THE VICKSBURG POST
SPORTS f riDAY, April 2, 2010 • SE C TIO N B PUZZLES B5 | CLASSIFIEDS B6
Steve Wilson, sports editor | E-mail: sports@vicksburgpost.com | Tel: 601.636.4545 ext 142
Fleming resigns as PCA coach, will remain at school By Steve Wilson swilson@vicksburgpost.com
March Madness Final Four schedule All games on CBS Saturday 5:07 p.m. - Butler vs. Michigan State 7:47 p.m. - Duke vs. West Virginia
Just a year and change after finding a new football coach, Porters Chapel Academy is looking again. Bill Fleming resigned on Tueseday as head football coach for health reasons after one season. He will stay at PCA as the athletic director and as a teacher. “He came into my office and he felt that he was unable to give the energy level required of the job and
PREP FOOTBaLL stand on his feet,” PCA headmaster Doug Branning said of the reason for Fleming’s resignation. “He didn’t feel Bill that he could Fleming give the job the attention it needed.” That health concern is Fleming’s left knee, which has a partial anterior cruci-
ate ligament tear and has a painful cyst that causes it to swell up and limit his mobility, Fleming said. “I thought the kids deserved more than I could give them,” Fleming said. “I just wanted to do what was best for the kids and when I can’t give my best, it isn’t fair to them.” Fleming replaced the retired Randy Wright and led the Eagles to a 4-9 record and a first-round playoff loss to Sylva-Bay last season. The job is already adver-
tised on the Mississippi Association of Independent Schools Web site and Branning said that he has already received a few resumés. “We’re not going to put a timetable on this,” Branning said. “We’re going to go through the applications and go from there.” The job is an attractive one considering PCA’s winning tradition. The Eagles are losing just five players off last year’s team and will be returning four of their five offensive
Cathedral blanks st. aloysius
flyers soar high in NIT Dayton takes home NIT championship. Story/B3
6 p.m. ESPN — It’s a lateseason NBA doubleheader with Atlanta and Cleveland battling in the opener and Utah and the Los Angeles Lakers squaring off in the second game.
WhO’S hOT
SIdELINES NCAA to expand tourney to 96 teams INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — The NCAA appears to be on the verge of expanding the men’s basketball tournament to 96 teams. Insisting that nothing has been decided, NCAA vice president Greg Shaheen nonetheless outlined a detailed plan Thursday that included the logistics and timing of a 96-team tournament, how much time off the players would have and even revenue distribution. Shaheen said the NCAA looked at keeping the current 65-team field and expanding to 68 or 80 teams, but decided the bigger bracket was best fit logistically and financially. It would be played during the same time frame as the current three-week tournament and include firstround byes for 32 teams. Although the plan still needs to be approved by the Division I Men’s Basketball Committee and passed on to the board of directors, most of the details already seem to be in place. The men’s tournament last expanded in 2001, adding one team to the 64-team field that was set in 1985.
LOTTERY
La. Pick 3: 8-5-6 La. Pick 4: 4-7-0-5 Weekly results: B2
PREP SOFTBaLL
Hearn’s bomb paces WC rout From staff reports
ON TV
DARRICK WHITE WC outfielder went 3-for3 with three RBIs off a tworun single and an RBI triple to pace Warren Central to a 13-3 win over GreenvilleWeston on Thursday.
linemen, their tailback and their fullback. Fleming will participate actively with Branning in the search for the new coach and he believes one quality is a must. “We want someone who is going to be wide-open, get after it and get these kids fired up and in shape,” Fleming said. “I think we’ve got a great core coming back and I feel that hiring the right guy will be like throwing gasoline on a fire.”
mErEdiTh spEncEr•The Vicksburg PosT
Above, St. Aloysius infielder Matthew Foley chases down a grounder against Cathedral at Bazinksy Park Thursday.
Below, St. Aloysius third baseman Ryno Martin-Nez fouls off a ball.
