Summer Vacation? Not For Everybody – Play Action Sports

By: Tim Lambert

Most kids may be out of school, but local athletes stayed the course during the summer months. More honors were also bestowed on players, coaches, and the schools they represented since last month’s column.

Ardmore’s Sydney Hall and L.B. Smith; Athens High’s Gracie Green, Mary Grace Anderson, and Anna Carder; and East Limestone’s Olivia Crouch were part of the Class 5A-7A All-Area softball team. Honorable mention went to Maddie Hodges of Ardmore; Olivia McCurry and Morgan Stiles of Athens; and Rylie Grisham, Kaci Sharp, and Mallory Jo Mitchell of East Limestone.

The AHSAA released their yearly report on fines and ejections. Athens Bible School, Clements, and Lindsay Lane were among the 99 schools across the state that went the entire year without either one.

James Clemens’ Drew Bell was named as the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association’s Girls’ High School Coach of the Year for the state of Alabama. This put him in the running for National Coach of the Year to be announced later this month.

Athens’ Ally Williams finished at number five at the Women’s Stroke Play Championship in Oxford recently. The Mississippi State signee posted a score of 235, climbing from ninth place. Williams also posted a third-place finish at the Alabama Girls State Junior Golf Championship at Goose Pond Colony with a two-over 74. It was her second straight top-three finish in that tournament.

The Limestone Hammers won the Dizzy Dean junior state baseball title back in June, defeating Huffman in three straight games. The team advanced to the World Series in Southaven, Mississippi where they started with a 5-1 victory over Lil Jimmy B’s before being sent to the loser’s bracket after a 9-7 loss to the Grenada Rec All Stars. There they defeated the Southaven All Stars 24-6 and then were eliminated in the semi-finals by the Huffman All Stars 6-3.

The Limestone Legends started play in the Dizzy Dean 10U World Series on July 13 with a 7-2 victory over the Huffman All Stars, then followed that up with an 8-3 win over Summerville.

The Athens Gators swim team won the District 1 Championship on July 9, finishing with a combined score of 462.5. Sheffield was runner-up with a 292, while Florence was third with a 282.5. The Gators also posted a combined third place with a score of 1345.5 at the RACE League Championship in Sewanee, Tennessee, on July 16. The women’s team came in second, while the men were at the fifth spot. Their final meet will be at the ARPA state championships in Opelika July 26-27.

The 23rd Alabama High School Athletic Association North-South All-Star Sports Week has been going on this week in Montgomery. Local athletes on various rosters included Tommy Murr (Lindsay Lane-basketball), Austin Harvell (East Limestone-basketball), Aubrey Todd (ABS-softball), Sydney Hall (Ardmore-softball), Abigail Baker (Clements-girls’ golf), Mackenzie Davis (ABS-volleyball), Alex Rainer and Dallas Burkes (James Clemens-boys’ tennis), Guy Greenhaw (Athens-cross country). Athens’ April Marsh will coach the North volleyball team.

Football season will be starting back up next month. Our 2019 tentative streaming football schedule is as follows (subject to change):

08/22: Tanner vs. West Limestone
08/23: Clements vs. Elkmont
08/29: West Limestone vs. East Limestone
08/30: Clements vs. Tanner
09/06: James Clemens at Bob Jones
09/13: James Clemens at Huntsville (Louis Crews Stadium)
09/20: James Clemens vs. Florence
09/27: Elkmont vs. Lexington
10/04: James Clemens vs. Gadsden City
10/10: James Clemens at Grissom (Milton Frank Stadium)
10/11: East Limestone vs. Ardmore
10/18: James Clemens at Sparkman
10/25: James Clemens vs. Austin
11/01: James Clemens vs. Hillcrest-Tuscaloosa

Games can be heard on your PlayAction Sports app, on your Amazon Echo device by saying, “Alexa, open PlayAction Sports” or online at www.pasnetwork.net beginning at 6:30 p.m.

Announcements:

Youth fall baseball and softball registration continues through July 31 at the Athens Recreation Center. Baseball is for ages 5-13; softball is for 5-12. Cost is $50. For more information, call 233-8740.
The Athens High School Basketball Academy will be going on July 22-25 at the school. Cost is $85 per person. Register online at athenshighschoolsportscamps.com. For more information, call Eddie Murphree at 256-874-7470 or Stace Tedford at 256-297-9249.

James Clemens is conducting various sports camps over the summer. Go online to jamesclemensathletics.com
UNA is having various basketball and softball camps over the summer. For more information on basketball camps, go online to unagirlsbasketballcamp.com. For softball, go to unasoftballcamp.com.
By: Tim Lambert
Tune in for the PlayAction Sports Update, three times each weekday on 1080 AM WKAC. Visit us online at www.pasnetwork.net! email: playactionsports@hotmail.com