Page 6A-THE KINGS MOUNTAIN HERALD-Thursday, May 9, 1991
ountain Sports
~ Mountaineers blank R-S for second place
/
* STEVEN FISHER (L), DONALD BELL
Mow down batters from South Point and East Lincoln
Strong pitching keys M
Kings Mountain's Mountaineers
had their best week of the season
last week, capturing three straight
victories at Lancaster Field and
opening a two-game lead in the
race for second place in the
Southwestern 3-A Conference.
Coach Bruce Clark got route-go-
ing performances in all three victo-
ries--16-1 over South Point, 3-1
“over East Lincoln and 5-2 over
Burns.’ 1k :
"At this time in the season we
couldn't be playing any better than
we're playing right now," Coach
Clark said. "Our last three starts
have been extremely good. The
pitchers seem to be working ahead
of the batters and the team tries to
eliminate the leadoff man getting
on base. We're just playing good,
basic fundamental baseball.
"Our defense is also much better
than it has been," Clark added.
"The team is seeming to jell.
Everything is kind of working like
a well-oiled machine."
Steven Fisher hurled his fourth
straight win--a four-hitter--in
Wednesday night's victory over
South Point. He walked only one
batter and struck out five.
The Mountaineers grabbed a 1-0
lead in the bottom of the first when
Robbie Ruff doubled and later
scored on a passed ball, and added
a pair in the third on a hit batsman,
Mounties
second
in track
Kings Mountain High's track
team finished second to Shelby in
the annual Southwestern 3-A
Conference meet Thursday at
North Gaston.
Shelby scored 153 points, fol-
lowed by KM 147, East Rutherford
101, North Gaston 84, South Point
50, R-S Central 19 and Burns 0.
Rodney Houser was the big gun
for the Mountaineers with 22
points. He finished first or second
in all four events he entered, mak-
ing All-Conference in all four.
(The top two finishers in each
event were named All-
Conference).
Houser was second in the triple
jump with a season's high of 432",
first in the 200 meters with a sea-
sons best time of 22.0, was a mem-
ber of the winning 800-meter relay
team along with Pat Ross, Diron
Bell, and Mike Byers; and a mem-
ber of the second place 400 meter
relay team with Ross, Bell and D.J.
Williams.
Ross won the 100 meter dash in
11.11 seconds; Andy Hollifield
won the 1600 meters in 4:56; Mike
Byers won the 400 with a season's
best 41.87, and also ran a leg on
See Track, 8-A
a South Point error and Ruff's sin-
gle.
Those runs would have been
plenty for Fisher, a righthander
whose breaking ball kept the Red
Raiders off stride all night. But the
Mountaineers scored six more in
the fourth, four in the fifth and
three in the sixth to turn the game
into a rout.
South Point hurler Brent Jones, a
sophomore righthander, was his
own worst enemy. He hit four bat-
ters and uncorked several wild
pitches. Jones hit two of the first
three batters he faced in the sixth
and David Jenkins, Mike Smith
and Todd Ware also had key sin-
gles to spark a six-run Mountaineer
rally which made the score 9-0.
The Raiders finally scored in the
top of the fifth to make it 9-1, but
three walks and Tommy Payne's
second homer of the year--a two-
run shot over the leftfield fence--
sparked a four-run rally in the bot-
tom of the fifth which made the
score 13-1.
Kings Mountain closed out the
scoring with three in the sixth on
singles by Jenkins, Smith and Ruff,
and a double by Rick Marr.
dFekk
Southpaw Donald Bell tossed a
three-hitter Thursday as the
Mountaineers turned back East
Lincoln in a non-conference game.
Kings Mountain's Victor Bell, who finished third in the long
SER
PR He 2
David Jenkins hustles back to first base to avoid pickoff attempt
in KM's victory over South Point Wednesday at Lancaster Field.
Bell walked only one and fanned
seven.
The Mountaineers managed only
jump in the SWC meet last week despite an injury, will be one of the
favorites in this week's Regional event at West Henderson.
i
bi
}
six hits but they all came in key sit-
uations.
Mike Smith belted his second
ountaineer wins
home run of the year in the second
to give the Mountaineers a 1-0
lead. The Mustangs came back to
tie the score at 1-all after five in-
nings but the Mounties scored two
in the bottom of the sixth to win.
T.G. Goforth led off with a single,
Robbie Ruff reached on an error
and both scored on a single by
David Jenkins.
Tr Tali BIT 3
(+ Tommy Payné hurled a three-hit-
ter and fanned seven in Friday's
victory over Burns. That win, cou-
pled with East Rutherford's 11-1
victory over R-S Central, gave the
Mountaineers second place by two
games over R-S and Shelby head-
ing into the final two games of the
season this week.
Payne was in complete control
except on two pitches--home run
balls served up to losing pitcher
Gerard Lee and Dixon Putnam in
the second and fourth frames.
The Mountaineers won the game
with four runs in the first inning.
