Saturday, April 24, 2010

Former Collins Hill Stand Out Having All-American Career At Shorter

In the next few postings, we will focus on former Gwinnett student-athletes who are excelling at the collegiate level. One young lady is enjoying an All-American career at Shorter College, an NAIA school located in Rome, GA.

She is Libby Munson, and she is a starting pitcher on the Shorter Lady Hawks Softball Team. She is an NAIA All-American and has a record of 22-3 on the season for Shorter, who is now 42-12 on the season and ranked #18 in the NAIA top 25. Her most recent success came when she pitched both games against SSAC rival Brenau University and led the Lady Hawks to a sweep of the 2 game series. In game 1, Munson pitched a 1 hitter en route to a 2-0 win striking out 7 and only walking one batter. In fact, her control was so good that 58 of her 87 pitches were strikes and she didn't allow any Golden Tigers past first base.

In game two, Munson continued her good work as she struck out five Golden Tigers and gave up five hits. she helped her team offensively as well, going 2 for 3 with two RBIs in game two. The Lady Hawks are now in second place, just half a game behind Southern States Athletic Conference (SSAC) leader Auburn-Montgomery. Munson finished the day having pitched 14 scoreless innings and allowing only six hits in the two-game sweep of Brenau. The Lady Hawks will be the No. 2 seed in the upcoming SSAC Tournament.

Munson had a tremendous high school career leading Collins Hill High School to a Georgia State Championship her Junior year and leading the Eagles to a second place finish in State her Senior year. Congratulations to Gwinnett's own Libby Munson for a fantastic collegiate career so far with much more success to come.

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Former Berkmar High Standout Contributing For Berry

From time to time here on College Sports, we want to recognize the accomplishments of student-athletes from the Gwinnett County, Georgia area. This county, located on the northeast side of Atlanta, has produced a plethora of talented of student-athletes who have gone on to excel both in college and in the pros.

One of these fine student-athletes is Cory Pits, a Junior Outfielder on the Berry College Baseball Team. Pitts came to Berry from Berkmar High School in Lilburn, Georgia, located in the southwest part of Gwinnett County. Pitts had an excellent career at Berkmar and took his talents to Rome, Georgia to play for the Vikings. During the 2009 season, Pitts played in 57 games and started 8 of them. He led the team in sacrifice bunts with 29 and ended last year's season with a .306 slugging percentage from 36 at bats. He drove in two runs against Southern Wesleyan back on 4/18/2009.

This year, Pitts is a Red Shirt Junior majoring in Communications and Journalism. He is the son of Travis and Vickie Pitts. he has three brothers, Shane, Julian and Casey, and three sisters, Shaquera, Kenady and Journey. His father Travis played college baseball at Howard University and his Uncle, Nicki Pitts, played football at UGA.

Berry is currently 20-16 over all this year. They still are competing in the Southern States athletic Conference (SSAC) but are not eligible to compete in the post season do to their transitioning from NAIA to NCAA Div. lll. along with Pitts, there other a few other players on the Berry roster from Gwinnett County, and there will be more on them in later postings here on College Sports.

Sunday, April 18, 2010

Who Are the Best All-Time Starting 5 in Bryan History

As an alum of Bryan College, I have always followed their sports teams ever since I came there in 1990 and walked on the Soccer Team. Bryan Athletics wasn't very good back then as far as wins and losses were concerned, but the school had several student-athletes who excelled tremendously both on the field and court as well as in the class room.

I witnessed first hand some of the exploits of the athletes when I was the Public Address Announcer during Bryan Men's Basketball home games from 1992-94. Mark Pack was one of the greatest players wo ever ware a Bryan uniform. He was a two-time NCCAA and NAIA All-American during his three years there on the hill in Dayton, TN. He was a prolific three point shooter. During his last year, he hit 13 in one game. clay Causey was a solid point guard for the Lions as well, along with fellow Louisiana native Jason Martinez.

One of the greatest moments in my sporting life was doing the PA duties for a game in which Bryan trailed Covenant College by 31 points. Led by the scoring of Pack and Martinez, scoring 31 and 32 points respectively, the Lions scored 78 points in the second half and capped off the dramatic come from behind victory with the winning bucket by Jeremy "Jay Train" Sperring. The final was 101-100, and at that time, it was the second greatest come from behind victory in ALL of college basketball including NCAA Div. l. Sperring happened to have gone to grammar School with me from third grade to sixth grade. I actually played against him in high school. Sperring was an NAIA Scholar Athlete and an NAIA Academic All-American.

Other great players come to mind, such as Travis Dotterer, John Spears, Jeff Van Der Mark and Mitchell Byrd. Of course, these were, are and always will be great friends of mine. There were great Bryan players in the 80s, before my time at BC, players such as Dean Ropp, Dave Zuberer, Ron Cox, Rick Torbit and the Landice brothers. The Landice brothers, along with Ropp and Torbit, have been inducted into the Bryan Hall of Fame. Incidentally, Rick Torbit was the creator of the instructioanl video series called "Better Basketball" which has been endorsed by NBA Hall of Famer Rick Barry. There have been great players after my time at BC. In the late 90s and the early part of this century, Randy Evans and Jason Beschta come to mind. There are great current players as well such as DeMond Craig and Scott Newton.

