Volleyball 2nd in league; Softball gets 1st win; XC attends Warpath Inv.
Clear Creek Middle School volleyball entered its league tournament as the three seed last Saturday and came away with a runner-up placement.
CCMS met Dawson County in the opening round and split the first two sets before the Cats claimed the deciding set for the win.
The Cats faced Lumpkin County in the semifinals and swept the Indians, 2-0. Fannin County was up next in the title game and the Rebels won in two sets.
“Savannah Simmons made a play at the net against Dawson that changed the momentum in the match that carried through the third set to win the match,” said head coach Lindsey Farmer. “Bree Burnette and Chelsey Griggs were a duo that couldn’t be stopped when on the front row against both Dawson and Lumpkin.
“I am very proud of this group of girls. They far exceeded my expectations this season and fought their way to a third-place seed going into the tournament. They earned the second-place title at the tournament and they deserve it.”
Clear Creek finished the season with a 7-6 record.
CCMS softball earned its first win of the season on Sept. 15 versus Towns County. The Cats snagged a 9-2 victory that was played under a “slow, steady drizzle,” according to coach Tina McDaniel.
A Sarah Dale triple scored Cheyanne Medlin in the first. Lilly Fortune drew a walk, stole second and third and scored on a Medlin sacrifice. Madison Balanno came in as a pinch runner on three different occasions and scored each time.
“Emma Cagle, Gracie Gaitanoglou and Mia Henson all had big hits to help us move on around the bases,” said McDaniel.
Dale pitched and had five strikeouts on the day.
The Cats lost to Dawson County 6-4 Sept. 14, but McDaniel noted, “It was our best overall game.
“Makayla Martin had a good defensive game making a couple of timely plays. Elainah Cox and Martin scored late in the fifth, and we were battling back just as time ran out and the game was called.”
Fortune fanned six batters in five innings.
The Cats hosted Pickens Sept. 9 and fell to the Dragonettes, 16-3.
Fortune led off the game with an inside the park homer for CCMS. However, the Cats had a hard time coming up with timely hits and left nine runners stranded on base.
Lumpkin hosted CCMS Sept. 8 and notched a 15-6 win.
The Cats were off to a strong start with a double by Jaylee McDaniel in the second inning. She scored on a sacrifice by Gaitanoglou, and Henson had a RBI as well.
“Then the third inning came along and we couldn’t get out of it,” McDaniel said. “They scored 10 in the third inning on several errors on our part. We scored three more in the fifth, but just couldn’t catch up and time was called in the fifth due to lightning in the area.”
CCMS cross-country runners were in attendance at last Saturday’s Warpath Invitational in Canton. The Lady Cats placed sixth out of 17 teams while the Bobcats were 10th out of 19 teams on the boys side.
Top-five placements for each team counted toward the team score, which included Lady Cats Estephany Becerra (13:59.2, 13th place), Salma Gonzalez (14:30.4, 17th), Calli Wise (14:58.6, 29th), Caitlin Fields (15:47.8, 56th) and Autumn Little (16:06.8, 62nd).
Also finishing in the top 100 were Lady Cats Joei Marshall (16:23.2, 70th), Allison Hernandez (16:23.6, 71st), Morgan Palmieri (16:54.7, 85th), Jayla Walker (17:40.1, 99th) and Maggie Thompson (17:40.1, 100th).
Bobcat point scorers included Dawson Richard (12:39.2, 22nd), Boston Teague (13:59.4, 67th), Cameron Quinn (14:03.6, 70th), Nelson Jacinto (14:05.4, 74th) and Rylan Haley (14:36.5, 98th).
Bobcats who rounded out the top-10 runners for CCMS included Andrew Chastain (15:51.9, 133rd), Clint Carver (16:14.6, 149th), Nathan Grice (16:17.5, 151, Jeremy Jacinto (16:44.8, 167th) and Gabe Watkins (16:51.2, 170th).
CCMS hosted a meet at press deadline.