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Re —_
Wednesday, April 12, 1989
SPORTS
5-A
BRUCE CLARK
Mounties Host Raiders Friday
Plonk's Homer Sparks
KM Over North Gaston
Spires,
Mounties
Shutout
Shelby
Stuart Spires hurled a two-hitter
and Chad Plonk slammed a two-
run homerun to spark a four-run
rally in the third inning as Kings
Mountain's Mountaineers blanked
Shelby 5-0 in Southwestern 3-A
Conference baseball action
Wednesday night at Shelby.
Spires’ low fastball and curve
completely shutdown the Shelby
offense. He walked only two
batters and struck out seven in
turning in his first route-going per-
formance.
"Anytime you beat Shelby it
feels real good," said Coach Bruce
Clark. "Spires pitched the best
game of his career and the team
backed him with good hitting and
defense. I was real proud of all of
them."
Dale Greene finished with 3-for-
4 to lead an 11-hit KM plate attack.
Plonk and Chris Henson added 2-
for-4 each.
THE LINESCORE
By innings: RHE
KM 004 010 0:5-11-0
SH 000 000 0 0-2-2
Spires and! Crook; Brown,
Blanton (6) and Hamrick.
Chad Plonk's two-run homer in
the bottom of the first inning
sparked Kings Mountain's
Mountaineers to a 4-1 victory over
North Gaston's Wildcats in
Southwestern 3-A Conference
baseball action Friday night at
KM's Lancaster Field.
The two teams and a small
crowd braved 35-degree weather
on "Hot Dog Night." The
Mountaineers improved their
record to 4-0 in the SWC while
North Gaston dropped to 2-1.
Todd McDaniel went the dis-
tance on the mound to pick up his
fourth straight victory. He scattered
six hits, same as North Gaston los-
er E.L. Clark.
The Mountaineers held off a mi-
nor rally by the Wildcats in the top
of the first. With two outs in the
bottom of the inning, Paul Brannon
lined a hard single over the second
baseman's head. Plonk hit a high
fly ball which was dropped in foul
territory by North Gaston leftfield-
er Jody Baker. On the next pitch,
he slammed a homer over the
rightfield fence to give the
Mounties a 2-0 lead.
North Gaston's only run came in
the fourth and cut the margin to 2-
1. The Wildcats loaded the bases
with one away on a single by Jason
White, double by Ivan Brooks and
a hit batsman. David Duncan hit
into a force play, producing a run,
and then Chad Brown flied out to
center to end the inning.
Kings Mountain added its final
two runs in the fifth on a run-scor-
ing single by Toby Deaton and RBI
double by Chris Henson.
THE LINESCORE
By innings: RHE
NG 000 100 0 1-6-4
KM 200 020 x 4-6-1
Clark, Brown (6) and
Baldwin; McDaniel and Crook.
Host South Point Friday Night
Mounties 5-0 In Conference
Kings Mountain's Mountaineers
got another strong pitching perfor-
mance from senior Stuart Spires
and played errorless defense for the
third straight game to defeat Chase
10-1 in Southwestern 3-A
Conference baseball action
Tuesday afternoon.
The victory, KM's fifth straight
in the conference, sets up a battle
of the unbeatens between the
Mountaineers and South Point
Friday night at Lancaster Field.
The Red Raiders, also 5-0 in the
conference, are 11-0 overall. Kings
Mountain ace Todd McDaniel, 4-0,
will probably face either Jason
Photo by Gary Stewart
If he couldn't laugh about it,
had on the gridiron last fall.
dance.
history.
ball team into the Hall.
Mack Brown would
probably go crazy after the season his UNC Tar Heels
He spoke at Monday night's second annual Chamber
of Commerce Sports Hall of Fame banquet at the com-
munity center, and was a big hit with those in atten-
He said he's been reminded quite often that last
year's 1-10 record was the worst in Carolina football
"Needless to say, we've been busy trying to recruit
some players," he told the crowd of about 350 who
witnessed the induction of Pat Murphy, Marge Crisp,
Jim Dickey and the championship 1964 KMHS foot-
"Our recruiting has gone pretty well," he noted. "I'd
like to thank Bill Grissom for keeping Clemson out of
North Carolina this year. We need to keep those boys
at home because they look real pretty in blue."
