Search Results

For the second week in a row, a Scott Hamilton Golf Academy PGA star won in Texas. Steven Bowditch won his second PGA Tour event at the AT&T Byron Nelson. Last week, it was Chris Kirk winning at The Colonial. Scott Hamilton is the Director of Golf at Cartersville Country Club. Hamilton also coaches Kyle Thompson who won in a playoff today on the Web.comTour's Rex Hospital Open in Raleigh, NC. Bowditch story on PGATour.com ---> http://www.pgatour.com Thompson story -----> http://rexhospitalopen.com Learn more about the Scott Hamilton Golf Academy

Final Score Atlanta basebal poll for each classification: Class AAAAAA 1. Parkview 2. Walton 3. Kennesaw Mountain 4. Pope 5. Collins Hill 6. North Gwinnett 7. Milton 8. Brookwood 9. Lambert 10. Mountain View Class AAAAA 1. Greenbrier 2. Gainesville 3. Allatoona 4. Jones County 5. Loganville 6. South Effingham 7. Union Grove 8. East Paulding 9. Starr’s Mill 10. Ola Class AAAA 1. Buford 2. Whitewater 3. Veterans 4. St. Pius 5. Cartersville 6. Locust Grove 7. Wayne County 8. North Hall 9. Columbia 10. Troup County Class AAA 1. Blessed Trinity 2. Jefferson 3. Westside-Augusta 4. Westminster 5. Jackson 6. Pierce County 7. Hart County 8. Callaway 9. Oconee County 10. Ringgold Class AA 1. Wesleyan 2. Darlington 3. Fitzgerald 4. Rabun County 5. Greater Atlanta Christian 6. Lovett 7. Heard County 8. Gordon Lee 9. Benedictine 10. Bacon County Class A 1. King’s Ridge 2. Hebron Christian 3. Eagle’s Landing Christian 4. Schley County 5. Tattnall Square 6. Treutlen 7. Whitefield Academy 8. Emanuel County Institute 9. Brookstone 10. Atkinson County For more, see: http://www.scoreatl.com/stories/2015-final-baseball-rankings/

The third annual FCA Golf Classic will be in full swing Monday (June 1) at the Cartersville Country Club at 1310 Joe Frank Harris Parkway to raise money for the Bartow/Polk Fellowship of Christian Athletes to send student athletes and coaches in Bartow County to FCA camps. Registration and lunch will begin at 11 a.m., followed by a shotgun start at noon. Please see Donna Harris' story "FCA sponsors golf tournament to raise money for athletes camp fees" in The Daily Tribune News

Perfect Game Youth Baseball takes center stage May 29-31 at the LakePoint Sports Complex in Emerson, the East Cobb Complex in Marietta, and Joe Cowan Park in Euharlee. 64 teams are competing for the inaugural 11U and 12U PG Southeastern Championships that conclude with title games Sunday night at Perfect Game Park South at LakePoint. For more info, schedules, and standings: 11U PG Southeastern Championship For more info, schedules, and standings: 12U PG Southeastern Championship

Former Cartersville High School softball standout Kailah Rain recently received all-conference, and all-region distinction following her freshman season at Embry-Riddle University in Daytona Beach, Florida. As an outfielder starting in all 46 games, Rain hit .328 and led the team in hits. The Eagles were 25-21 in 2015, 8-8 competing in the NAIA's Sun Conference. Please see Michael Pierce's story regarding All-Conference selection at http://erauathletics.com/news/2015/4/29/SB_0429155644.aspx?path=softball Please see Michael Pierce's story regarding the NFCA selection at erauathletics.com

Former Woodland High School softball star, Ainsley Faulk, and her Auburn University at Montgomery softball teammates successfully defended their NAIA Softball World Series title Thursday night (May 28). The 35th annual NAIA national championship tournament was conducted at the Jensen Softball Complex in Sioux City, Iowa. Faulk, a 5-foot senior outfielder, was utilized in the title game as a pinch runner for catcher Lauren Shaw in the top of the fourth inning. AUM swept through the winners bracket to make the finals, but lost to Lindsey Wilson (KY) Thursday (May 28) forcing an 'if necessary' game for the national title. The Warhawks (46-9) blanked Lindsey Wilson in the nightcap, 10-0 in six innings, to take the NAIA crown for a second consecutive year. Faulk is the daughter of Havon and Kim Faulk of Taylorsville. Link to www.aumathletics.com (Championship story) Link to www.aumathletics.com (Faulk bio link) Link to NAIA Softball World Series