Flashes get swept away By Steve Wilson swilson@vicksburgpost.com If an uninitiated observer was watching Thursday’s game between St. Aloysius and Cathedral, they’d assume that Cathedral was the defending Class 1A champion. The Green Wave (12-0, 4-0) showed some swagger as they swept the season series with their archrivals with a rousing 12-0 decision that clinched the Division 7-1A title. St. Al (11-2, 4-2) dropped its second game in a row in harrowing fashion, looking nothing like the defending Class 1A champions that were undefeated just a week ago. Ace pitcher Stephen Evans gave up two home runs, eight hits and nine runs. The defense was more porous than a piece of pumice, with six errors, two passed balls and countless
RAYMOND — Vicksburg got off to a good start against Clinton lefthander Andrew Gunn but couldn’t finish in the latter innings and left Hinds Community College’s Joe Moss Field with a 6-3 loss. The defeat left the Gators (9-8, 1-2 Division 4-6A) with a split with the Arrows (7-9, 1-3) in the season series with one game remaining in two weeks. For Clinton, the game was a mustwin because a loss would
PREP TENNIS
O’Neal tourney starts today By Jeff Byrd jbyrd@vicksburgpost.com
other mental lapses. And the offense managed just two runners in scoring position with a cavalcade of easy flyouts and weak tappers.
“Right now, we got beat by a much better team than we are,” St. Al coach Clint Wilkerson said. “Three weeks ago, that wouldn’t have
happened. We’ve picked the worst time of year to be playing our worst baseSee St. Al, Page B3.
Vicksburg can’t complete sweep of Clinton By Jeff Byrd jbyrd@vicksburgpost.com
Chasity Hearn continued her torrid streak at the plate, as she went 2-for-3 with an over-the-fence home run to lead Warren Central to a 8-1 victory over archrival Vicksburg. Hearn is hitting a robust .349 and the bomb was her Chelsea second of the Worley season. Sydnei Smith and Chelsea Worley added two hits apiece for WC (10-3, 4-0), which has wrapped up first-place in the division. Worley (7-5) earned the win in the circle, going four solid innings with six strikeouts.
PREP BaSEBaLL have given the Arrows two losses to both Vicksburg and division-leading Warren Central. VHS coach Jamie Creel said his team was hurt by missed opportunities. “We let some little things beat us,” Creel said. “The difference was Clinton got their bunts down and we didn’t. We failed to hit behind a runner and, the other time, our guy didn’t even make an attempt at the bunt.” The missed bunt came in
the fourth inning with the Gators trailing 4-3. Taylor Brocato and Jacob Thomas opened the inning with a pair of hits off Gunn. Justin Pettway could not advance the runners and struck out. Gunn then got a lineout double play to end the threat. In the Gator fifth, Clyde Kendrick reached on an error and stole second, but could not advance as Gunn retired the next three Gators he faced, two by strikeout. Gunn retired nine of the last 10 he faced and more than made up for his
tough start when he spotted the Gators two runs off three hits in the first inning. “Andrew is a real savvy pitcher. When we play defense behind him, we’re pretty good,” Clinton coach Eddie Lofton said. Creel was disappointed that his charges couldn’t do anything after the first against Gunn. “We got to him, we just hit some balls at them and then we didn’t execute,” Creel said. Brocato led the Gators See VHS, Page B3.
The fourth annual Beverly O’Neal Tennis Tournament gets underway today at the Halls Ferry Tennis Courts. The city wide tournament is held in honor of the longtime tennis instructor who died while playing in 2005. Despite the Easter weekend holiday, tournament director Rick Shields say it was important that the tournament keep its first weekend of April date. “We feel the participation level is about what we expect for a holiday weekend,” Shields said. “We’ll begin play on Friday afternoon and then have a full day on Saturday and if need too because of weather, we’ll go into Sunday. “We felt it was more important to keep the tradition of having the tournament on the first weekend in April. That way everyone knows that it is the Beverly O’Neal Tournament.” Shields says the event was able to place six teams in three of the men’s divisions including the Open, Men’s 3.5 and Men’s 4.5.