High school sports roundup: Northwest volleyball wins tournament; Creek tops Bruins in softball

Published 12:02 am Sunday, August 26, 2018

SOFTBALL

Coahulla Creek 3, Northwest 2

After Coahulla Creek took a 3-1 lead in the sixth inning, Northwest Whitfield had the bases loaded with nobody out in the bottom of the seventh inning but only scored one run and the Lady Colts left Northwest with the 3-2 victory on Saturday afternoon. The win improves Coahulla Creek’s season record to 8-3, 5-2 in Region 6-3A, and Northwest falls to 5-7, 3-0 in Region 6-4A.

“That was a great win against a tough Northwest team,” Coahulla Creek head coach Josh Swiney said. “We still have to do better jobs at making adjustments at the plate, but very proud of our team for finding a way to win.”

The game featured excellent pitching from both sides with the Coahulla Creek duo of Sophia Voyles and Maddi Locke out dueling Northwest’s Cara Rann and Destin Jewell. Voyles started in the circle for Coahulla Creek, pitching four innings and allowing no runs on three hits while striking out seven. Locke came in for Voyles in the fifth inning and held Northwest to two runs, one earned, on six hits while striking out two.

Coahulla Creek’s three and four hitters, RJ Janke and Savannah Hott, were the offensive catalysts for the Lady Colts. Hott’s RBI single in the fourth inning drove in Janke to give Coahulla Creek a 1-0 lead, and Janke’s RBI double in the sixth gave the Lady Colts the go-ahead run, scoring Maddi Locke to make the score 2-1. Hott followed Janke with another RBI single, increasing the lead to 3-1.

After a seventh inning rally earlier in the week, Northwest looked in position to do that again when pinch hitters Shaylen Sutton and Alex Smith both singled to lead off the inning. Molly Middleton followed with one of her three base hits on the day to load the bases with no outs. Locke regained control however, striking out Brittany Ogle in the following at bat. After a fielder’s choice drove in one run and cut the lead to 3-2, Locke induced two consecutive pop flys to secure the victory.

Janke finished 2-3 with one RBI and two runs scored while Hott finished 2-3 with two RBIs. Middleton finished 3-4 with an RBI for Northwest and Katelyn Hannah was 1-3 with a stolen base.

Coahulla Creek will play Monday at home against Murray County and Northwest will play Tuesday at Heritage.

VOLLEYBALL – Ed Hunt Invitational at Darlington High School

Northwest: 6-0 at the tournament, finished as tournament champions

Northwest continued its impressive start to the 2018 season, finishing the day as champions with an unblemished record in the 16-team tournament. Northwest was not taken into a third set until the championship match with Notre Dame (TN), which the Lady Bruins won 2-1 (13-25, 25-20, 15-13). Rachel Thurman and Kaley Long were selected to the all-tournament team.

“I think we’ve had a great start to the season,” Northwest head coach Kelsey Ikerd said. “Many people believed this would be a rebuilding year after graduating four great players last year, but our girls never let that bother them. We are continuing to build and grow on the foundation of hard work and high effort, and I couldn’t be prouder.”

The performance on Saturday improves Northwest’s season record to 19-1. Thurman finished the tournament with 101 assists and 15 digs while Long finished with 36 kills and 12 blocks. Against Notre Dame in the championship match, Thurman had 19 assists and Long had seven kills to go along with two blocks. Shelby Gordon, who Ikerd said had a phenomenal tournament, had 22 digs in the championship match.

Other top performers for Northwest included Emma Allen (18 kills), Abigail Crawford (three aces, six blocks and eight kills) and Shelby Morrison (20 kills, six digs and four aces).

Northwest will play Tuesday at Ridgeland along with Lookout Valley.

Southeast: 3-1 at the tournament

Southeast went 3-0 in pool play and earned the No. 4 seed for the gold bracket at the Ed Hunt Invitational, but fell to Carrollton in three sets in the first round of knockout play.

“A lot of teams were missing girls taking the SAT this morning, so it was fun to watch which girls stepped up in new roles and to see them rally around each other as a team,” Southeast head coach Bethany Kennemer said. “We’re still trying to lock in on our identity and consistency, but I love the potential this team has.”

Southeast, who improved its overall record to 10-2, defeated Rockmart 2-0 (25-9, 25-22), Dalton 2-1 (25-21, 12-25, 15,12) and Villa Rica 2-1 (25-20, 14-25, 16-14). The Lady Raiders fell to Carrollton 1-2 (19-25, 25-23, 12-15). Savana Punchard had 35 assists and 32 digs on the day and Jasmin Herrera had 26 digs. Vanessa Gomez had nine kills, Marcela DeLaGarza had 12 kills and AnnaMaria Ramsey had nine kills.

Southeast will play Tuesday at home against LFO and Sonoraville.

Dalton: 2-3 at the tournament

Dalton defeated Rockmart in straight sets twice and lost to Southeast (1-2), South Paulding (0-2) and Villa Rica (1-2). The 2-3 record on the day brings Dalton’s season record to 4-8.

“I saw huge improvement from my team today,” Dalton head coach Edis Krnjic said.

Tessa Townsend had 33 assists with 10 aces and eight kills on the day. Sarah Jane Halyak had 17 kills, nine aces and 12 digs. Abby O’Farrall had 14 kills and Searany de la Cerda had 16 digs and five aces.

Dalton will play Tuesday at home against South Cobb and Harrison.

Christian 1-3 at the tournament

Christian Heritage finished in fourth place in the tournament’s silver bracket.

CROSS COUNTRY – Ridge Ferry Park (Rome) – No team totals posted.

Coahulla Creek — Saturday was Coahulla Creek’s first meet of the season. The top boys finishers were Harris Gallegy (18:09), Andrew Stamper (18:56), Lane Hollis (18:56), Devin Henry (19:57) and Sean Marsh (20:20). The top girl runners for Coahulla Creek were Kaylee Bandy (21:25), Christian Gordon (21:42), Esmeralda Rangel (22:19), Ella Coley (22:24) and Grace Prince (25:52).

Southeast — This was Southeast’s first meet of the season. Southeast’s top boys finishers were Diego Guzman with a time of 17:13 (12th overall), Jonathan Rico with a time of 19:26 (93rd overall) and Josue Cruz (19:43, 104th overall). Fernando Rodriguez finished at 21:09 and Wilfrido Brito finished at 21:47.

The top girls finishers for Southeast were Joanne Garcia (23:03), Lupita Martinez (23:31), Marlene Paez (24:08), Ally Brown (24:33) and Lizette Gomez (24:49).

Christian Heritage – This was the first meet of the season for Christian Heritage, who only fields a boys team. Bryce Farmer was the top fisher with a time of (20:03, 127th overall). Kevin Zhang (22:38), Mason Chastain (24:25) and Will Brown (25:50) were the other top finishers for the Lions.