Archive for the ‘AAAAA’ Category

By Stan Awtrey

For the AJC

Under normal circumstances Brookwood pitcher Ryan Woodard would not have been allowed to pitch the last inning. He had thrown more than 100 pitches and coach Rick Howard is inclined to protect his young arms.

But these weren’t normal circumstances and Howard decided to go with his gut. Woodard rewarded his coach’s decision. The senior right-hander pitched through the heart of the Grayson batting order with two runners on base in the last inning to secure Brookwood’s 7-4 victory in the deciding game of the best-of-three Class AAAAA semifinal baseball series.

“His pitch count was higher than I like it to be,” Howard said. “But I felt it was his game. He’d earned it. He’d thrown his tail off.”

Woodard was the star on Tuesday. He allowed eight hits, four runs, four walks and struck out five. He also had a two-run double in the first inning that highlighted Brookwood’s five-run rally to open the game.

“That helped me relax,” …

Continue reading Baseball: Brookwood advances to AAAAA final »

By Score Atlanta

Parkview 5, Mill Creek 0: Parkview senior Jessie Foster improved his record to 11-0 with a complete game shutout. Foster struck out six while allowing just three hits. The host Panthers were led at the plate by Edwin Arias, who went 2-for-4 with an RBI triple. Hunter Thornton got into the act with two hits and an RBI, while Josh Hart has two runs and an RBI. A three-run seventh broke it open for Parkview.

The defending Class AAAAA state champion Panthers advanced to the finals, where they will host arch-rival Brookwood.

Continue reading Panthers shut out, sweep Mill Creek »

Grayson broke a 1-1 tie in the bottom of the sixth inning with a bases-loaded single by Jeril Dawson and defeated Gwinnett County neighbor Brookwood 3-1 on Monday to salvage a two-game split of a Class AAAAA semifinal baseball series.

Brookwood won the opener 10-0 despite no earned runs. Lucas Sims, the state’s top pitching prospect, pitched a three-hitter and struck out eight. The Clemson signee lowered his ERA to 1.09.

The teams will play a deciding third game Tuesday at Brookwood at 5 p.m.

The first game Monday was a Grayson disaster. Brookwood put up eight hits in the game but benefited from five Grayson errors, two in an ugly first inning that also saw three Grayson walks and two wild pitches. Clint Carr’s two-run double to right field was Brookwood’s first hit. Carr bats sixth.

Brookwood batted around again in the second and scored four more runs with singles from Jordan Dykes, Ryan Woodard, Garrett Reynolds and Zach Moon.

Brookwood finished it in the fifth, …

Continue reading Baseball: Grayson, Brookwood split; Game 3 on Tuesday »

By Score Atlanta

Parkview 5, Mill Creek 4: In a Class AAAAA semifinals series, Parkview won in walkoff fashion after Jack Esmonde’s infield single scored Michael Craig for the game-winning run in the bottom of the seventh. Josh Hart had tied the game on the previous at-bat after a passed ball.

Esmonde got the win out of the bullpen after throwing 2 2/3 scoreless innings. Matt Olson started the game and went 4 1/3 innings with eight strikeouts. At the plate, Esmonde was 3-for-4, while Olson was 2-for-2 with two RBIs and Josh Hart was 2-for-3 with two runs.

A single by Nick Tillman and back-to-back homers by Tyler Boldt and Jesse Thomas put Mill Creek ahead 4-3 in the fifth inning.

Game 2 was postponed and will be played tomorrow at 4 p.m.

Continue reading Esmonde leads Parkview to walk-off win »

Milton sophomore Sanna Levine scored the game’s first goal with 28:03 to play and the top-ranked Eagles scored three more times in the final 17 to minutes to beat Northview 4-0 in the Class AAAAA girls soccer championship game on Saturday.

The Eagles’ first soccer title capped a perfect championship day for the north Fulton school, which earlier won titles in boys and girls lacrosse. It also gave Milton six state championships for the 2011-2012 school year, adding to the titles in boys basketball and boys and girls golf.

Northview (13-7-1) was able to keep high-scoring Milton (22-1) off the scoreboard for 52 minutes behind the outstanding play of goalkeeper Taylor Erickson and a defense that routinely kept five, six or more defenders back deep.

But Levine finally broke through, scoring from about 12 yards out off an assist from Kala Faulkner.

That was not good news for Northview, which had allowed just 16 goals all season and had shut out four consecutive playoff …

Continue reading Girls soccer: Milton scores four second-half goals to win AAAAA title »

Amiri Abraham scored the game-winning goal with 3:11 to play in the first half and Emmanuel Raji added an insurance goal with 18 minutes remaining to lead Collins Hill to a 3-1 victory over top-ranked Centennial in the Class AAAAA boys soccer championship on Friday.

