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MARY PERSONS BULLDOGS
8 StateFarm
281 Trft College Drive Forsyth, GA 31029
478-992-9945
Hours: Monday - Friday, 9 am - 5",30 pm
WE HAVE IT COVERED IF ITS PLAYED
HOME CALENDAR
WflX Si y, lull. 3
THURSDAY, APRIL 4
APRIL $
DAY, 6
JNDAY, APRIL 7
MONI Y, AI IL 8
4:30 p.m.
C-Team Baseball
(vs. Clifton Ridge}
5:55 p.m.
Varsity Baseball
(vs. Perry)
/UES0AY, AmL 9
5:30 p.m.
Varsity Girls Soccer
(vs. Mount de Sales)
k-
5'.55 p.m.
Varsity Boys Soccer
(vs. Mount de Sales)
By Rid'm
forsyth@mymcr.net
The Mary Persons baseball team completed its
best week in years on Monday, sweeping reign-
ing Region 2-AAAA champion West Laurens
in a memorable home doubleheader to put the
Bulldogs alone in first place.
In one of the longest games in MP baseball
history, the Bulldogs, 18-5 overall (7-1 in Re-
gion 2-AAAA) took a Game 1 classic 10-8 in 11
innings on a Trippe Moore walk-off, two-run
homer to leftfield offofRaiders' reliever A.J.
Mathis that put the Dogs' faithful in a frenzy.
]-he Bulldogs then annihilated West Laurens in
Game 2, scoring nine first-inning runs thanks to
an uncharacteristic five Raiders' errors and then
adding eight more rims in the third inning for a
17-2 three-inning, mercy-rule victory.
In a marathon Game i that lasted more than
three-and-a-half hours, the Bulldogs rallied four
different times from deficits to force extra in-
nings. West Laurens got on the scoreboard in the
top of the first, scoring on an RBI single by Brody
Slaughter off of MP starter Moore. The Bulldogs
then answered back with a run in the bottom of
the second against West Laurens leffy ace Tyler
Franks on a sacrifice fly to leftfield by Conner
Watson.
With the game knotted at 1, the Raiders ap-
peared poised to break it open in the top of the
third when Franks hit an opposite field single to
leftfield to plate another run following back-to-
back Moore walks. The next batter, Slaughter,
I
then blasted a three-run homer to right-center
after Moore hung an 0-2 breaking ball to give
West Laurens a commanding 5-1 advantage.
But the Bulldogs would respond with a two-out,
RBI single to center by Alex Kite in the bottom
ofthe third to narrow their deficit to 5-2. The
Bulldogs would then add two more runs in bot-
tom of the third when Moore doubled into the
left-centerfield gap to plate one run, followed by
an RBI single by Jeramiah Andrews to make it
5-4. MP then tied the game for the second time in
the bottom of the fourth when Camden Claxton
singled up the middle on an 0-2 count with two
outs to plate Xavier Soule and square the game at
5-alt. Moore, who settled down after a rocky start,
then stranded runners at second and third with
an inning-ending strikeout of Paul Kellam in the
top of the fifth.
Still tied 5-5, the Bulldogs loaded the bases on a
trio of walks in the bottom of the fifth, chasing an
erratic Franks. However, the Raiders' top reliever,
Bradley Wilson, put out the fire in one pitch by
forcing Eric Snow to fly out to foul ground in
rightfield to strand the bases loaded.
With seldom-used reliever Thomas W'fllingham
on in reliefin the top ofthe sixth, the Raiders
took their third lead of the game on a two-out,
two-run homer to right-center by Franks after
MP'S defenders allowed what should have been
the third out to drop in foul ground earlier in the
at-bat.
But the resilient Bulldogs would remarkably
tie the contest a third time in the bottom of the
sixth as West Laurens shortstop Colton Scott
mishandled a toss from second baseman KeUam
on a would-be double play ball, enabling Claxton
to score. Xavier Soule then drew a bases-loaded
walk from Wilson to tie the game at 7-7.
In the top of the seventh, West Laurens took
yet another lead on a high chopper offthe bat of
Parker Woods that just eluded MP third base-
man Andrews' glove, plating the go-ahead rim.
But once again, the Bulldogs had the answer, as
Nate Howard lined a double down the rightfield
line, scoring Snow. MP thought it had won the
game as Kite also came around to score, but the
umpires ruled Howard's hit a ground-nile double
after it got tangled up in the fence near the visi-
tors' bullpen.
With Willingham pitching six innings of relief,
the game stayed tied at 8-8 for the next three-
and-a-half innings. Then, in the bottom of the
11 th, Kite drew what appeared to be a meaning-
less two-out walk from Raiders' lefty Mathis,
the quarterback on the Raiders' football team.
However, Kite's quality at-bat brought arguably
the Dogs' most feared hitter, Moore, to the plate.
On the first pitch he saw from Mathis, the junior
slugger roped a line-drive blast over the lefffield
fence to enable the Dogs to secure their most
important walk-offhome win against the Raiders
since Spencer Welch ended a 9-8 classic with a
three-run blast in 2012.
Moore said of his homer: "It was a fastball
up, and that's what I like, so I took it for a ride I
guess." The Georgia Tech-commit said as he was
See MP BASEBALL Page 2B
lers
kill
19-11o.
turkey
Eleven-year-old
Evan Rogers of
Forsyth killed
this gobbler on
March 16 dur-
ing the Special
Opportunity for
Youth and Mo-
bility-Impaired
hunters weekend.
The turkey had
a lO-inch beard
and weighed 19
pounds. Rogers
was accompa-
nied by his papa,
Terry Edge.
(Photo/Terry
Edge)
Three H
named All-Region
Mary Persons boys basketball players (lett to right) Desmond Williams, Dre Zellner
and Maurice Shannon were named to the All-Region 2-AAAA squad. Williams and
Shannon were named to the First Team while Zellner was named Honorable Mention.
They were honored at last month's annual postseason banquet. (Photo/Richard Dumas)
