Calhoun City girls won their second consecutive Class I powerlifting state championship in Jackson last Saturday. The Bruce girls finished second in their first season of powerlifting.

Photo courtesy MHSAA

Calhoun City boys placed second in Class 2A. Bruce finished fifth in the state.

Eight Wildcat lifters placed first in their weight class – Reagan Hardin, Alicia Feliciano, Antonique Jennings, Steele Liles, Kiara McKissick, Courtny Norman, Laquiana Norris, and Kardevin Thomas.

Four Trojans earned top honors – Essence Armstrong, Shelby Leachman, Latrell Marks and Emily Morris.

The final team scores in the girls’ competition were Calhoun City 63, Bruce 50, McAdams 22, SV Marshall 7, Potts Camp 7, East Union 5, Hatley 3.

Final team scores for boys were East Union 50, Calhoun City 30, Scott Central 26, Eupora 23, Bruce 19, Lake 15, Bassfield 7, Mize 5, and Clarkdale 0.

Calhoun County Powerlifters
Name    School    Wt. Class    Place
Shelby Leachman    Bruce    97    1st
Baronica Lawerence    City    97    3rd
Emily Morris    Bruce    105    1st
Laquiana Norris    City    114    1st
Mykeria Holland    City    114    2nd
Laken Shankle    Bruce    114    3rd
Alicia Feliciano    City    123    1st
Shannon King    City    123    2nd
Khadijah Thompson    Bruce    123    3rd
Antonique Jennings    City    132    1st
Nichole Taylor    Bruce    132    2nd
Reagan Hardin    City    148    1st
Heather Mabry    City    148    2nd
Kiara McKissick    City    165    1st
Tamara Talford    Bruce    165    2nd
Jakina Steen    Bruce    165    3rd
Keyonia McGuirt    Bruce    181    2nd
Courtny Norman    City    198    1st
Kasey Hodge    City    198    3rd
Essence Armstrong    Bruce    220+    1st
Jasmine Flemons    Bruce    220+    2nd

Keshun Roberson    City    123    3rd
Steele Liles    City    148    1st
Kyreecus Welch    Bruce    148    2nd
Heriberto Ramilez Jr.     Bruce    148    4th
Latrell Marks    Bruce    165    1st
Cartin McBride    City    165    2nd
Ja’Shone Coleman    City    181    2nd
Girraud Mingo    Bruce    275    2nd
Keeshun Bobo    City    275    5th
Noah Hill    City    308    4th
Kardevin Thomas    City    308+    1st

Itawamba Community College head softball coach Andy Kirk has announced open tryouts for the 2013-14 Lady Indians softball team will be held Monday, May 20th at the ICC Softball Complex on the Fulton Campus.

Tryouts will begin at 3:00 p.m., and are open to unsigned high school seniors and college transfers that meet National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) requirements and have been released for their current program.

For more information contact Coach Kirk via email at ankirk@iccms.edu or assistant coach Cary Simmons at cgsimmons@iccms.edu.

The Vardaman Lady Rams will open the Class 1A playoffs this Friday against Ingomar.

The Lady Rams will play at Ingomar Friday at 5:30 p.m. and return home Saturday for games two and three of the series beginning at 4 p.m.

The Lady Rams defeated Houlka 5-2 Monday night after falling behind 2-0 in the first inning.

Pitcher Grace Edmondson allowed only one hit in the win. Laken Lucius led the Vardaman offense with two hits and three runs batted in.

The Lady Rams, 11-12 overall and 4-2 in region, were scheduled to complete their regular season Tuesday at Tremont.

“We just need to hit the ball,” Vardaman Coach Billy Dill said. “We haven’t hit as well as we would like. We need to be better in the playoffs.”

Calhoun City will be looking to occupy a lot of off time the next few weeks as the Region 2-2A champs have a bye in the first round of the baseball playoffs.

The Wildcats, 11-8 overall and 6-0 in region, are scheduled to wrap up their regular season Wednesday night against Potts Camp.

