The third Wilson City Little League season is in the books with Thomas & Farris finally taking the top prize with a 6-5 defeat of defending champion Italian Pizza and Subs on Monday night in Heritage Bank Stadium.
This was the first chance I had to sit in the stands and watch a game since I was too busy during the grand opening on May 30 to actually sit and watch. What a gorgeous summer evening it was, too. A purplish hue colored the sky at sunset, tinging the backdrop of green fields surrounding Gillette Baseball Complex on London Church Road.
The play of the Little Leaguers was impressive as well. Even though there were seven errors in the Majors Division championship (but only three in the Triple-A Minors final!), the play of these 9-to-12-year-olds was noteworthy. I was especially struck by the grittiness of Thomas & Farris closer Chase Long who left his starting spot behind home plate to take the mound with the bases full and nobody out with a one-run lead in the sixth inning.
After striking out one batter, Long fired a wild pitch and tagged out the runner trying to score from third base despite taking a cleat to the stomach in the process which knocked the wind out of him. After a couple of warm-up tosses, Long retired the last batter on chopper to third baseman Austin Boswell.
Long told me after the game he watched LSU beat Texas in the College World Series and wanted to know what it was like celebrating on the mound after the final out — which he did. He also said he didn't want to feel like those Texas fans did watching LSU whoop it up.
Well, now Long and his Thomas & Farris teammates finally know what it's like to celebrate a title after losing to Farris & Farris in the WCLL's first championship game and winning the regular-season crown but not making the final last summer.
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Friday, June 26, 2009
Atkinson to sign with Barton
There will be another Atkinson playing for the Barton Bulldogs.
I spoke with recent Fike High School graduate Jeremy Atkinson on Friday afternoon and he confirmed that he would continue his basketball career with Barton. The paperwork has yet to be finalized but that should happen in the next week.
I know Jeremy hoped to play NCAA Division I basketball but the truth is that at 6-foot-4 with post skills, he is a "tweener." I have no doubt he can play at the Div. I level but I think that he will find four years playing at Barton more satisfying than possibly spending half that time on the bench at a major university.
I don't know if he will be able to step in and dominate at the Div. II level as he did in high school but I imagine that Bulldogs head coach Ron Lievense will find a spot for him in the rotation.
The Bulldogs won their only NCAA championship in 2007 with Anthony Atkinson, Jeremy's second (or third or fourth) cousin at the helm. I would imagine that Barton opponents will have an uneasy feeling seeing that name across the back of a Bulldogs jersey for another four years. Not to compare Jeremy to Anthony, whose game is completely different, but I have high hopes that with the team Lievense has coming back and the recruiting class he has coming in, Barton will be poised to make another championship run.
I spoke with recent Fike High School graduate Jeremy Atkinson on Friday afternoon and he confirmed that he would continue his basketball career with Barton. The paperwork has yet to be finalized but that should happen in the next week.
I know Jeremy hoped to play NCAA Division I basketball but the truth is that at 6-foot-4 with post skills, he is a "tweener." I have no doubt he can play at the Div. I level but I think that he will find four years playing at Barton more satisfying than possibly spending half that time on the bench at a major university.
I don't know if he will be able to step in and dominate at the Div. II level as he did in high school but I imagine that Bulldogs head coach Ron Lievense will find a spot for him in the rotation.
The Bulldogs won their only NCAA championship in 2007 with Anthony Atkinson, Jeremy's second (or third or fourth) cousin at the helm. I would imagine that Barton opponents will have an uneasy feeling seeing that name across the back of a Bulldogs jersey for another four years. Not to compare Jeremy to Anthony, whose game is completely different, but I have high hopes that with the team Lievense has coming back and the recruiting class he has coming in, Barton will be poised to make another championship run.
A loss closer to home
The deaths of celebrities Michael Jackson and Farrah Fawcett made headlines Thursday but a far more personal loss occupied my mind all day.
