The Daily Citizen, Dalton, GA

July 10, 2009

No-hitter an early highlight in Perry

From Staff Reports

The Dixie state tournaments for softball kicked off in Perry on Thursday and resumed Friday with five area teams participating.

In the 8-U Darlings division, the Dalton All-Stars are now 1-1 after a 19-10 win Thursday over Taylor County, but narrowly lost to defending state-champion Jasper County 13-12 on Friday to move into the loser’s bracket of the double-elimination tournament.

“We had our chances,” Dalton coach Stacy Parker said of Friday’s loss. “But that was the best game we’ve played all season.”

Dalton will play at 9 a.m. today against Marion County. If Dalton wins, it would play an opponent to be determined at 6 p.m.

Whitfield National West lost to Jasper County on Thursday, but rebounded Friday with a 12-0 win against Perry. Whitfield will play Taylor County at 1 p.m. today; if it wins, it will play again at 8 p.m.

In the 12-U Ponytails division, Whitfield County won 10-0 Thursday over Baconton, with Cayla Plott, Chaya Drury and Sydney Covington combining to throw a no-hitter. Whitfield lost Friday to Perry 6-5 and will play Jasper at 5:30 today for a spot in Sunday’s championship.

Whitfield National East and Whitfield American played in the 10-U Angels division, but neither coach returned messages left by The Daily Citizen on Friday.

In the Dixie baseball state tournament in LaGrange, both the 13-U and 14-U Whitfield County teams will play their first games today, with 13-U playing against Troup County and 14-U playing against Columbia County. Both games have a 1 p.m. start time.