Cartersville High School had eleven different sports teams to qualify for the state playoffs in Class AAAA during the 2014-15 school year including a state title in competitive cheerleading and final four appearances in both football and baseball. Those performances placed Cartersville 11th overall in the 2014-15 Regions Directors Cup standings for GHSA's Class AAAA. Regions Bank sponsors the annual GHSA all-sports trophy awards for the Georgia Athletic Directors Association. Each school can earn points in twenty-five different sports, with their top eight scoring teams in each gender counting toward the all-sports champion distinction. Other sports earning state playoffs points for the Hurricanes during 2014-15 were Girls and Boys Soccer, Girls and Boys Tennis, Boys Basketball, Girls Track & Field, plus Girls and Boys Cross Country. Cartersville and Heritage-Catoosa tied for the top overall spot in Region 7-AAAA with 616.5 points each. Northwest Whitfield earned the most points in the region in boys’ sports. Heritage-Catoosa was the top scoring school in the region in girls’ sports. Cartersville was second in the region for each gender. Marist was the overall winner in Class AAAA, followed by St. Pius X, Woodward Academy, Buford, and Carrollton. Adairsville was 30th overall in Class AAA, earning state playoff points in Girls Golf, Cheerleading, Girls Soccer, Football, Wrestling, Baseball, Girls Tennis, Volleyball, Boys Cross Country, and Boys Track & Field. The Tigers were fourth overall in Region 6-AAA behind Calhoun, Sonoraville, and Coahulla Creek. Westminster was the overall winner in Class AAA, followed by Blessed Trinity, Oconee County, Calhoun, and Central of Carroll County. Cass was 12th in Region 7-AAAAA, earning state playoffs points in Wrestling and Girls Track & Field. Woodland was 13th in Region 7-AAAAA with points earned as state finalists in Wrestling. Cass was 74th and Woodland 76th in the classification. Cambridge was the overall top scoring school in Region 7-AAAAA and placed third in the state behind Starr’s Mill and Allatoona. McIntosh and Greenbrier rounded out the top five in GHSA Class AAAAA. Excel Christian Academy was 12th in Region 6-A and 81st in Class A with 53 state playoffs points earned by softball. Trion was the overall top scoring school in the region and tops in girls’ sports. Mt. Paran Christian earned the most points in boys’ sports from Region 6-A. Commerce was the overall top school in Class A, followed by Athens Academy, Stratford Academy, Hebron Christian, and Trion. Sortable results for all classifications, regions, schools, and sports are available at the Georgia Athletic Directors Association website. Please see: http://gadaonline.net/Current_Standings.html

A dream for any collegiate athlete is to get to that sport’s biggest stage and be part of a team that competes for a national championship. That is exactly what former Cass High School softball standout and Shorter University softball player Kelsey Holoway experienced in her first season at the college level. Although Holoway saw limited ‘on the field’ playing time in her first season, the experience of being an every day member of a championship calibre team and immersion into that team's routines are irreplaceable. For many athletes, the transition from high school and local travel ball to the college level can be daunting. Holoway found her way to handle the pressures. "The biggest transitions for me were all of the traveling and not knowing a single person on the team when we began. Each freshman is thrown into a pool of even more freshmen and upperclassmen. Trying to find my place on the team and learn the ways of the team was often a struggle. We had a lot of away games this season. That caused us to be on the road almost every weekend. We traveled to Mississippi, Tennessee, Florida, Alabama, and Oklahoma. The travel was very time consuming while trying to keep up with classes," said Holoway. Shorter, in its first year of full eligibility in NCAA Division II, made a post-season run that carried the Hawks all the way to the D2 Women’s College World Series. Playing in the Gulf South Conference with teams perennially ranked nationally, Shorter finished the regular season with a 20-12 mark in the conference and entered the GSC conference tournament as a No. 4 seed, but then the team found its groove. “We didn’t play our best during the regular season,” noted Holoway. “Our record showed that. But I have never been on a team that had so much heart for the game and one another. Something turned around for us in the post season and it was a thrill to prove our team belonged.” Conference foe, Valdosta State, spent most of the 2015 regular season atop the national polls and was the host and top seed going into the Gulf South tournament. The Blazers won two of three conference games at Shorter in February. There was even doubt, at one point, whether or not the Hawks would even qualify for the conference tournament. Shorter won six of their final eight conference series and went 14-7 during that stretch to earn the fourth seed. When Valdosta State stumbled at the conference tournament and lost two straight, Shorter’s momentum was just beginning. “We started believing in ourselves and trusting each other at that conference tournament,” added Holoway. “We weren’t even ranked in the Top 25 in the nation at that point, but our confidence just grew.” Shorter won five times in the Gulf South Conference tournament and only lost once. The Hawks beat North Alabama in the finals to earn an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. In the NCAA South Regional, the Hawks were again assigned to play in Valdosta and went 3-0 to advance. Shorter beat Alabama-Huntsville in the opening round and then knocked off Valdosta State twice to win the regional. With the regional crown, the NCAA made Shorter a Super Regional host and the Lady Hawks responded with a two game, best-of-three sweep of Florida Tech to earn a Women’s College World Series berth. At the NCAA Division II WCWS in Oklahoma City, Shorter opened with a pair of wins over St. Mary’s (TX) and Indianapolis, before falling twice in the national semifinals to eventual national champ, University of North Georgia. North Georgia shutout Dixie State (UT), 5-0, for the Nighthawks first NCAA crown. The Shorter Hawks 2015 season ended with a brilliant 43-17 overall record. Holloway relished the team experience. “We were underdogs, but the greatest thrill was our team proving we deserved to be there. Finishing third in the nation is a great accomplishment,” she added. The former Lady Colonels first baseman appeared in ten games for the Hawks in 2015 with a .250 batting average that included a double and 3 RBI. After being part of such a successful campaign, she understands what she has to do. "For me personally, I just need to continue to work hard and make the adjustments I need to make for this up coming season,” noted Holoway. "This team is full of God-given talent and hard working girls. Anyone who steps on to the field for our team is never just handed the opportunity. Every one of us work tremendously hard and every person on this team is the definition of selfless. You just have to keep working and the success will come.” Holloway believes her role and the team’s future is bright. “We're losing four seniors to graduation and a couple of others, but we have some really talented girls coming in. I believe we can do just as well next season as we did this year and hopefully even better. All it takes is us working as one unit instead of individuals,” concluded Holoway.