They aren’t scheduled to take the field again until May 2 in the second round of the playoffs.

“We may look at some opportunities to schedule a game or scrimmage,” Calhoun City Coach Josh Miller said. “If nothing else we’ll host an intra-squad scrimmage.”

“The long layoff isn’t ideal, so we’ll do what we can to stay sharp,” Miller said.

The Wildcats will draw a team from the Delta in their first playoff series, but who that will be remains up in the air.

“We’re going to see some good competition, so we’ll have to be ready to play if we’re going to reach our goals,” Miller said.

Calhoun City rallied from a 6-2 deficit to beat Belmont 9-7 last week.

Chakel Gates earned the win. Ryne Lee had four hits and Colby Havens recorded two. Cyle and Colby Havens both hit doubles.

The Bruce Trojans, 11-12 overall and 6-2 in region, are looking at an opening playoff series against either Hamilton or Hatley.

The Trojans have locked up the two seed for the playoffs and will play the three seed from region one beginning Friday, April 26. Hamilton and Hatley are scheduled to play twice this week to determine which gets in as number three. East Union and Baldwyn have locked up the top two seeds in that region.

The Trojans will complete their regular season this weekend with a game at Eupora Friday and at home against Eupora Saturday.

“We’ve really ended up about where I thought we would,” Bruce Coach Josh Dowdy said. “We had a few games I thought we should have won, but I thought we should challenge for the region again and we ended up a two seed like last year.”

The Trojans lost eight starters off last year’s state championship team, but Dowdy said he’s pleased with the development of his young team.

“I don’t think people expected a lot from us because we’re so young,” Dowdy said. “We’ve said all year let’s get in the playoffs and anything can happen.”

The Trojans concluded the region schedule with wins over Hickory Flat and Potts Camp. They lost at Houston last Saturday 5-0.

Eighth grader Fisher Ray broke up the no-hitter with a late single for the Trojans.

Bruce and Calhoun City softball teams will clash Wednesday night at Bruce Park with the region title and a bye in the first round of the playoffs on the line.

The Lady Wildcats, 10-9 overall and 5-0 in region, won the first meeting by one run with a rally in the bottom of the seventh.

The Lady Trojans, 8-7 and 4-1 in region, will have to win by at least two runs to earn the region crown.

The region winner will have a week off and begin playoff action on Friday, April 26.

The second place team will begin post season play this Friday, likely against Coahoma County.

“Both teams gave up a lot of runs on errors the first game,” Calhoun City Coach Josh Hegwood said. “The least amount of mistakes usually comes out on top in this matchup. I don’t expect that to change.”

“We can’t give them extra outs and we have to put the ball in play,” Bruce Coach Seth Burt said. “Whomever puts the ball in play more I think will win.”

Wednesday’s game will end the regular season for the Lady Trojans. Calhoun City is scheduled to play West Point Thursday.

The Bruce golf team won the district tournament at Ackerman Tuesday and Calhoun City placed second to advance both to the state tournament in Starkville.

Bruce shot 331 as a team to earn the title. Calhoun City finished close behind with a 334, followed by Ackerman 348, Hamilton 363, and East Webster 431.

Cole Parker, of Calhoun City, earned medalist honors with a 78. Bruce’s Cameron Clarke was second with a 79.

Other Bruce golfers were Warner Jones 81, W.D. Newlin 83, Casey Vance 88 and Jordan Cain 98.

Other Calhoun City golfers were Noah Hill 81, Coleman Suber 87, Peyton Suber 88 and Jacob Ruth 89.

Bruce, Calhoun City and Acklerman will all advance to the Class 2A State Tournament at Mississippi State University April 30-May 2.

The Calhoun City Lady Wildcats defeated the Bruce Lady Trojans 9-6 Wednesday night to earn the region title and a first round bye in the playoffs.

Avery Bullard led the Lady Wildcats to the win pitching the final 5 innings during which she allowed only one hit and one earned run.

Alison Childs and Courtny Norman were offensive stars for the Lady Wildcats.

Childs had two singles and two runs batted in.

