 26, 2010
SALISBURY POST
Ronnie Gallagher, Sports Editor, 704-797-4287 rgallagher@salisburypost.com
1D
SATURDAY
www.salisburypost.com
Grand victory
jon c. lakey/sALisBUrY post
Zach smith trots home as umpire Joe pinyan and smith’s rowan Legion teammates wait to celebrate his grand slam that led to a nine-run sixth inning against south rowan.
South handed a whipping ichael Lowman was reaching for answers Friday night, but to his credit, not for excuses. South Rowan’s xxyear coach was quick to concede Post 185/146 wasn’t merely outscored by the home team in an Area III DAVID showdown at SHAW swollen Newman Park. “We didn’t get beat,” he snapped. “We got whipped.” Rowan County’s abbreviated 14-4 victory was the kind of loss that leaves a stain, an unwanted souvenir from a memorable evening it would rather forget. This was going to be South’s perfectly timed chance to silence its critics, stand up to
Smith’s slam ignites win BY MIKE LONDON mlondon@salisburypost.com
M
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Maverick Miles talks with Michael Lowman. its big brother and sweep the defending state champions for the first time in the program’s 15-year history. Instead, SR collapsed like a souffle. This was Ground Hog Day — South Rowan style, another bad day at the office for a team that’s won only twice at Newman. Afterward, it was outfielder Maverick Miles who voiced the majority opinion. “Whatever it was, it wasn’t enough,” he said. “It’s frustrating for all of us. I mean, we had a 3-0 lead. They were making errors all over the place and playing bad. And then they just
turned on the switch.” Don’t blame Lowman for South’s late-game meltdown. He seeminging pressed all the right buttons for five-and-a-half innings — and even made the correct call when he pulled 16-year old starting pitcher Weston Smith after five innings and a four-pitch, leadoff walk to Hayden Untz in the last of the sixth. “I didn’t bring my ‘A’ game,” Smith confessed after walking seven batters and plunking Luke Thomas in Rowan’s three-run fifth. “I don’t think I was pre-
See SHAW, 4D
Zach Smith’s no-doubtabout-it Rowan 14 grand slam S. Rowan 4 disappeared over the left-field wall at Newman Park, and a tense struggle between two of the top three teams in the Southern Division of Area III quickly became a demolition derby. “Zach Smith’s at the plate with a 3-1 count and the bases loaded, not a good situation to be in,” South coach Michael Lowman said. “He’s one of the top three hitters in our league — maybe the best hitter in the league — and what are you going to do with him?” Smith, a rising sophomore at Pitt Community College, is batting .457. He drove in six runs as Rowan beat South Rowan 14-4 by the 10-run rule on Friday. Rowan, which scored nine runs in the sixth, continued its long run of dominance against South at Newman Park, where it’s won 15 of the 17 meetings, including two playoff games in 1997.
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sweat drips off the arm of pitcher of rowan starter thomas Allen early in the game with south rowan. South’s o n l y breakthroughs $10,000 raised at Newman came for Snider, 5D in 2000 and 2006. South (15-4, 10-3) arrived with a chance to sweep Rowan (19-8, 12-4) for the first time but left empty-handed. South looked like the better team for four innings.
Helping Patrick
Montoya on pole
Expectations high for USA
BY DAN GELSTON
BY RONALD BLUM
Associated Press
Associated Press
LOUDON, N.H. — Juan Pablo Montoya has found his groove at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. Montoya turned a lap of 132.337 mph and won the pole in Friday’s qualifying — the second straight time he’ll start first at New Hampshire. Montoya won his first pole of the season after taking two last season. Montoya is looking for his first career NASCAR win on an oval. “We have been very close as a team to winning races,” he said. Starting first could help. He set a track record at New Hampshire last September to win the pole, and parlayed that into a thirdplace finish. “I think last year we were too conservative here against Mark Martin, but it was the beginning of the Chase and we thought we
RUSTENBURG, South Africa — For other countries, a second-round World Cup match is a big step. For the United States, today’s game against Ghana is so much more. The television audience back home could top the U.S. national team record of 13.7 million, set during the 1994 World Cup loss to Brazil. With a victory, the Americans would advance to a quarterfinal matchup versus Uruguay or South Korea on July 2 and match the farthest the U.S. team has advanced since the first World Cup in 1930. Confidence is soaring. “If we continue to build on the successes so far, we can go to the end,” coach Bob Bradley said Friday. The U.S. team made the 2-hour trip Friday northwest from Irene and checked into the Bakubung Bush Lodge, where the bus was
Right-hander Weston Smith had a one-hit shutout through four, Rowan was throwing it around, and South had scratched out three runs against Thomas Allen. “We were really fortunate only to be down 3-0,” Rowan coach Jim Gantt said. “South can hit and they missed some chances when one more key hit might have put us in a hole.
See ROWAN, 4D
Ghana meets Yanks today
AssociAteD press
pablo Juan Montoya talks to his crew after winning the pole at New Hampshire. needed to be very smart and take the points,” Montoya said. “Right now, we are kind of in the same situation. We need a lot of points. We’ll see what happens.” The former Formula One star made NASCAR’s Chase for the Sprint Cup championship for the first time last season. He’s a disappointing 20th entering Sunday’s race — 161 points out of the 12th and final place
See MONTOYA, 6D
AssociAteD press
Landon Donovan, left, and teammate steve cherundolo dribble during a training session. blocked by an elephant ahead of the opener against England on June 12. Players have been stoked since Landon Donovan’s injury-time goal beat Algeria on Wednesday and lifted them into the knockout phase. “The way we’ve been playing, feeling like we’ve gone undefeated and we’ve gotten stronger, I think that gives us hope,” goalkeeper Tim Howard said. American sports fans have been focusing on soccer at an unprecedented level. Former President Clinton attended Wednesday’s game in Pretoria and chugged a postgame beer with captain Carlos Bocanegra.