My whole reason for mentioning all this is that I want to pick the best all-time starting 5 and best all-time sixth man in Bryan history. Any of you who played at Bryan or went to the school and were privileged to have watched these great players need to post your comments at the "post a comment" section at the end of this article. I would love to hear your feedback.

FDU Wins Womens Bowling Title

When you think of college sports, bowling might not come to mind. However, Men's' and Women's' Bowling are both sanctioned sports of the NCAA.
Last week, Fairleigh Dickinson University, a school of 6,000 students located in Teaneck, NJ, won a National Championship in Women's' Bowling by defeating Nebraska in a best of seven game series. The match was televised by ESPN. The Knights won the last two games of an extremely tight best of seven match to win their first title since 2006.

In the NCAA Championships, the Baker system was used. It's a system in which a team's five bowlers rotate through frames. The second game was tied until Nebraska left the seventh and eighth frames open. FDU took advantage and rolled two strikes to win that game 209-167. Nebraska won the next two games. Nebraska "rolled" the Knights 221-167 in the first game. That prompted FDU Head Coach Mike LoPresti to instruct his team to use different balls to adapt to the lanes.

The Corn huskers went ton to win the next two games and game 5 by the score of 221-201. FDU won the next game tying the series 3-3. In the deciding game, FDU Sophomore Kristina Mickelson, who entered the match in the second game, rolled two key strikes. Her teammate, Canadian Vickie Calberry, did the same thing. FDU Senior Erica Perez closed out the match and sealed the victory for the Knight s as she knocked down the last three pins, sparking a jubilant celebration last Saturday night for FDU. Perez is a native of Carteret, NJ, about 10 miles from the Brunswick Zone Caroller Lanes where the Championship was being held. The final score in game seven was 208-174 in favor of FDU.

"It was a perfect ending to a dream come true," Perez said. This was only the second time in the tournament's seven year history that the championship match went to seven games. "What a privilege everyone had here tonight," FDU Head Coach Mike LoPresti said. "This was, in my opinion, the best NCAA match ever."

Minor collegiate sports like bowling are hardly noticed by the fans and the media. Yours truly would not have known about it had he not watched some of the replay on ESPN last Sunday, April 11. The student-athletes who participate in these sports deserve to be recognized just as much as those who play the major, high visibility sports. We aim to do that here at kgussports.blogspot.com. For more info on this story, the reader can go to www.ncaachampionships.com.

Thursday, April 15, 2010

NCAA Stands For "No Celebrating Athletic Achievement"

Yesterday, the NCAA made it official that they would penalize any player who makes a "taunting" gesture while running to score a touchdown. This can be things like high-stepping into the end zone and other gestures of celebration. Most of you have watched NFL games and seen those celebrations. Those displays of celebration won't be tolerated in NCAA College Football.

I don't have a problem with penalties for "hot doggin it". I don't like it. It's silly. The Miami Hurricane teams of the late 80s and early 90s started all of this in my opinion. However, I do have a problem with taking away the touchdown. The NCAA is saying they will nullify the touchdown if the player, while running to score, does a celebration display before he reaches the end zone. They call it a "Live Ball Penalty".
Come on now! They earned the TD. No one could catch them. Just penalize them on the next kick off like they've already been doing.

The NCAA is also giving the officials the freedom to make a "judgement call", meaning if they feel it warrants a penalty, they can call it. Pointing in the air to thank God for the touchdown, as one player did during last year's Georgia/LSU game, does not in my mind define a celebration display. However, if the official sees it differently, he can rule that it does and take away the rightly earned touchdown. Just penalize on the kick off. Don't become the "No Celebrating Athletic Achievement Association".

Wednesday, April 7, 2010

Pitcher Throws Perfect Game

It is an event in Baseball that rarely happens even at the Major League level. But for Senior Trey Krier, a pitcher on the Mount Marty College Baseball Team, the rare event became a reality. Last Saturday, Krier became the 19th pitcher in NAIA history to pitch a perfect game as he led the Lancers to a 5-0 shutout of Briar Cliff College (IA). Mount Mary went on to sweep the two game series as they won game two 15-11.

One amazing thing about the perfect game performance is that Krier drew 10 fly balls on a day when the wind was blowing straight out to Center Field. During game two, 5 home runs were hit and 26 runs were scored between the two teams. Mount Marty catcher Josh Wenande described it this way: "That’s definitely not the way you would draw it up with the wind blowing like it was, but he, with his change up, he was getting a lot of balls,” Wenande said.

Being that it was a DH, both games only went 7 innings. MMC's Josh Damewood led off the top of the second inning with a home run. Krier struck out two of three batters in the bottom frame, and Mount Mary scored two more runs in the third. As the fifth inning rolled around, Krier still had not allowed a hit or walk. The Briar Cliff team sensed they were about to be on the wrong end of history. "The first time I really thought about it was the fifth inning. Briar Cliff was kinda getting wound up about being no-hit,” Mount Mary Catcher Josh Wenande said. “In the sixth, they were really talking.”

