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The other day, I was at McKenzie Middle School, formerly McKenzie High School. I had to take pictures of the History Fair winners.

Yes, I know, not sports, but I can wear other hats.

As much hair as I'm missing, that's probably a good thing.

Back to the story.

I was walking through those distantly familiar halls and it was surreal. I don't know how to describe it. A day later, I was part of the career day there and again walked those same halls.

For better or worse, you decide, that's the place I got my start in this business of sports writing. It was fun reliving some old memories, pointing at old lockers (of course the lockers are probably twice removed from when I was there) and remembering who had what spot.

As I addressed one of the sessions, Coach Bruce Herrin walked in for a few. Believe it or not, Coach Herrin is one of the first people I met when we moved here. We bought the house he was living in at the time. My folks still live there.

The years clicked by and Herrin was my junior-and-senior-year baseball coach. He will be the first to tell you he was old school. I can remember vividly going over fundamentals at practice every day before the season started. One day we'd do nothing but infield, pitchers running to cover first, things like that.

The next was BP (again, for those of you who missed a few weeks ago, that's batting practice). Coach threw BP mostly and he could bring it in those days, which was helpful for we hitters.

Perhaps the next day we would practice base running.

One day I remember in particular, we were working how to run the squeeze play with runners on second and third. He told us the goal was not only to score the runner on third, but the runner on second as well. That same workout, we were taught how to get out of rundowns.

Coach conceded nothing, not even a runner trying to take second with a runner on third. That still chaps him today. He wanted us to make that throw.

He taught us crafty things like the three-ball walk, which works even to this day. You try to draw three balls while batting with a runner or two on. After ball three, you drop your bat and head to first while the runners advance. While the catcher asks the umpire "isn't that three balls?" you have just swiped two bases.

We had a lot of fun. He taught us to think like coaches on the field. It just took me well past college to grasp the concept.

Speaking of college, he was the first coach I ever heard of asking if he could help us out finding a place to play college baseball. He wrote letters to coaches asking that they check us out. He always warned us that scouts might be in the stands at anytime, college and pro, that we should always play like they are.

He talked to us about winning. He made us expect to win. My senior year we were 17-4 and perhaps the best Class A team around, except for that inexplicable hiccup in the first round of the district tournament against Dyer. The next two years, the Rebels went to state.

Herrin was my sister's high school basketball coach for two years. He must be a terribly tolerant man. They had a tremendous run in those days, making it all the way to the regional semifinals in 1982. My sis even would up playing in college and attaining All-American status at Sewanee during the 1986 season.

Herrin is retiring at the end of this year. It is with happy sadness that I greet this news. I wish him the best.

* * *

This isn't directly sports related, but since I was talking about sports writing, I'll put it here anyway.

Also retiring this year is Mrs. Martha Peters, who like Herrin, was an educator of patience, also having taught my sis.

She was my host during the career day event along with Josh Kee. Mrs. Peters showed the same exuberance last week as she did when I remember her as a junior high student in the 1970s. That is to be admired.

Martha Peters not teaching in the McKenzie school system is like taking the dots off a Dalmatian. I, too, congratulate her on a job well done.

* * *

QUOTE OF THE WEEK: McKenzie Middle School Principal Lynn Watkins had a look of consternation on his face in the wake of the violent weather endured by the area. He looked skyward as he entered his truck, shrugged and said, "Maybe I can get in nine holes between tornadoes."

With a South Side runner on third base and one out in the bottom of the third, Cole caught a fly ball and threw a frozen rope to MHS catcher Courtney Creasy, who pegged the charging Lady Hawk.

The play ended the inning, the threat and preserved a 1-0 Lady Rebel lead. In addition, the play served as a boarding pass to a softball substate trip.

McKenzie defeated host Jackson-South Side, District 12AA champion, 3-0 and earned a chance at the Region 6AA title against Camden on Wednesday. More importantly, McKenzie, win or lose at Camden, will be in a substate battle on Friday, perhaps against Waverly or another team across the Tennessee River.

"This was a satisfying win," said McKenzie coach Randy Thomas, beaming with the team's first substate berth in nearly a decade. "These kids have just come on and they are playing ball right now; we have freshman and sophomores playing well and we have some great senior leadership."

Thomas said The Play might have been the key to the game. The Cole-to-Creasy twin killing was just another manifestation of how youth has served this team.

"Brooke made a great throw," said Thomas. "I think that was the turning point in the game because they had one out and a runner on. It killed their rally. And Courtney did a great job catching the ball and holding on."

With the game and season on the line, senior Brittany Carpenter pitched well with a lead, changing speeds and using her teammates in the field for defensive help. She struck out eight, scattered five hits and didn't walk a single South Sider. She upped her record t 20-13.