My uncle, Edwin Durham, passed away at Wilson Medical Center after a grueling fight with cancer. Uncle Ed, or "Eben" as my late grandmother always called him, probably had as much to do with my love of sports as anyone I know. He married twice but never had any kids of his own and his five nieces and nephews all considered him as a second dad.
A character by nature, Uncle Ed was the consummate fun uncle, always ready with a joke or "joshing" someone about something. His light-hearted demeanor masked a stubborn streak that he always said had to do with having "Durham in him."
My weekly Sunday morning visits with my son Bennett to see Uncle Ed at the farm house he maintained following my grandfather's death 12 years ago will be missed greatly. So will the stories he would tell about playing ball
Uncle Ed played (catcher, mostly) for the Gardners baseball team in the old semi-professional Bright Belt League. He played against or with such players as Red Gay, Earl Boykin, Rabbit Fulghum and the Griffin brothers. In those days (the 1940s and '50s), most of those players spent their day working hard on a tobacco farm before going out to play ball in the evenings. Having toiled briefly in the tobacco fields in the mechanized 1980s, I can only imagine what it was like to spend the day in a field with a mule pulling the trailer, taking out a barn of tobacco at dawn and hanging another two or three in the brutal summer heat and not having the luxury of air-conditioning when you got home.
A Korean War veteran, Uncle Ed was part of that generation who worked hard and did the best they could at what they did. Our conversations usually centered around sports. He still kept up with the local sports scene, inquiring in his final days about the new Little League baseball complex that just opened.
Death is never easy to handle, even though I've dealt with it far more frequently than I would have imagined I would at my age. I knew Uncle Ed didn't have much time as it was apparent cancer was eating away at him despite his unwillingness to acknowledge it. He always said, "When it's your time, it's your time."
So true and now I'm just left with memories and an appreciation for another person who meant a great deal to me.
My uncle, Edwin Durham, passed away at Wilson Medical Center after a grueling fight with cancer. Uncle Ed, or "Eben" as my late grandmother always called him, probably had as much to do with my love of sports as anyone I know. He married twice but never had any kids of his own and his five nieces and nephews all considered him as a second dad.
A character by nature, Uncle Ed was the consummate fun uncle, always ready with a joke or "joshing" someone about something. His light-hearted demeanor masked a stubborn streak that he always said had to do with having "Durham in him."
My weekly Sunday morning visits with my son Bennett to see Uncle Ed at the farm house he maintained following my grandfather's death 12 years ago will be missed greatly. So will the stories he would tell about playing ball
Uncle Ed played (catcher, mostly) for the Gardners baseball team in the old semi-professional Bright Belt League. He played against or with such players as Red Gay, Earl Boykin, Rabbit Fulghum and the Griffin brothers. In those days (the 1940s and '50s), most of those players spent their day working hard on a tobacco farm before going out to play ball in the evenings. Having toiled briefly in the tobacco fields in the mechanized 1980s, I can only imagine what it was like to spend the day in a field with a mule pulling the trailer, taking out a barn of tobacco at dawn and hanging another two or three in the brutal summer heat and not having the luxury of air-conditioning when you got home.
A Korean War veteran, Uncle Ed was part of that generation who worked hard and did the best they could at what they did. Our conversations usually centered around sports. He still kept up with the local sports scene, inquiring in his final days about the new Little League baseball complex that just opened.
Death is never easy to handle, even though I've dealt with it far more frequently than I would have imagined I would at my age. I knew Uncle Ed didn't have much time as it was apparent cancer was eating away at him despite his unwillingness to acknowledge it. He always said, "When it's your time, it's your time."
So true and now I'm just left with memories and an appreciation for another person who meant a great deal to me.
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
A look ahead at football season
The 2009 high school football schedules have been posted online for Hunt, Fike, Beddingfield, among other teams.
The Warriors will open at former 3-A Eastern Carolina Conference rival Eastern Wayne on Aug. 21 and then host Fike the following week. A couple of interesting non-conference battles for Hunt are Sept. 3 at 4-A Holly Springs and Sept. 11 at home against SouthWest Edgecombe.