Norman hit a single and a double and drove in a run.

Morgan Ellard had two hits for the Lady Trojans.

The win finished the regular season for the Lady Wildcats at 11-10.

They will begin post season play April 26-27 against the winner of this weekend’s Hamilton/New Site series.

The Bruce Lady Trojans open the playoffs Friday, April 19 with a doubleheader against Coahoma County. The winner of that series will advance to face East Webster April 26-27.

Photos by Celia Hillhouse

The high school softball playoffs open tonight with Bruce and Vardaman both in action.

The Bruce Lady Trojans will host Coahoma for a doubleheader at Bruce Park tonight (April 19) beginning at 4 p.m. in Class 2A. If a game three is necessary it would be played Saturday at Coahoma.

The winner of the series will advance to face East Webster April 26-27.

Vardaman opens the Class 1A Playoffs tonight at Ingomar at 5:30 p.m.

The teams will return to the Sportsplex in Vardaman Saturday for games two and three, if necessary, beginning at 4 p.m.

Calhoun City Lady Wildcats have a first round bye and will not begin playoff action until April 26-27. They will face the winner of this weekend’s Hamilton/New Site series.

Bruce’s Jessica Aron hit a home run over the right field fence to lead off game one of the Class 2A playoffs and the Lady Trojans never looked back routing Coahoma in a doubleheader sweep Friday night at Bruce Park.

Bruce won game won 21-1 in three innings and followed it with a 14-0 win in three innings for the series sweep.

Hannah Burt won both games pitching all six innings. Coahoma recorded one hit on the day.

Bruce will advance to the second round of the playoffs against East Webster beginning Friday, April 26.

The Lady Rams swept Ingomar with two different styles of play to advance in the Class 1A playoffs.

Sydney Huffman is greeted at home plate after hitting a home run in the Lady Rams' win over Ingomar. Photo by Joel McNeece

Vardaman pounded out 16 hits in defeating the Lady Falcons 11-3 in game one last Saturday. Grace Edmondson led with four hits, Whittney Gee added three and Laci Jo Fugett, Briana Wright and Ashley Wooten each had two.

Monday night, the Lady Rams won 3-2 with defense and a seventh inning rally.

Edmondson held Ingomar to only four hits while Vardaman managed only six. Two of those were a home run and double for Sydney Huffman. Fugett also had two.

Briana Wright drove in the game winner in the bottom of the seventh with a single that scored Jessica Rogers.

The Lady Rams advanced to the second round where they will face Wheeler. Vardaman will host game one Friday night with games two and three, if necessary, at Wheeler on Saturday.

The Bruce High School tennis team recently concluded its season.

Team members are, from left, Elizabeth Hathorne, Myranda Bennett, Kathryn Hathorne, Patrick Kelly, Carmisha Norman, Rajeen Pomerlee, Andy Austin, Jerica Denton, Jadwin Manuel, Jazzmeeka Jackson, Kialur Armstrong, Starnisha Gladney, Khadijah Thompson, Shaq Bush, Tanke Shorter, Kayde Coleman, Shekirra Stephens, Coach Sid Burt, and Haylon Hamilton. Photo by Joel McNeece

Spring football got underway this week in Bruce, Calhoun City and Vardaman.

The Rams actually got a head start beginning last Wednesday, enabling them to hit the field in full pads Monday. Vardaman Coach Justin Hollis said they decided to only go Monday-Thursday and have Friday’s off, justifying the earlier start.

Vardaman Coach Justin Hollis is pictured screaming encouragement at Monday’s practice where they opened with Oklahoma drills.

Bruce’s Tyrique Armstrong is pictured snagging a pass out of the air at the first spring practice for the Bruce Trojans.

Bruce will conclude spring drills on May 9 with a jamboree at Vardaman featuring the Trojans, Rams and Wildcats.

Brieton Sykes is shown following ball-carrier Santonio Benson during the Calhoun City Wildcats first practice of the spring Monday afternoon.

Calhoun City was without a lot of their football regulars due to ongoing seasons for baseball and track teams.

