Newspapers / The Kings Mountain Herald … / June 2, 2005, edition 1 / Page 11
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SE a on RA — — 2 IE a == June 2, 2005 + First round losers and winners will play at 2:30, with the loser’s bracket win- ner and winner’s bracket loser meeting at 5 p.m. Saturday’s two survivors will play for the State Championship Sunday at 2 p-m. If a second game is nec- essary it will be at 4:30. Admission is $6 each day. Sophomore right hander Morgan Childers hurled her fourth no-hitter of the sea- son Thursday night as the Mountaineers defeated R-S Central for the fourth time this season. R-S advanced by knocking off the state’s top- ranked team, Enka, 2-1. Kings Mountain grabbed a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning on a sacrifice fly by Childers. R-S Central only had two base runners, both on walks. Casey Camp scored on an error and Brittney Thornburg singled home LaRonda McClain to give KM a 3-0 lead in the third. Jessica Yarbro beat out an infield hit and later scored on a single by Courtney Tate to make it 4-0 in the fourth. KM proceeded to load the bases and the fifth run scored on Childers’ infield out. : Kings Mountain added its final two runs in the sixth as McClain scored on a wild pitch and Thornburg singled home Childers. The Lady Mountaineers celebrated only briefly, seeming to send the message that they had more business to take care of. Coach Suzanne Grayson feels the team’s experience and work ethic gives it the potential to be very competi- tive in Raleigh. “I'm real pleased with the way the season's gone, but I'm also real pleased with the girls' work ethic,” she said. “There’s never a ques- tion about practicing or how long we are going to prac- tice. They expect to be here. They don’t usually. ask what time we'll get out, they just come and work hard.” Most of the KM players have been playing together for years, first in AAU ball and the past two springs at KMHS where they've com- piled a 42-4 overall record. Grayson lost only one starter and two seniors off last year’s team, and will have all of her players back next The Kings Mountain Herald Kings Mountain head coach Suzanne Grayson, right, and assistant Don Sweezy talk strat- egy during time out in Friday’s game with R-S Central at KM field. year and many of them for two more years. “I think that playing is a great experience for them,” Grayson said, “knowing that all of them with the excep- tion of our two freshmen went a whole season (last year) where they were very successful. We went to the third round of the state play- offs and lost in the top of the seventh inning. Being in those situations have to make you stronger and a better player. “That's probably the rea- son we've played the tough schedule we've played this year,” she added. “We try to put them in a situation where they're playing tough teams as much as possible. The game we lost against North Meck in the Rock Hill tournament was a situation where at the time we hadn't been challenged like they challenged us. They really put pressure on us defen- sively.” Kings Mountain hasn't had any weak points this season. The Mountaineers have strong pitching and defense, good speed on the base paths, and good hitting. “One of our main strengths has been our speed,” Grayson said. “With Courtney Tate, Casey Camp and LaRonda McClain, get- ting them on base is key. We've been fortunate enough to be able to switch out either Amber Milwood or Lauren Gaffney to run for whoever was pitching for us so that added a little speed also, and Kala Buchanan has a lot of speed. “When those folks aren't on and our other folks are on, we've been pretty smart at base running and that has helped us.” Having a two-year all-con- ference catcher behind the plate, Kings Mountain has been able to keep other teams honest on the base path. Kala Buchanan's repu- tation has spread across the conference and area. Only seven runners have attempt- ed to steal on her, and she has thrown out five of them. “She has done a tremen- dous job,” Grayson said. “With that number being so low, that’s out of respect for us. People know that she’s got a good arm.” Pitchers Childers and Kristyn Funderburke have done a remarkable job on the mound, and when Ashton Henderson (right) of R-S Central dives head first back into first base to avoid they're not pitching they being picked off in Friday's game at Kings Mountain in the state 3A playoffs. Making the tag for KM is Brittney Thornburg. Henderson, who walked to lead of the fifth inning, was one of only two base runners for the Hilltoppers. 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While Kings Mountain is making its first trip to the State finals, West Rowan is no stranger there. West fin- ished its conference season this year 14-0 and won the state championship in 2002 and 2003. Grayson said some of the KM players’ parents went to see West Rowan defeat pre- viously unbeaten Southwest -Randolph Saturday night and came away impressed. “We hear they are very aggressive at the plate and that they've also got good speed and a very good catcher,” she said. Grayson, who has coached Ja state championship volley- ball team at KMHS but has never been this far in soft- ball, says she is excited for her players. “It’s exciting to be playing right now,” she said. “It’s kind of like you're not sure if it’s sunk in or not. As we were scoring runs Thursday night and as the game ended, right then you realize that the goal the kids set at the first of the season is get- ting closer and closer. The exciting thing for me is see- ing the kids excited about it. This is something they've really wanted. They seem to be tickled to death and I'm tickled to death too. It gives me a lot of enjoyment to see these kids win and have this opportunity.” The Mountaineers’ win- ning tradition the past sever- al years under Grayson has Page 3B made them a marked target for teams in Western North Carolina, and now they're ready to make that same kind of impact state-wide. “I'm sure going three round last year and losing only one starter made peo- ple expect us to do well this year,” Grayson said. “That can work both ways. Every time you win a game you're supposed to win it. But that’s okay. I tell them we're supposed to win. We've got ‘supposed to” written across our chest. “But the reason we're sup- posed to is not because of where we were last year. You take a bunch of teenage girls who are a year older but each kid is different from last year. I tell them they're supposed to win because they've earned it. They've worked hard. They do things the right way. I just think they work as hard if not harder than anybody else,” ; KMHS SOFTBALL STATISTICS Hitting AB R Haley Barrett 37 8 Kala Buchanan 84 20 Casey Camp 89 33 Mo. Childers 85 18 Kr. Cogdill 45 9 K. Funderburke 84 11 Lauren Gaffney 9 4 Heather Hale 7 1 LaR. McClain 91 34 A. Milwood 12 11 Courtney Tate 86 25 B. Thornburg 95 27 Laura Weigel 6 1 Jessica Yarbro 69 13 H RBI AVG. ms 270 27 17 321 35 14 393 28 2» 329 13 3 289 Bm 7 333 2 2 222 1 1 an 39 19 4p 3 2 250 nn 349 3 mm oan 2 1 333 21 15 304 DOUBLES - Barrett 5, Buchanan 12, Camp 7, Childers 6, Cogdill 3, Funderburke 9, Gaffney 1, Thornburg 8, We Yarbro 4. igel 1, TRIPLES - Buchanan 2, Camp 1, Childers 1, Hale 1, McClain 1, Thornburg 1, Yarbro 1. HOME RUNS - Buchanan 1, Camp 1, Childers 2, Thornburg 3. STOLEN BASES - Barrett 6-7, Buchanan 11-12, Camp 29- 29, Childers 6-6, Cogdill 3-4, Funderburke 3-3, Gaffney 2-2, McClain 31-33, Milwood 11-14, Tate 23-24, Thornburg 6-7, Yarbro 4-4. Pitcher (W-L) IP Hn H. Barrett (0-0) 3.2 4 C. Camp (0-0) 2.0 1 Childers (19-0) 1232 32 Fburke (9-1) 542 37 R BB R E SO 1 1 1 1 0 oc oo 2 9. 7 20 954 13 6 9 57 > not quaify forthe refinancing nance.
The Kings Mountain Herald (Kings Mountain, N.C.)
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June 2, 2005, edition 1
11
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