Thursday, June 8,  2006

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by Lloyd Combs
Sports Reporter
    Raeanne Slate won her third game in three days and Honaker earned its first regional title in a decade.
  Slate and the Lady Tigers defeated Appalachia, 6-3, to win the Region D softball championship Thursday afternoon at the University of Virginia’s College at Wise.
  Honaker, which won a state softball crown in 1988, earned the right to host a Group A quarterfinals contest Tuesday. The state semifinals are Friday and the finals on Saturday at Radford.
  The Lady Tigers never trailed. Slate, who threw a perfect game against Twin Springs on Tuesday and beat defending state champion Gate City on Wednesday, allowed just three hits and three unearned runs, despite the obvious fatigue.
  “It was tough, my back was killing me,” Slate said. “I just threw it in there and hoped we would make the plays and we did. My defense was really good. I was just worn out.”
  Samantha Garrett and Brittany Croson each had two hits each and scored three runs, while Paige Tiller, Katie Howard and Cynthia Stevens had RBI hits to lead Honaker offensively. 
  The Lady Tigers took a 1-0 lead in the third inning when Garrett doubled and scored on a single up the middle by Tiller.
  The Lady Tigers added three more runs in the fourth. Slate was hit by a pitch to start the inning. Croson followed with a single up the middle and Howard then hit a liner off the glove of the Appalachia leftfielder that allowed two runs to score. Pinch runner Hannah Bostic then scored on a double by Stevens that gave the Lady Tigers a 4-0 advantage.
  Honaker added a couple of insurance runs in the seventh inning. Garrett reached on an infield single and was sacrificed to second. Tiller walked and Slate loaded the bases with another infield single. Croson reached on an error that allowed Garrett and Tiller to cross the plate.
  The three wins gave Honaker the respect Helton felt they deserved all along.

For more of the story, see the print edition of the Mountaineer, on sale at newsstands now.  For more information on how to subscribe to the Mountaineer, call 276-935-2123 today.

Haysi's Powers Places in Group A State Track & Field

     With a notable exception or two, it was rough sledding for far southwest Virginia at the Group A Track and Field Championships Saturday at Radford University.
  The biggest exception, of course, was Gate City’s Ashton Bishop, who won three individual events (the high jump and both hurdles) in the girls meet. Despite her efforts, the Lady Blue Devils finished a distant third, some 52 points behind state champion Buffalo Gap.
  Only one local athlete placed in individual events. Haysi senior Tyler Powers placed sixth in the boys 400 meter dash with a time of 52.4 seconds, 2.6 seconds behind the winner.
  Powers was also part of a Haysi mile, or 1600 meter relay team that set a school record, but finished sixth in the state against a competitive field.
  Powers, Chad Barton, Cody Yates and Zack Counts combined to finish the relay with a time of 3:37, a new Haysi High School record and just four seconds behind first place George Mason.
  Clarke County, which also won the Group A Cross Country title in the fall, won the Group A boys meet Saturday. The top southwest Virginia boys team was Holston, which was tied with Radford for 13th place.

For more of the story, see the print edition of the Mountaineer, on sale at newsstands now.  For more information on how to subscribe to the Mountaineer, call 276-935-2123 today.

    Emory & Henry College gained both size and speed when it signed Josh Yates and Zack Counts, and the former Haysi standouts stand to gain as well, says their high school football coach.
  Yates, an all-state lineman, and Counts, a district and regional sprint champ who also excelled on the football field, each signed a Letter-of-Intent recently to play college football at Emory & Henry.
  “I’m glad to see Zack and Josh go to Emory,” Haysi Coach James Colley said. “I think it will be a good challenge for both of them and I think it’s the right school and a good opportunity for them.”
  The speedy Counts averaged 11.0 yards per carry as a senior running back and 30.4 yards per kick return for the 2005 Region D champion  Tigers. He was a first team All-BDD running back and he was the 100 and 200 meter sprint champ in both the BDD and Region D.
  Yates was the 2005 Region D Defensive Lineman of the Year and the 2005 BDD Offensive Lineman of the Year.
  He was a VHSCA All-Group A first team selection as a defensive lineman and a second team pick on the All-State offensive line. Yates was also an All-BDD and All-Region D lineman in the 2004 season.
  They’re putting in a lot of extra work, Colley says, to prepare for pre-season workouts at the NCAA Division III school.
  “Josh has been working hard lifting and running,” Colley said. “Zack has been doing a lot of lifting and running. I expect good things out of both of them.”
  Zack Counts is the son of Ervin and Annette Counts. Josh Yates is the son of Dwayne and Dorothy Yates.

For more of the story, see the print edition of the Mountaineer, on sale at newsstands now.  For more information on how to subscribe to the Mountaineer, call 276-935-2123 today.