Photos by Joel McNeece

The Calhoun City Lady Wildcats will return to the field this week in second round playoff action after enjoying a first round bye due to their region championship win over Bruce.

The Lady Wildcats will visit New Site Friday at 6 p.m. for game one and then return home on Saturday for games two and three, if necessary, beginning at 2 p.m.

New Site defeated Hamilton in the opening round.

The winner will then draw the Potts Camp-Baldwyn winner in the next round beginning May 2.

The Lady Wildcats closed their regular season with a 9-6 win at Bruce.

Eighth grader Avery Bullard led the Lady Wildcats to the win pitching the final 5 innings during which she allowed only one hit and one earned run while striking out eight.

She was also among the offensive stars with an RBI double.

Alison Childs had two singles and two runs batted in.

Courtny Norman hit a single and a double and drove in a run.

Possibly the greatest Sophomore Day in Northwest baseball history, Jay King hit a walk-off home run in the bottom of the ninth to lift the Rangers to a 5-4 win in the opener while Kramer Hollenbach’s walk-off double in the nightcap capped an improbable 13-12 victory to sweep the doubleheader over East Mississippi.

Jay King

Winners of six straight, Northwest improved to 26-13 overall and closed north division play at 17-7. The Rangers have clinched second and homefield advantage May 3-4 in the first round of the best-of-3 state playoff series, but still have an outside shot at first if Delta can sweep Northeast this weekend.

Northwest out-hit EMCC 13-6 in the opener, but the Lions used timely hits and a solo home run from Philip Tice in the top of the 7th to force extra innings.

After holding EMCC scoreless in the 8th and 9th, King came up to the plate with one out and smashed a curving home run ball over the foul pole in left for the walk-off win.

Domenick Carlini earned a no-decision in 8.0 innings of work, scattering six hits, four runs, six strikeouts and two walks. Tanner Densford improved to 4-0 by tossing a scoreless 9th.

Cody Carson, James Lear, J. King, Taylor King and Hollenbach all had multiple hits in the win.

But the fireworks were just getting started, as the nightcap would provide arguably one of the greatest comebacks in junior college baseball history.

EMCC came out with a purpose in Game 2 and immediately jumped out to a big lead thanks to Tyler Odum’s grand slam in the first. The Lions added three in the second and a single run in the third to take a commanding 8-0 cushion.

Dylan Castoria’s leadoff home run in the bottom of the third made it 8-1 Lions.

Scoreless the ensuing two innings, EMCC put the icing on the cake in the sixth by adding four more runs thanks to Odum’s two-run double and Ledarious Clark’s two-run homer to left-center.

Trailing 12-1 in the bottom of the 6th and one down, a monster rally ensued that nobody saw coming.

Brennan Pugh doubled down the leftfield line to score a pair, Josh Brown doubled down the line to score two more and Castoria followed with a stand-up double to make it 12-6 Lions. Jay King’s sac fly to left scored one, T. King’s double scored another and Hollenbach’s single through the left side made it 12-9 after six complete.

Will Faulkner (1-0), who had only thrown 2/3 inning all year, got the final out of the 6th in relief of Mitchell Flowers and tossed a scoreless 7th to give Northwest a fighting chance in the bottom of the inning.

Tucker Smith and Pugh reached on back-to-back walks to start the inning and Castoria added a one-out single to load the bases. Jay King then reached off an E6 to score both runners and make it 12-11 with runners on the corners.

With two outs and runners at second and third, T. King was intentionally walked to load the bases. Hollenbach made it hurt a batter later with an 0-1 count, driving a breaking pitch the opposite way down the rightfield line and scoring J. King and Castoria for the unbelievable walk-off win.

Each team finished with 13 hits in the thrilling finale, with Castoria, T. King and Hollenbach going a combined 9-for-14 with six RBIs. Odum finished with a game-high six RBIs for EMCC in the loss.

Northwest will close out the regular season on Saturday, April 27 at 17th-ranked Jones County. The Rangers and Bobcats could possibly matchup in the first round of the state playoffs May 3-4 in Senatobia.