Sutton or Shane Lay of the
Raiders. Friday's game is listed on
the schedule to be played in
Belmont, however, it has been
switched to Kings Mountain and
the game listed on the schedule for
Tues., May 9 will be played in
Belmont. Twelve hundred hot dogs
will be given away at the conces-
sion stand on a first come, first
served basis.
"We hope everyone will come
out and pack the place," said Coach
Bruce Clark of the Mountaineers.
"South Point has a fine ballteam
and so do we. This should be a
great game and we need all the
support we can get."
Spires scattered four hits over
the first six innings Tuesday.
Lefthander Keith Allen hurled the
final inning.
Kings Mountain scored two runs
in the first inning, then broke the
game open with eight runs in the
third. Ken Crook slammed a three-
run homer, Toby Deaton doubled
in two runs and Chris Henson
drove in one with a single.
"We're getting great pitching and
the defense is coming around,” not-
ed Coach Bruce Clark. "The most
we've allowed in the last four
games has been six hits. We have
TALK FOOTBALL - UNC football coach Mack Brown, left, talks football with former KMHS coach
Bill Bates at Monday's Sports Hall of Fame banquet at the Community Center. Brown was guest speaker
for the second annual event and Bates inducted his 1964 Mountaineers and star quarterback Pat Murphy.
Mack Brown Sees Good
Times Ahead For Carolina
Grissom, as any local sports fan knows, is a big
Clemson Tiger fan and isn't shy when it comes to rec-
ommending the good area players to Clemson Coach
at home.
Danny Ford. You can see Grissom's van going down I-
85 early each Saturday morning the Tigers are playing
Recruiting all over North Carolina, and especially in
Brooks.
this area, is a big goal of the new UNC coaching staff
which includes former KMHS football coach Dan
"Clint Gwaltney of Shelby is our placekicker and
does a real good job for us,” said Brown. "We need
more good players from this area and we're going to
work more to get some from this area.”
The Tar Heels will have only 81 scholarship players
next fall, and 56 of them will be freshmen and sopho-
mores. Of their recruits, the Tar Heels signed 10 from
See Brown, Page 7-A
Photo by Gary Stewart
SIGNS WITH CAMPBELL - Kings Mountain High senior Brad Wilson, seated, signs a scholarship to
play golf and study at Campbell College in Buies Creek. Looking on as Brad signed on the first official
signing date this morning are, left to right, KMHS Principal Jackie Lavender, Brad's mother, Mary
Wilson, his father, Ronnie Wilson, and his high school coach, Denny Hicks.
to give credit to the pitching and to
the defense for helping the pitch-
ing. We're real pleased with the
way we've been playing defense
lately."
The Mountaineers travel to
Burns Tuesday afternoon and re-
turn home next Friday against R-S
Central.
THE LINESCORE
By innings: R-H-E
KM 208 000 0 10-12-0
CH 000 100 0 1-4-4
Spires, Allen (7) and Crook,
Morris (5); Smith, Gaffney (3),
Allen (5) and Dover.
KM Girls
Unbeaten
In League
Kings Mountain High's girls
softball team battled from behind
in the bottom of the seventh inning
to edge South Point and R-S
Central in their first two
Southwestern 3-A Conference
games last week.
Tony Leigh's team scored three
runs in the bottom of the seventh to
edge previously unbeaten South
Point 8-7, and scored twice in the
bottom of the seventh to nip R-S
Central 7-6.
The KM ladies were scheduled
to travel to Tryon Park to face
Bessemer City this afternoon. They
host Chase Thursday at 4 p.m. at
Lancaster Field.
