Cobb Beat, April 23-29: Warrior tennis grabs No. 2 seed; Trojan baseball on eight-game winning streak

The North Cobb men’s tennis team suffered a tough loss to Etowah last week, falling 3-2 in the Region 5, Class5A championships on April 14. The Warriors jumped out to a quick lead with both Hunter Reese and Evan Stack recording singles victories. Reese, the No. 1 singles player for the Warriors, made quick work of his competition, Garrison LeDuca, winning by scores of 6-1 and 6-2. Meanwhile, Stack, the No. 3 player claimed victories of 6-1 and 6-3 over Sam Kinsman.

However, that was as easy as it would get for North Cobb. Etowah came back strong in the No. 1 doubles match. The Warriors’ Kameshin Naidoo and Jaryd Reese took on Etowah’s Jake Welsh and Will Coons in the contest, narrowly losing the first set 7-6, before rebounding to lead the second 5-4, only to fall in the final three games. With the loss North Cobb is now the No. 2 seed in Region 5.

THE BOYS OF SPRING …
On the diamond, Lassiter continued their hot streak this past week notching their seventh and eighth consecutive victories. Following their 3-2 win over Campbell on April 12, the Trojans returned strong on Wednesday, disposing of Roswell 9-3. After falling behind 2-0 early, the Trojans rebounded with three runs in the third and six more in the fourth. Brandon Stephen led the offense, going 2-for-4 with a homerun and three runs batted in. Reed Anthes also had a strong day at the plate, going 2-3 with two RBIs of his own. Ross Ripple earned the victory, allowing five hits, while walking none in the complete game effort. Two days later, Lassiter outlasted Centennial 11-10 in another region game to improve their record to 14-6 overall and 8-3 in region play.
In other baseball news, North Cobb and South Cobb matched up again, this time with the Warriors coming out on top. Although the Eagles won the first meeting between the two teams 4-3, the Warriors won the second match-up handedly, defeating South Cobb 10-0 in six innings on Friday.
Both match-ups between the two teams this season have been a story of starting pitching. In the first game, the Eagle’s Zach Williams threw an eight-inning complete game. On Friday, Warriors starter Brett Clayton tossed a complete game as well, allowing just four hits while striking out five. The offense was led by Avery Cross, who went 2-for-2 at the plate with a single and a three-run homer. With the win, North Cobb improved to 13-7 while South Cobb fell to 12-8. The Warriors, who had lost a close 2-1 game against Woodstock on Tuesday, finished out their week on a winning note with a 6-2 victory over Marietta.

ON THE TRACK …
With the track and field season in progress as well, several Cobb County teams participated in the McEachern Invitational on Saturday. McEachern, in preparation for the May 3-4 Region 5AAAAA championships, took home the top honors at the meet, racking up 72 points for a first-place team finish. Cornelius Savage led the way for the Indians, winning both the 110-meter hurdles and 300 hurdles in 14.39 seconds and 37.66 seconds respectively. Both are new personal bests. Cobb County had several other first place finishes in the meet as well including Kell’s Jordan Chambers in the shot put (56-0), Harrison’s James Wenk in the pole vault (13-0), Pope’s Myles Slay in the triple jump (44-3), and Allatoona’s Henry Stevens-Carty in the 1,600 (4:25.13).
On the women’s side, Kennesaw Mountain put up a strong effort, finishing first with 90 points, followed by Westlake with 80, and Alpharetta with 74. Mustang’s thrower, Daina Levy took home first place honors in both the shot put (40 feet, 3 inches) and discus (124-3). The Mustangs also got first place finishes from Brooke Colson in the pole vault (10-6) and Ivana Osanyindi in the triple jump (36-7). Kell had some competitors finish first as well including freshman Kendell Williams who won both the high jump (5-8) and 100 hurdles (14.23), while finishing third in the 200.
On the soccer field, several teams were in action over the weekend. On the girl’s side, Kennesaw Mountain took home a lopsided victory over South Cobb, defeating the Lady Eagles 10-0. Meanwhile, on the other end of the spectrum, North Cobb barely got by with a tight 1-0 victory over Woodstock. In another shut-out, Walton defeated the girls of Centennial handily, walking away with a 7-0 victory.

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