Barrett Wooten, of Bruce, sophomore third baseman for the Mississippi Delta Community College Trojans baseball team, was presented with the J.D. Stonestreet Award during Awards Day.

The Stonestreet Award goes to the male athlete who best exemplifies the qualities of the student athlete at MDCC.

These include leadership both on and off the field as well as success in the classroom and on the playing field.

This award is the highest honor given to a male athlete by the college.

Bruce, Calhoun City and Vardaman will all participate in a spring football jamboree tonight at Carter Field in Vardaman beginning at 6 p.m.

The tentative schedule is:

Bruce vs Calhoun City

Calhoun City vs Vardaman

Bruce vs Vardaman

Each game will consist of two regulation 10 minute quarters and then one quarter of JV.

There will be no JV match-up after the Vardaman-Calhoun City game.

Admission will be $5.

A deadline of July 8 has been set for all brick orders for the “Wall of Honor” and Wildcat supporters display being constructed as part of the new weightroom facility at the Calhoun City football field.

Football coach Perry Liles said they’ve already sold more than 100.

“We’ve had a great response,” Liles said. “Now we’re working to incorporate all those purchased into the design so it will be ready for the start of football season.”

The engraved, memorial bricks cost $100 and will be placed in the patio outside the weight room for the public to see at every football game. They can be purchased by anyone, any business, to honor anybody, not just those with football connections.

A “wall of honor” will highlight all of the Calhoun City athletes that played at a four-year college in any sport.

The project has a facebook page under the name “Calhoun City Wildcat Wall of Honor.”

For more information you may call Coach Liles at 1-662-647-7836 or mail to the Calhoun City Football Boosters at PO Box 492, Calhoun City, MS 38916.

There is a booster club meeting July 8 at 6 p.m. at the field house to finalize many of the plans.

ICC’s Jasmine Hampton has signed with the University of West Alabama after averaging 7.4 points and 6.0 rebounds per game while shooting 52.9 percent from the floor as a sophomore.

Jasmine Hampton

“Coming from a small town it’s very exciting to have the chance to continue playing on another level,” Hampton said. “I’ve loved my time here at ICC and I’m just thrilled to be able to continue my basketball career.”

The Bruce native earned a spot on the MACJC All-Star North team and was a two-year starter for the Lady Indians.

“Hamp was that force inside that made a lot of positive things happen for us over the last two years and was an important piece of the puzzle that helped us win the Region championship and make it to Nationals this season,” Gray commented. “She will bring a positive energy and leadership on top her ability to score and rebound that will really help West Alabama over the next couple of years.”

West Alabama advanced to the Gulf South Conference championship game last season.

Larry Gann has been hired as the new head football coach at Vardaman, pending school board approval.

Larry Gann is pictured here during his time as head coach at Horn Lake. Photo by Ron Caldwell of the Desoto Times

Gann led the Rams from 1979-84 during which his teams were 31-29 and won a District II?Class B Championship, the 1982 Red Hills Classic, and played for the North Title in 1984.

“I’ve told people many times out of my 38 years in education, six of the best were my years at Vardaman,” Gann said.
He has most recently served as an administrator at Center Hill, but Gann said he wanted the opportunity to get back to coaching.

“A lot of things fell into place for me,” Gann said. “I’ve never lost my passion for coaching. When I found out the Vardaman job was open I jumped at the chance.”
Vardaman principal Porter Casey played for Coach Gann during his first stint in Vardaman and later coached with him.

“Three of the most important things I was looking for in a football coach was someone who could balance the athletic budget, instill discipline and take pride in the facilities,” Casey said. “Based on my times with Coach Gann, those are three of his strongest qualities.”

Gann’s head coaching career has included Vardaman, Baldwyn and Horn Lake. He also coached as an assistant at Clinton and Okolona.
“I just enjoy coaching,” Gann said. “That’s the bottom line.”

“I had some good years at Vardaman,” he said. “I’m looking forward to getting back to work doing what I love to do.”