Pinch-hitter Angie Whitaker
slammed a two-run triple to tie the
score against South Point. South
Point issued two intentiopal walks
to load the bases and set’< ) a force
situation, but Ashley Champion
ripped a single to drive in the win-
ning run.
Champion, Sandra Grant and
Lisa Buckner had two hits each to
lead the KM plate attack.
Carmen Smith's two-out single
tied the game with R-S Central,
and then Robin Watterson singled
in the winning run as the KM
ladies ran their overall record to 7-
1. Watterson, Alice Owens and
Tandra Leftwich had two hits each
to lead the KM attack.
In a doubleheader last Saturday,
the KM ladies defeated Lincolnton
24-2 and East Lincoln 9-7. Paula
Morris went 4-for-4 with five runs
batted in, Velma Degree was 4-for-
5 with four RBI and Angela
Whitaker was 3-for-3 with six runs
batted in against Lincolnton.
Morris, Champion, Alice Owens
and Buckner had two hits each
against East Lincoln.
KM's Brad Wilson Signs
Golf Grant With Campbell
Kings Mountain High senior
Brad Wilson this morning signed a
scholarship to attend Campbell
College and participate on its golf
team.
Wilson, son of Mr. and Mrs.
Ronnie Wilson, has been the
Southwestern 3-A Conference's
Player of the Year the last two sea-
sons and expects to be in the run-
ning for the award again this year.
The honor goes each year to the in-
dividual who wins the conference
golf tournament.
Wilson is the first KMHS athlete
to earn a college golf scholarship.
He has played a key role in the
Mountaineers winning the past two
SWC titles, and Coach Denny
Hicks' team is hoping to become
the first KMHS golf team to go un-
defeated for three years in a row.
"Brad had two assets that made
him extremely attractive to several
schools," said Coach Hicks.
"Number one was his academics.
He excels in all of his classes and
many academically oriented col-
leges were aware of his high
school grades.
"The second thing that most ev-
erybody seemed to be impressed
with was his work attitude on the
golf course," Hicks added. "That
type of attitude also carries over in-
to the classroom."
Wilson has carried the best
stroke average for the
Mountaineers for the past two
years, quite an accomplishment
considering the cafibre of players
Coach Hicks has had in his pro-
gram. Most of the players over the
past three years have scored in the
low to mid 70's.
"The good thing about Brad is
that, if you ask him to go out and
work on a certain phase of his
game, you don't have to worry
about him cutting short.," Hicks
said. "If you ask him to hit 50 sand
shots, he may hit 51 but you don't
have to worry about him hitting 49.
He just has a great work ethic.
We're tickled to death for him.
Very few high school athletes get
to sign a golf scholarship. They're
so rare. But we feel like Brad's go-
ing to represent himself and Kings
Mountain very well."
Campbell has a strong program
and consistently places high in
some of the top collegiate tourna-
ments in the nation. "They have
their own golf course and travel all
over the country playing in some
of the most prestigious tourna-
ments in the country,” said Hicks.
"Their program is on a little higher
level of expectation than some of
the others, and I think that was a
_ leading factor in Brad's decision to
go there."
Wilson said he chose Campbell
because he wanted to go to a small-
er school which has a good golf
program.
"It's a Division One school so I'll
still be competing against major
colleges," he said. "I was really im-
pressed with their course and
Coach Wendell Carr, who is also
the school's athletic director."
Wilson is a self-taught golfer
who has been playing for six years.
"I didn't play golf before we
moved here," he noted. "But when
we located at Kings Mountain
Country Club, my brother, Robbie,
and I just started playing."
The Wilson brothers play every
day, weather permitting. Brad said
he's only taken one private lesson
and has picked up most of his golf
tips from his coaches, father and
other golfers at the country club.
"I appreciate the help and sup-
port they've all given me," he said.
Wilson, who plans to study busi-
ness at Campbell, is active in a
number of activities at the high
school and at First Baptist Church.
At KMHS, he's a member of the
French Club, Beta Club, National
Honor Society and Lettermen's
Club, and ranks in the top 10 per-
cent of his senior class.