The Golden Demons, under new head coach Kim Brown, open at D.H. Conley on Aug. 21, visit Hunt the next week and host Beddingfield on Sept. 11. Fike's non-conference schedule is pretty much the same except for South Johnston which visits Bedgood Stadium on Oct. 2.
Both teams begin 3-A Big East Conference play on Oct. 9 with Hunt visiting Northern Nash and the Demons traveling to Southern Nash. After four years of midseason battles, Hunt and Fike will meet in their regular-season finale at Fike on Nov. 6.
The Bruins' non-conference schedule now includes former ECC rivals Southern Wayne (Aug. 28) and Hunt (Sept. 18) as well as Fike and Southern Nash. Beddingfield begins play in the 2-A Eastern Plains Conference at home against Greene Central on Sept. 25. The Bruins finish the regular season at Tarboro on Nov. 6.
The Warriors will open at former 3-A Eastern Carolina Conference rival Eastern Wayne on Aug. 21 and then host Fike the following week. A couple of interesting non-conference battles for Hunt are Sept. 3 at 4-A Holly Springs and Sept. 11 at home against SouthWest Edgecombe.
The Golden Demons, under new head coach Kim Brown, open at D.H. Conley on Aug. 21, visit Hunt the next week and host Beddingfield on Sept. 11. Fike's non-conference schedule is pretty much the same except for South Johnston which visits Bedgood Stadium on Oct. 2.
Both teams begin 3-A Big East Conference play on Oct. 9 with Hunt visiting Northern Nash and the Demons traveling to Southern Nash. After four years of midseason battles, Hunt and Fike will meet in their regular-season finale at Fike on Nov. 6.
The Bruins' non-conference schedule now includes former ECC rivals Southern Wayne (Aug. 28) and Hunt (Sept. 18) as well as Fike and Southern Nash. Beddingfield begins play in the 2-A Eastern Plains Conference at home against Greene Central on Sept. 25. The Bruins finish the regular season at Tarboro on Nov. 6.
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Richardson playing in NBA Top 100 Camp
Brian Richardson, a rising senior at Greenfield School, is in Charlottesville, Va., this week to participate in the prestigious NBA Players Association Top 100 Camp.
The camp, observing its 12th summer at the University of Virginia, counts many NBA stars among its alumni, including Kobe Bryant of the Los Angeles and Dwight Howard of the Orlando Magic.
All the top players in the class of 2010, including Kinston's Reggie Bullock; Harrison Barnes of Ames, Iowa; Will Barton of Baltimore and Brandon Knight of Fort Lauderdale, Fla. In short, this puts Richardson among the cream of the nation's crop in the 2010 recruiting class.
Greenfield head coach Rob Salter told me Richardson is being heavily pursued by Virginia, Maryland, South Carolina, Alabama and Xavier, among others.
With fellow rising senior Jeremy Jeffers garnering attention from the likes of South Carolina, Auburn, Virginia Commonwealth as well as many Ivy League schools (due to his outstanding grades), the Knights should have plenty of attention this winter. Greenfield will participate in the GlaxoSmithKline Holiday Invitational at Raleigh Broughton High School.
The camp, observing its 12th summer at the University of Virginia, counts many NBA stars among its alumni, including Kobe Bryant of the Los Angeles and Dwight Howard of the Orlando Magic.
All the top players in the class of 2010, including Kinston's Reggie Bullock; Harrison Barnes of Ames, Iowa; Will Barton of Baltimore and Brandon Knight of Fort Lauderdale, Fla. In short, this puts Richardson among the cream of the nation's crop in the 2010 recruiting class.
Greenfield head coach Rob Salter told me Richardson is being heavily pursued by Virginia, Maryland, South Carolina, Alabama and Xavier, among others.
With fellow rising senior Jeremy Jeffers garnering attention from the likes of South Carolina, Auburn, Virginia Commonwealth as well as many Ivy League schools (due to his outstanding grades), the Knights should have plenty of attention this winter. Greenfield will participate in the GlaxoSmithKline Holiday Invitational at Raleigh Broughton High School.
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