Abraham and Raji each finished with a goal and assist for host Collins Hill (18-4), which won its third championship in four seasons and was making its fifth consecutive appearance in the state final.

The victory also was a great sendoff for Collins Hill coach Drew Prentice, who will be leaving at the end of the school year to become the director of coaching for the Dacula Soccer Club. In Prentice’s three seasons at the school, the Eagles won two state championships and had a record of 14-1 in the postseason.

Centennial (20-2-1) came up short its bid to win the school’s first soccer championship. The Knights lost to Collins Hill in 2009 in their other trip to the final. Centennial had won 13 consecutive games …

Continue reading Boys soccer: Collins Hill beats Centennial for third title in four years »

Four defending champions and 12 teams looking for their first title will have their shots at the state’s top prize in high school soccer when the tournament finals are held this weekend.

Westminster’s boys and the girls teams from McIntosh, Blessed Trinity and First Presbyterian will try to defend their 2011 titles, and two of them will have to do it against teams they beat in last year’s finals.

The McIntosh (19-2-1) girls will play Whitewater (18-0-1) for the sixth time in two seasons. McIntosh beat the Wildcats on penalty kicks in last year’s AAAA final, but Whitewater has won both meetings with the Chiefs this season. Blessed Trinity (15-3-2) faces a rematch in AA with Greater Atlanta Christian (17-2-1), which lost 1-0 in the final last season and 3-2 on penalty kicks when it faced the Titans earlier this season.

First Presbyterian’s girls (20-1) will travel to Fellowship Christian (13-2-2) for the Class A title. Both teams advanced with penalty-kick victories in …

Continue reading Soccer: Four defending champions go for another title »

Parkview’s bid for back-to-back state championships in baseball is alive. Last year’s runner-up, Hillgrove, is out of the way.

Parkview (27-6) took a four-run lead after one inning, got two hits apiece from Edwin Arias, Josh Hart and Matt Olson and beat Hillgrove 8-5 in the deciding third game of a quarterfinal series on the road Wednesday. It was a rematch of the 2011 championship series.

Parkview has been beaten only six times, and four of those have been charged to No. 3 starter Mac Marshall, who got the call in the biggest game of his team’s season. But the sophomore lefthander pitched 4 1/3 strong innings, hitting 90 mph or better a half-dozen times. Though committed to Georgia, Marshall entered 1-4 with a 5.53 ERA.

“Mac has struggled at times, but he grew up today,’’ Parkview coach Chan Brown said. “He came up huge. He’s got a special left arm on him. He just has to stay inside himself.’’

Marshall’s losses have come against three other quarterfinal …

Continue reading Baseball: Parkview finishes off Hillgrove 8-5, advances to semifinals »

By Score Atlanta

Milton 3, Collins Hill 0: The Milton girls soccer team advanced to its first-ever state championship game with a 3-0 victory over visiting Collins Hill in the Class AAAAA semifinals. Callie O’Connor opened the scoring 22 minutes into the game off an assist by Anna Hilpertshauser to give the Eagles a 1-0 lead at halftime. In the second half, an own goal by Collins Hill and a Katlyn Stevens goal off an assist by Sanna Levine sealed the win. Goalkeeper Tori Stajduhar had six saves as Milton improved to 22-1.

Northview 0, Harrison 0 (4-2 PKs): Taylor Erickson kept a clean sheet through regulation and two overtime periods, then made two saves in penalty kicks to win the game for the visiting Titans. In a well-played game that had no cards handed out, Harrison keeper Allison Leone made two saves through regulation, while Erickson had seven. Despite putting pressure on Erickson all game, the Hoyas could not find the back of the net.

Continue reading Class AAAAA girls soccer roundup »

By Score Atlanta

Brookwood 12, Harrison 4: The host Broncos advanced to the semifinals with a 12-4 Game 3 win in a Class AAAAA quarterfinal. Brookwood’s balanced attack saw all nine starters have at least one hit. Senior outfielder Cedric Mullins hit a bases-clearing triple in the third inning to give the Broncos a 4-1 lead. Pitcher Bryan Woodard got the win after throwing five innings for Brookwood and giving up four runs on four hits. Jordan Banks finished off the game by pitching two innings of one-hit relief.

Continue reading Wednesday Class AAAAA baseball roundup »

Good things seemed to happen for top-ranked Centennial whenever the ball went out of bounds off Parkview in the Class AAAAA boys soccer semifinals.