KM collected four of its nine hits
during that frame and also took ad-
vantage of a Burns error. Ruff
walked to lead off the inning and
stole second and third. After two
straight strikeouts by Lee, Ruff
scored on a wild pitch. Mike
Smith, David Jenkins, Brad Melton
and Rick Marr ripped consecutive
See Mountaineers, 8-A
play here
EH ED
1) "could have been the best yet. The
‘hattl-throwing ‘sbphomore held the -
Chargers
on Friday
Kings Mountain's Mountaineers
wrapped up second place in the
Southwestern 3-A Conference
baseball race Tuesday afternoon
with a 4-0 victory over R-S Central
in Spindale. {
The win gives the Mountaineers
of Bruce Clark an 8-3 SWC and
10-7 overall . mark, The
Mountaineers were scheduled to
play at Shelby last night in a make-
up game and will host Crest in
their regular season finale Friday at
7:30 at Lancaster Field. Friday's
game is designated as "Senior
Night" and the four senior mem-
bers of the KM nine--Brad Melton,
Donald Bell, Tommy Payne and
James Howard--will be honored.
Next Monday night, the
Mountaineers will host a first
round game in the SWC tourna-
ment. KM will play the #7 seed, ei
ther North Gaston or South Point:
The final two rounds of the SWC
event will be played Wednesday
and Friday at North Gaston. i
Tuesday's victory at R-S hope:
fully clinched a third straight state
playoff berth for the Mountaineers.
The top two teams from the SWC
advance; however, the
Mountaineers could be forced to sit
at home if a team that finishes low-
er than second in the regular sea-
son wins the conference tourna-
ment.
"We're not planning on that hap-
pening," says: Coach Clark. "If we
continue to play like we've played
the last five games and our pitchers
continue to pitch like they are right
now we can compete with any-
body." : Vey
The Mountaineers got their
fourth straight route-going perfor-
mance from a pitcher Tuesday at
R13 and David Jenkins’ effart
Hilltoppers to just two hits and had
a no-hitter going until one out in
the fourth. He finished with eight
strikeouts and walked only one bat-
ter.
"That's probably the first time I
have seen the David Jenkins that
could be there every single time he
goes to the mound," said Clark.
"We put a lot of pressure on him to
go out and throw a ballgame. We
simply told him to go out and
throw as hard as he could for as
long as he could and we'd get him
some help. It's been a long time
since I've seen someone in high
school with as dominating a fast
ball as he was throwing. The team
backed him well. We had some real
timely hits and another solid ball-
game."
In the last four games,
¥ See Baseball, 7-A
Rec seasons in full swing
The Parks and Recreation
Department is now into the base-
ball and softball season with all
leagues seeing action this week. So
far the wet weather has not greatly
affected scheduling as the field im-
provements during the off season
_ have paid off. :
Our participation in softball this
year is more diverse than previous
years. The economy has affected
our industrial league program but
the church leagues for both men
and women has improved. We have
also fielded three girls' softball
teams and they are participating in
the Gastonia league. :
As for our baseball program, we
have added two teams in our Tee
Wee (5-6 year old) Instructional
league bringing the total to six. Tee
Ball is full again with six teams
and we added a sixth team in the
Minor League (9-10 year old) with
Major League holding steady with
five teams.
The Major League field has un-
dergone two major improvements
prior to the start of league play. To
improve the light quality in the
outfield, the City Electrical
Department put ten foot extensions
on the outfield light poles. This has
provided better, more even lighting
for the late games. With the hard
work of Roy and Terry Putnam,
who volunteered their time, the de-
partment has also added a press
box to this facility. Additional as-
sistance was provided by the elec-
:
David
Hancock
KM
Recreation
Director
tric department in setting poles and
Home Quarters Warehouse of
Gastonia with the donation of
$100. of building materials. We
sincerely appreciate the assistance
of all those involved in completing
these projects.
The department intends to com-
plete playground improvements at
Deal Street and Davidson Parks in
the very near future. Efforts at
preparing both sites have been
hampered by the prolonged periods
of rain we have been experiencing.
Completion of the City Stadium
parking lot is also slated for the
end of May, with the assistance of
the City Public Works Department,
weather permitting.
In response to comments and re-
quests from several citizens, in the
Deal Street Park area, we will
again repair the net posts and re-
place the nets at the Deal Street
tennis courts. This will return the
courts to a functional level for
recreational players, however im-
provements to the court surfacing
is also needed when funds become
Rl
available. The department asks the
assistance of all youth basebal-
1/softball parents, coaches and
players in adhering to the posted
rules regarding permitted uses of
the courts. Use of the courts for
batting practice, warm-ups and
team meeting further damages the
surface and increases the potential
for destroying theinets when they
are sat on, leaned: against, or run
nto.
You may have noticed improved
lighting at the Walking Track in the
last several weeks. The electric de-
partment has placed four new 400
watt high pressure sodium fixtures
in strategic locations to brighten
some previous dark spots. The up-
grade was again in response to Citi-
zen input.
On Friday, May 17, the
Department will sponsor our first
"Talent Night" at 7:00 p.m. at
Barnes Auditorium. Entertainers
from city departments, school per-
sonnel, school students, and indi-
viduals from our community have
all volunteered to participate. This
program is an effort by the
Department to provide fun, inex-
pensive entertainment for the entire
family. The talent will range from
gospel groups, small bands,
dancers,.and a variety of other per-
formances. All the participants are
excited about the opportunity to
perform for their friends and fami-
ly so come out and join in the fun.
See Recreation, 8-A