When the game reached the bottom 7th , both pitcher and catcher began to realize just what was taking place. “I’ve never really been nervous out there pitching, but I was pretty shaken out there for a little bit,” Krier said. Wenande had caught no hitters before, but the highest level was Pewee League. He wanted to make sure he made the right pitch calls. “I never had any trouble until the last hitter, just with pitch-calling,” Wenande said. "Here is the perfect game, and I want to call an inside fastball, but things are going through my mind. Is (the batter) going to hit it? Is (Krier) going to leave the ball over the middle of the plate and the guy get a base hit or something?”

After the final out, Wenande didn't know how to celebrate. "I’m kinda running out there not really knowing ... Do I jump up and down? Do I scream and yell, knowing with that second game was coming up,” he said. “The coaching staff did a good job of keeping us focused.” Unfortunately for Briar Cliff starter Nathanael Olson, he would get the loss in spite of striking out 10 batters in the game.

As mentioned earlier, Mount Marty went on to win game two of the DH 15-11, thus sweeping the two game series against Briar Cliff. Mount Marty, an NAIA school in Yankton, SD, competes in the Great Plains Athletic Conference (GPAC). They have an overall record of 20-8 and 7-1 in GPAC play. They travel to Blair, NE Saturday for a DH against GPAC opponent Dana College. For more information on this story, you can go to www.naia.org.

Monday, April 5, 2010

Duke Wins Fourth National Title For Coach K, But Butler Comes Oh So Close

It will go down as one of the greatest national championship games in the history of College Basketball. You had the classic Hoosiers, David v Goliath, whatever you want to call it match up. Unfortunately for Butler, Reality bit them, but barely.

Gordon Hewyard's half-court heave very nearly banked in at the buzzer, but the blue Devils of Duke survived to win Coach K's fourth national title. Coach K is now tied for second all time in number of national championships won along with Adolph Rupp, who won four with Kentucky. By winning his fourth title, Coach K passes his mentor, Bobby Knight, who won three while at Indiana.

Many people hate Duke and wanted nothing more than for them to fall to reality's version of Hoosiers. But as ESPN's Dick Vitale said, Duke does everything right. They play team basketball. They share the basketball. They play great defense, and the players go to class above all else. "I cant understand why so many people hate Duke except for the fact that when your on top of the mountain, they always want to knock you down", Vitale said. He's right. I also wanted Butler to win. As I mentioned in previous articles, Butler represents the underdogs, the Mom & Pop businesses, the average Joes, which includes 95% of America. But if it cant happen, I would rather have Duke win because they represent what college sports is all about: the athletes are students first. They are truly "Student-Athletes" at Duke.

Butler has shown the nation that you can win with defense. They played great team defense through out the whole tournament including Monday night's national title game. The experts at ESPN: Dick Vitale, Digger Phelps, Hubert Davis and others, thought Butler couldn't hold Duke under 70 points and would have to score more. they did hold the Devils under 70 and they controlled the tempo of the game. they played great defense and they shot 13-18 from the charity stripe. That's 75%, which is what you are suppose to shoot. Butler showed the nation that you don;t have to have McDonalds All-Americans or one and done guys to win.

We know that Duke is the champion, but where does Butler go from here. The Bulldogs' coach, Brad Stephens, said it best: "We were one shot away from winning a national championship. I don't know how much more that furthers the program, but not very much", Stephens said. In other words, you cant get any closer to the top than they did. Coach K said that this game was a "bench mark" game. He said people will get to know Butler not just as a basketball program but as a school. They will know Butler in a way they wouldn't have had the team not made it to the title game. He said that was "scary good".

I mentioned earlier that Butler shot 13-18 from the free throw line. It was a good shooting percentage. But for one player from Snellville, Ga in Gwinnett County, two of those 5 misses must be painful. Senior Avery Jukes, the pride of South Gwinnett High School in Snellville, missed two free throws in the second half which proved to be the difference, although three other free throws were missed. However, it can be argued that Butler wouldn't have had the chance in the end had it not been for the play of Jukes in the first half as he scored 10 crucial points to give his team a chance. We of Gwinnett County, Georgia salute you, Avery Jukes. You've done us proud! Interestingly enough, another former Gwinnett basketball star will be trying to win a national championship Tuesday ngiht as UCONN's Maya Moore, the pride of Collins Hill High School in Suwanee, GA in Gwinnett County, will try to lead the Huskies to another title to go 78-0 in two years.

With the exception of Jukes, Butler returns everybody from this year's squad and will certainly be in the pre-season top 5. Now that they have reached the Finals and come so close to winning it all, quality recruits will take notice. Actually, Butler has been a solid program dating back to 2000. In 2003, they beat Mississippi St. and Louisville to reach the Sweet 16. The Hoosiers comparison might ware off in a few years just as it has at Gonzaga. Higher expectations will be in order, but that is what Butler wants. Go Dawgs!