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Friday, April 30, 2010

Best of the Decade voting heats up

With less than 24 hours until voting ends for the Best of the Decade contest, the action has heated up considerably.

Perhaps it was due to the voting results no longer being visible for the final three days of the contest but more than 30,000 votes were cast Thursday, the single biggest day of voting in the nearly three weeks since the contest began.

Although I'm not at liberty to discuss specifics, I will say there are major new developments in the race for Player and Coach of the Year. The next 23 1/2 hours are going to be very interesting!

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Griffith, Raging Wolves begin season

The Carolina Raging Wolves kicked off their 2010 Women's Football Alliance season with a 42-36 loss at the Tampa Bay Pirates on Saturday. It was not only the Raging Wolves' season opener but their first game ever.

Danielle Griffith, a Fike High product and a student at UNC Pembroke, registered a tackle for the Raging Wolves.

The Raging Wolves take on the Central Florida Anarchy this Saturday at 7 p.m. in their home opener at St. Pauls High School in St. Pauls.

Thursday, April 15, 2010

Rountree's recruitment heating up

The pursuit of Beddingfield High junior basketball player Aaron Rountree is beginning to heat up.

The 6-foot-7 wing for will hold a workout at the school Tuesday with coaches from N.C. State, Virginia, Elon and Virginia Commonwealth present, Bruins head coach Jeremy Howard said. Rountree is a talent-in-progress but certainly showed a lot of it this past season when he averaged 10.1 points and 8.8 rebounds.

Rountree was an integral performer on a talented Beddingfield that might just be the team to beat in not only the 2-A Eastern Plains Conference but also the 2-A Eastern region as well next year. Returning with Rountree are fellow Wilson Times All-Area selections 6-7 junior X-Keem Jones and junior playmaker Daquan Langston.

Expected a lot of attention focused on Rountree and the Bruins next winter.

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Best voters of the decade

In approximately six days there have been nearly 20,000 votes cast on this Web site for the player, coach and team of the decade. With more than two weeks left to vote, it seems a given the vote count will top the 100,000 mark.

Color me impressed, Wilson County high school sports fans.

Kyle Pittman's day on

Congratulations to Kyle Pittman of Hunt High School, who was presented with WRAL-TV's "Extra Effort Award" by the legendary Tom Suiter on Tuesday.

Kyle was a standout on the football field in the fall and has been a standout behind the plate for the Warriors baseball team this spring. But mostly, he's been a star in the classroom since he came to Hunt.

Make sure you watch all the way to the end of the segment because the WRAL cameraman takes one for the team. Positioned behind the mound to get some good shots of Kyle throwing the ball to second base, the cameraman (whose name I do not have) caught one of Kyle's strong tosses atop his noggin. The poor fellow was knocked out and required emergency medical attention but, as you can see on the WRAL segment, he is OK now.

Considering all that happened to Kyle on Tuesday, one might think he might not be completely focused when the Warriors hit the field at Southern Nash for a 3-A Big East Conference game Tuesday night. One might be wrong if one thought that.

All Kyle did Tuesday night in Hunt's 24-1 win was hit three home runs, including — get this — two grand slams in the same inning! And he did it off a pretty good pitcher in Kyle Shields, who started for the Wilson American Legion team last summer and has signed with NCAA Division II upper-echelon program Francis Marion (S.C.) University.

On the night, Pittman finished with 10 RBIs — one short of a state record — as he went 4 for 5, including a double. Inexplicably, he struck out in his first at-bat. The two grannies in the same inning and game tied a state record, the former held by five other players including Southern Nash assistant coach Ricky Howard who accomplished the feat with the Firebirds in 2002.

Short of Anthony Atkinson scoring 10 points in 45 seconds and nearly single-handedly winning the Div. II national championship for the Barton College men's basketball team in 2007, Pittman's day ranks as the best I've heard of a Wilson County athlete have in my six years on the job.