Sports Report for Monday, 5-20-2013

Real Radio 860 WLBG Sports Report:  

Local sports:

CHS:

• Gabby Bates… Last Friday morning Clinton High School senior Gabby Bates signed a letter of intent to play basketball and continue her education at Southern Wesley University in Central, SC. The three sports star for the Red Devils also mentioned there was a chance she might also play volleyball and participate in track when the Warriors start their program hopefully next season. If you look in the Between the Lines section at wlbg.com you will a short video interview done with her there. Congratulations to  her! 

LDHS:

• 5 Sign… The athletic conference room at Laurens High School was a busy place at noon on Friday, May 17th 2013.  At that time, five Raider seniors signed letters of intent to further their education and athletic careers at various institutions in the state….The Raider baseball program had three players to sign on Friday. Christian Burton signed to play at USC-Union, Di’Markus Sanders at USC-Salkehatchie and Shannon Smith at Erskine. Two Raider basketball players also signed to continue their education and athletic careers. Dra Cunningham signed with Orangeburg Calhoun Prep Academy and Tyrez Young with South Carolina Sports Academy in the Myrtle Beach area.  Interviews with them are also at wlbg.com in the Between the Lines section….Congratulations to these young men!

Pro Baseball:

Atlanta Braves: The Braves got the brooms out in Atlanta as they and swept the Dodgers but it was not easy.

• Friday: Justin Upton had grand slam homerun in the 6^th inning to lift the Braves from a 4-2 deficit and propel them to an 8-5 win.
• Saturday… Again late inning heroics propelled the Braves to a 3-1 win over the Dodgers.. Evan Gattis had a pinch-hit 2 run homer which was followed by Andrelton Simmons solo shot to give the Braves the win.
• Sunday…  For the 3^rd day in a row the Dodgers took an early lead but the Braves rallied for 4 runs in the 8^th inning to take a 5-2 win… No heroic homeruns in the inning just good solid small ball produced the win….. The Braves conclude the current home stand with a 3 game series with the Twins beginning tonight.

 Greenville Drive: The Greenville Drive finished their 4 game series with the Charleston RiverDogs at Flour Field over the weekend… Charleston managed to take 2 of 4 games for the Drive… They won on Thursday by a score of 6-3 but the Drive rebounded taking a 7-6 win on Friday night in 11 innings… Unfortunately for the Drive, the RiverDogs took Saturday’s game by a score of 10-8 and yesterday’s game by a score of 9-7 with the visitor scoring 4 runs in the last 2 innings to get the win.

Note:  A press conference has been scheduled for tomorrow at 2:00pm for the purpose of announcing the new basketball coaches at LDHS.. Of course WLBG will have a representative present.

FYI / Community Interest:

• Softball camps at the Clinton YMCA…  Clinton High School Head Softball Coach Nickie Templeton and the Clinton YMCA are proud to announce a series of softball camps for youth of different ages. The camps will occur between June 1^st and June 6^th…  Information about exact dates, ages, times and costs are can be found in a posting in the Between the Lines section at www.wlbg.com … Registration deadline is Wednesday May 29^th so don’t delay… For more information contact the Clinton YMCA at 864-833-1555
• Coupon Book For Sale… As you may or may not know, the athletic budget at the local high schools provided by the district often does not cover all the items needed to run an athletic team and coaches often have to look for other sources of income to make ends meet. The LDHS football program is no exception to that dilemma… This coming year they must replace or refurbish all helmets due to the 10 year rule, new uniforms are needed and the coach’s sideline communication system used to confer with the assistant coaches in or around the press box must be replaced… All this takes money not in the normal budget… To help pay for these the football team is selling a coupon book for $20 that has over 50 coupons to various local businesses.. One coupon in the book offers a free oil change and tire rotation from a local dealership that is alone worth well over $20… Coach Lawson will have these at all the home athletic events this spring and you can also get one by calling his office # 683-3360 and leaving a message… They also have them in them available in the main office at LDHS… If you get the chance, purchase one, I did.

If you have any comments, suggestions, or want to reports scores, please contact me via email at: sports@wlbg.com or text me at 864-981-3470.