Area roundup: Bruins, Raiders win on diamond

Published 12:31 am Friday, February 25, 2011

Northwest Whitfield scored all the runs it needed early and let strong pitching do the rest in a 3-1 season-opening win against LaFayette on Thursday in Tunnel Hill.

Tyler Higgins started for the Bruins and struck out six batters in 4 2/3 innings to get the victory. He walked two, allowed one hit and gave up the lone earned run to the Ramblers.

Jarrett Bruce denied the Ramblers any chance of mounting a comeback while picking up the save. Bruce, who gave up four hits, fanned six batters for all but one of the seven outs he recorded on the mound.

Zach Sloan had two hits and scored two runs for the Bruins, who scored two runs in the first inning with the help of wild pitches. Matt Allen drove in Sloan from second with an RBI single in the third inning for Northwest’s final run of the non-region game.

• Southeast Whitfield 16, Gordon Central 7: Blake Foster, a freshman, had four hits — including a grand slam and a two-run homer — and drove in seven runs to lead the Raiders to a non-region win over the Warriors in Calhoun.

Seven players had multiple-hit nights for the Raiders (2-0), who collected 18 hits to beat Gordon Central for the second time this week.

“We are hitting and hard and playing hard,” Raiders coach Brad Lofton said. “I’m excited about what’s going on.”

Freshmen Rhett Harper and Abram Stanley each added three hits at the plate. Austin Fowler, Jose Vargas, Esteban Marquez and Tyler Hale each had two hits.

Harper also started the game on the mound, giving up four hits and one run in three innings while striking out six. Pedro Vargas, Zach Ramsey and Jacob Moore also took the mound in relief.

Golf

• Northwest girls 97, Calhoun 100: Turner Fordham turned in the low score at Nob North to lead the Lady Bruins past the Lady Yellow Jackets.

Taylor Boyd added a 51 for Northwest, which opened its season this past weekend by taking fourth at the LaGrange Invitational, an eight-team tournament at Callaway Gardens.

Soccer

• North Murray boys 4, Armuchee 2: Ismael Cruz grabbed a second-half hat-trick to lead the Mountaineers (2-0) past the Indians.

Jesus Reyes scored North Murray’s goal in the first half — the score was 1-all at halftime — and Manuel Gonzalez had 14 saves in goal. Armuchee took 21 shots on goal.

Saul Capistran and Junior Lopez were singled out by North Murray coach Matt Chambers for their effort on defense, while Junior Lopez and Antonio Maldonado each had assists.

• Southeast boys 4, Heritage-Catoosa 2: Jorge Hurtado scored two goals to help lead the Raiders to their first Region 7-3A win of the season. Sammy Torres and Mickey Guerrero each added goals for Southeast (3-0, 1-0).

Tennis

• Dalton boys 5, Gilmer 0: The Catamounts opened their season with a Region 7-3A victory in Ellijay, dropping no more than two games in any match. Singles wins came from No. 1 Hunter Carson (6-1, 6-1), No. 2 Price Puryear (6-0, 6-0) and No. 3 Nathan Bryant (6-0, 6-0). At doubles, the winners were No. 1 B.J. Rowland and Thomas Delay (6-1, 6-1) and No. 2 P.K. Bhatter and Mitchell Wilson (6-0, 6-1).

• Gilmer girls 3, Dalton 2: The Lady Cats’ Courtney Morton won 6-0, 6-3 at No. 3 singles, while Vivian Butler and Malaka Awad won 6-0, 6-1 at No. 1 doubles in the season-opening defeat. Dalton’s three losses all came in three sets.

• Northwest girls 4, Southeast 1: The Lady Bruins swept doubles and got singles victories from No. 2 Emma Jones (8-6 in pro set play) and No. 3 Samantha Allen (8-2) to move to 1-1. Winning at doubles were No. 1 Sydney Wagner and Valerie White (8-1) and No. 2 Peyton Bragg and Anna Street (8-6).

Southeast’s victory came at No. 1 singles, where Isabelle Limas won 8-6.

In exhibition doubles, Northwest’s Lauren Jackson and Kalyn Pittman (8-3), Madison Marlow and Sean Corum (8-0), and Alex Wilbanks and Samantha Allen (8-1) all picked up victories.

• Northwest boys 4, Southeast 1: Winners for Northwest were No. 1 Ashmit Mital (8-3) and No. 2 Ashton Avery (8-6) in singles, and No. 1 Chaston Asbury and Justin Sanders (8-6) and No. 2 Josh Bailey and Joel Shearon (8-6) in doubles.

Darshan Pate won at No. 3 singles for Southeast, 9-7.

In exhibition play, Northwest’s Russell Peters won his singles match, 8-4.

JV baseball

• Northwest Whitfield 10, LaFayette 0: A.J. Orozco hit a grand slam to help lead the Bruins in their season-opening win over the Ramblers. Tucker Sheram pitched four innings in the run-rule shortened game to pick up the victory, while Braden Jacobs also pitched an inning in relief.

JV soccer

• Dalton boys 3, Rome 0: Alejandro Hernandez scored a pair of goals and assisted on another by Frankie Hernandez, while Omar Alcantar was in goal for the Cats (1-1), who outshot Rome 25-1.

• Northwest Whitfield boys 4, Murray County 1: Giovanni Aguero scored two goals to help lead the Bruins past the Indians.

Pedro Garcia and David Franco also scored goals for Northwest (2-0), while Christian Perez and Kevin Centeno also added assists.