FORSYTH/CHEROKEE BEAT: Eagle baseball tied for first; North Forsyth golf having record season

Etowah is currently tied with Harrison atop Region 5, Class 5A as each school has only one loss in area play. After beating county rival Cherokee 3-2 on Friday, the Eagles lost to East Paulding 8-5 on Saturday in a makeup game. Etowah narrowly beat Cherokee, scoring on an unearned run with two outs in the bottom of the fourth. Starting pitcher David Birch threw a complete game by weaving out of minor jams in the late innings. After giving up two runs in the first inning, he went on to pitch eight scoreless innings while recording seven strikeouts and no walks. Then, after a Nick Singleton single, Chris Vermilya hit a two-out, two-run homer for the Eagles in the second.
For East Paulding, Cody Gable and Courey Snelling combined to get the upset victory over Etowah, as the Eagles entered the game as the No. 6 team in the state. Etowah plays Kennesaw Mountain on Friday before travelling to Florida, where they will play three games over Spring Break.
Sequoyah climbed back from a 9-1 deficit against the seventh-ranked Hillgrove Hawks, but wound up falling 11-7. The game got as close as 9-7 in the bottom of the fifth when T.J. Kidd hit a two-run homer. However, that was the closest the Chiefs would get as Hillgrove tacked on two more runs late in the seventh to preserve the victory. Friday night’s game with Allatoona should be a good matchup of middle of the pack teams looking to improve in the second half of the season. Allatoona can score runs and have recently gotten a boost from Michael Royal who hit two home runs in a loss to Murray. Isaiah Aluko knocked in five runs including hitting the school’s first-ever grand slam in a March 19 win over Douglass. He followed that performance up with another homer in a win over Osborne on March 23.
Though the expectations may not be the same for South Forsyth this year ─ as opposed to 2009 when the team made it to the state championship series ─ the War Eagles play has been reminiscent of last year’s squad as of late most notably beating No. 3 Mill Creek 7-4 on Friday. A four-run sixth inning ended up being the determining factor in the come from behind win. Mill Creek’s four runs came on a third inning grand slam by Greg Brody. Derek Duffy and Zack Alvord combined to get the win. South Forsyth is now tied with Mill Creek and Collins Hill atop Region 7, Class 5A. Their next game will be against Duluth, who has struggled to score runs in their first three region games in which they only plated one run per outing.
TRACK AND GOLF NOTES …
The West Forsyth track and field team won the Forsyth County Championships as both the boys and girls teams earned one-sided victories. The boys finished with 164.5 points well ahead of second-place finisher South Forsyth with 84. The girls had 143.5, while second-place finisher North Forsyth totaled 69 points. In all, the Wolverines broke nine school records. One of those records came in the high jump where Shaheem McLarin bested his own school record by jumping six feet, seven inches. On the girls side, West’s Missy Smith won the 100 meter dash with a time of 13.15 seconds. Just to show how dominant West was at the meet, they finished first and second in the boys 4×400 meter relay race, which leaves some of the coaches wondering if the school can accomplish the rare feat of qualifying two relay teams in the same event for state.
The North Forsyth golf team is enjoying the best season in school history after winning the Big Red Shootout in Gainesville last week. The win was actually the second tournament that the team has won, the first coming three weeks ago when they won the morning division of the Gwinnett Open at the Chimneys Golf Club. Two seniors, Justin Stewart and Jake Edwards have led the way for the Raiders, with Stewart breaking a school record by shooting a 71 at the Warrior Tournament. Also, junior Travis Roe has contributed greatly to the team especially at the Big Red Shootout where he posted a team-leading even par 72. The Raiders will compete on Monday at the North Georgia High School Shootout in Dahlonega as they chase South Forsyth and Peachtree Ridge for the top spot in the region.
The West Forsyth girls lacrosse team continued their winning ways by defeating Marist 14-9. Haley Holder led the team with four goals while the defense kept Marist’s offense at bay most of the night. The Lady Wolverines are now 8-0 and have a two-week break before facing Etowah.