The Knights scored twice off throw-ins and twice on corner kicks and went on to a 5-1 victory at home on Tuesday. It was the 14th consecutive win for Centennial (20-1-1), which will play for its first soccer state championship on Friday at Collins Hill.

Fischer Olliff’s goal less than six minutes into the game gave the Knights the lead for good. Cameron Bean took a corner kick from Amin El-Shami and headed it in front of the net to Olliff, who got the shot past Parkview goalkeeper Diego Casillas.

Centennial increased the lead over the next 14 minutes with a pair of goals off throw-ins by Ryan Spence. The first went to Connor Davis, who headed it to Kane Davis, who headed it in for the goal with 29:48 to play in the half. Six minutes later, Spence’s throw-in to Bean was headed in for a 3-0 lead.

“We do a good job taking …

Continue reading Boys soccer: Top-ranked Centennial beats Parkview 5-1 to reach AAAAA championship game »

By Score Atlanta

Collins Hill 1, Brookwood 0: In a Class AAAAA semifinal, visiting Collins Hill defeated Gwinnett County neighbor Brookwood 1-0 to advance to Friday’s finals. The Eagles came into the game having scored 14 goals in three playoff games, while the Broncos had scored 10. But this game was a defensive struggle with the lone goal not scored until 13 minutes remained when Eagles midfielder Eli Carrasco scored from 18 yards out.

In a fast-paced game, both keepers had to make several saves. But it was Collins Hill’s Jackson Taylor who kept a clean sheet with seven saves.

Continue reading Class AAAAA soccer roundup »

The Parkview-Hillgrove baseball rematch is going three games, just as it did when it decided the 2011 Class AAAAA championship.

Matt Olson hit a two-run home run to break a 1-1 tie in the sixth inning of the second game Tuesday, leading Parkview to a 4-1 victory at Hillgrove in the quarterfinal series. Jesse Foster (10-0) scattered seven hits.

In the opener, Chad Adkins hit a lead-off homer in the sixth to break a 2-2 tie in a 6-3 Hillgrove victory. Adkins’ twin, Chase, pitched into the seventh and was the winning pitcher, improving to 9-0.

Game 3 will be Wednesday at 5:55 p.m. at Hillgrove.

“It’s two pretty good baseball teams competing at a high level,’’ Hillgrove coach Dave Richardson said. “Their top guy [Olson] hit a two-run homer. You’ve got to tip your cap. They’re the defending champions.’’

In Game 1, Hillgrove put the first pitching loss of the season on Olson (11-1), who has signed with Vanderbilt, with a four-run sixth. Dwayne Carroll’s two-run …

Continue reading Baseball: Parkview, Hillgrove split QF series; Game 3 on Wednesday »

By Score Atlanta

Brookwood 11, Harrison 2: Lucas Sims went the distance in Game 1 as the host Broncos thumped the Hoyas 11-2 in a Class AAAAA quarterfinal. Sims struck out eight while allowing just two earned runs on four hits. Zach Moon hit two home runs and drove in five in the Game 1 win. The second game was delayed by a lighting issue in the top of the fourth as Harrison held a 7-3 lead. If the lighting issue is not fixed, Game 2 will restart Wednesday.

Grayson 14-5, North Cobb 1-3: The visiting Rams swept North Cobb thanks mostly to the efforts of their Game 1 starting pitcher Taylor Allum. On the mound, Allum went five innings and collected two hits while driving in four runs at the plate. In Game 2, Allum added two more RBIs and Korey Anderson pitched the final 2 1/3 innings to earn the win.

Mill Creek 7-1, Camden County 0-0: Cody Pugh (10-1) and Shane Seckinger (10-1) each had complete game shutouts for Mill Creek at home, with Seckinger giving up just one hit after …

Continue reading Class AAAAA baseball roundups »

The girls soccer state tournaments have gone according to expectations, for the most part, as the top-ranked teams and defending champions in four of the state’s five classifications remain alive heading into this week’s semifinals.

The same can’t be said for Class AAA, where top-ranked St. Pius and No. 2 Woodward Academy were upset in the quarterfinals on Saturday. St. Pius won the past three Class AAA championships and beat Woodward Academy in the final last season.

“It’s anybody’s ballgame now,” said Allatoona coach Bill Perry, whose team knocked off Woodward Academy 4-0. “Pius and Woodward have been so dominant the past couple of years, it’s been hard to crack into that final round. It might be nice to see somebody else with that top billing.”

Willough Davis scored all for goals for third-ranked Allatoona, which will play at No. 6 Gainesville on Wednesday. The other AAA semifinal will match No. 4 Columbus against No. 7 Oconee County, which got goals …

Continue reading Girls soccer: Class AAA race wide open after losses by St. Pius, Woodward Academy »