Excel Christian Academy is hosting a baseball and softball camp June 1-4 for ages 6 to 12 at the Excel Softball Field. The camp will run from 9am until noon each of the four days. The cost is $60 per child; $40 for a second sibling; and $20 per third sibling. Participants should bring their own bat, glove, cleats, hats, helmets, and bat bags. To register, email Chad Parker, cparker@excelca.org The Excel Softball Field is located at 325 Old Mill Road in Cartersville.

Cartersville native, Mike Cook, has led his collegiate golf team to consecutive national titles. Cook, a senior instructor at Sea Island Golf Performance Center, played at Cartersville High School. He was an All-American at University of Georgia and played professionally. He was also named a Golf Digest Top Golf Teacher. His Coastal Georgia college golf team has now won the NAIA national championship in 2014 and 2015. See the story: The Daily Tribune News (Photo courtesy Sea Island Golf Performance Center)

The 2015 baseball season is over for Bartow County high school teams, and it is now over for the many former county high school players who were competing at the collegiate level. All 24 former Bartow baseball players who played at the college level have completed their seasons. Several of those seasons featured impressive performances with county players playing key roles on their clubs. Please see Jason Greenberg's story "Ex-Bartow baseball players wrap up college seasons" in The Daily Tribune News. You can also check on all of Bartow's current collegiate athletes in other sports at Athletes Beyond Bartow.

9 Stars Baseball, headquartered in Cartersville, captured the 15-under Perfect Game Super25 Georgia Regional held this weekend (May 22-24) in Peachtree City. 9 Stars was shutout 9-0 in their pool play opener on Saturday by the GameOn Spartans of Byron, Georgia, but bounced back to win three straight games -- including a rematch with the Spartans in the championship game -- to garner the regional title. A 7-2 victory over Home Plate Wilson moved 9 Stars Baseball into the elimination round where the Cartersville-based team defeated Home Plate Chilidogs Foster 8-3 in the semifinals and the GameOn Spartans 8-2 in Sunday’s championship game. The tournament crown qualifies 9 Stars Baseball for the Perfect Game Super25 15U National Championship to be played July 30-August 4 at Perfect Game Park South at LakePoint in Emerson. Members of the 15U 9 Stars Baseball club include: Gregory Boland (Allatoona), Noah Dutton (Adairsville), Kade Garrard (Rome), Alex Hinojosa (Calhoun), Caleb Hopkins (Gordon Lee), Carson Kemp (Calhoun), Nick Mauer (Darlington), Logan Millsaps (Pickens), Kyler Pelfrey (Adairsville), Brett Potts (Calhoun), Dominic Stephens (Pickens), Maddox Teems (Adairsville), and Parker Young (Calhoun).