"Brittany pitched a great game," said Thomas. "She has had to pitch almost every game for us and she really has done real well for us."

Carpenter scored McKenzie's first run in the opening frame. She reached on a single and scored on senior Kristin Wiggins' base hit.
>From there, McKenzie settled in defensively, purging potential Lady Hawk rallies and putting runners on in almost every inning. In the MHS fifth, senior Becky Toombs was hit by a pitch. Jalisa Brown roped a one-out double to centerfield, scoring Toombs for the 2-0 lead.

In the seventh, Carpenter doubled and moved to third on Toombs' sacrifice bunt. Then Brown grounded to shortstop, but picked up the RBI when Toombs dashed across the plate for the 3-0 lead. Wiggins singled as did Creasy before the Lady Rebs were retired.

In the bottom of the seventh, Carpenter struck out the first batter she faced, forced a pop-up to second baseman Carol Perritt and worked with two out. Quickly, South Side had something going. An error and a single enabled it to put the tying run at the plate.

But Carpenter settled in got the whiff for the victory.
"I was pleased with our defensive effort today," said Thomas. "We didn't play up to our capability at Camden and I was glad to see us play well today."

Thomas said his team's offense did the job when it had to.
"We got key hits today and they seemed to come from everybody, but without looking at the book, I couldn't tell you who," Thomas said. "But that's the way this team is. Everybody does something. We managed to move runners at key times."

The Lady Rebels improve to 20-16 overall and hope to hoist the 6AA trophy Friday if they can wrest it from Camden. Game time is tentatively 4:30 Wednesday at Camden.

Huntingdon allowed the Lady Cardinals a single run in the first inning and then took a 3-1 lead in the top of the third. Although Adamsville added a run of their own in the bottom of the inning, Huntingdon maintained a 3-2 lead and added another three runs in the top of the fourth and two in the top of the fifth to lead 8-2 going into the bottom of the seventh inning.

Coach Mike Henson noted that although the Lady Cards rallied for four runs in the seventh, his girls played well defensively and managed to get that final out for the victory. After allowing the first four batters to reach base on three singles and an error, Pritchard threw out batter five, Holly Newman threw out number six and Rush took care of the seventh batter for the final out and victory.

Megan Rush was credited with the victory while Courtney Henson was the leading hitter for the Fillies with a pair of singles. Brooke Pritchard and Amanda Clark each had a single while Candace Sellers and Casey Henson each had a double.

Rush gave up eight hits and struck out three in the win.

Coach Henson credits the girls’ defensive play with the victory and at press-time it was uncertain if the regional championship would be played at USJ or Huntingdon. However, the Fillies will face the Lady Bruins at 4:30 Wednesday.

The Rebel and Lady Rebel runners did well in the regional meet at Jackson and have participants going to sectionals in eight events: four track and four field.

"That's more than we had last year," said MHS coach David Duncan. "To go to state, though, you have to be in the top two, but we have a shot."

On the girls' side, McKenzie was fourth overall among 18 teams in the meet. The 400 relay team of Julie Smith, Sarah Hartz, Renee Crawley and Mallory Brandon qualified for sectional with its finish. The 1600 relay team did the same. That foursome included Smith, Brandon, Crawley and Amber King.

Brandon, King, Kim Gaskins and Crystal Mann each qualified for sectionals with their third-place finish in the 3200 relay.

Hartz was the regional runner up in the 800 with her best time of the year, a 2:30. Julie Smith retained her regional championship in the discus and was fourth in the triple jump.

Crawley, attempting the long jump for the first time this season, earned a regional championship. She also took third in the shot put.

The boys' 3200 relay team of Ty Winkler, Kent Ozment, Greg Pruiett and Caleb Owen trimmed half-a-minute off their previous best time and advanced to sectionals with a 9:20.

Other Rebs and Lady Rebs placed at the meet as well.

In the 800 and mile relay races, the team of Clint Anderson, John Craig Howell, Lee Barham and Matt Blaylock finished eighth in both races.

The 400 relay team of Randy Lacey, Brandon Cook, Andrew Cross and Daniel Duncan took seventh.

Crawley finished sixth in the high jump. Lucy Sneed was seventh in the hurdles. The 800 relay team of Natisha Gordon, Kayla Dudley, Crawley and Gaskins took eighth.

The A-AA sectional meet will be held at Briarcrest Christian School in Memphis.
 

• Mustangs Dominate Tigers in Championship Game, Win 11-0
• Rebels Bow Out of Tournament
• Lady War Eagles Take Title, Fillies Place Second in District 13-A Battle

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