From the notebook: Pitch Hit & Run coming to Moultrie

Wayne Grandy, The Moultrie Observer, Ga.
·4 min read

Mar. 16—MOULTRIE — Pitch Hit and Run, the officials skills competition of Major League Baseball, will be held at 3 p.m. on Sunday, March 28, at the Knuck McCrary Complex in Moultrie.

The Moultrie-Colquitt County Parks and Recreation Authority will host the event.

Participation is free.

There are baseball and softball divisions for players ages 7-14. Age is determined as of July 17, 2021.

Register at https://pitchhitrun2021.leagueapps.com/events/2072506

Entrants will have a chance to advance to the finals during Major League baseball's All-Star Week.

The PITCH portion of the program will test how accurately a competitor can throw strikes to a designated "Strike Zone" target from a designated distance (35 feet for the softball division and 45 feet for the baseball division). Any method of underhand/overhand pitching or throwing is accepted. An attempt hitting ANY portion of the target will be deemed a strike.

The HIT portion of the program will test a competitor's ability to hit from a stationary batting tee, along a tape measure from home plate, toward straight-away center field. Hits will be measured for distance and accuracy.

The RUN portion of the program will measure a competitor's speed in a sprint from the start line, touching third base, and touching home plate. ALL participants will run a total of 120 feet.

Of this and that:

—Three former Moss Farms divers have qualified for the NCAA National Diving Championships, which will be held March 24-27 in Greensboro, N.C.

SMU's Parker Hardigree will make his first appearance at Nationals after qualifying on both the 1-meter and 3-meter springboards.

Maggie Merriman of Purdue qualified after a second-place finish on platform in the Zone C Championships.

Chase Lane of Kentucky also qualified for Nationals on platform.

—Former Lady Packer Za'Nautica Downs was named the Colonial Athletic Conference's Sixth Player of the Year and was named to the all-conference third team after averaging 14.6 points a game for UNC-Wilmington this season.The Seahawks finished 7-14 after being eliminated in the quarterfinals of the CAA tournament.

—Diamond Hall averaged 5.7 points while starting 16 games for Alcorn State.

—Janiah Ellis is heading to the NCAA tournament with the Troy women's basketball team.

Troy is 22-5 and was 15-2 in the Sun Belt Conference.

Ellis played in 18 games as a freshman, averaging 3.4 points.

—Jay Saunders is off to a strong start for the Georgia College baseball team.

The former Packer leads the Bobcats in hitting with a .415 average through the first 13 games of the season.

He has a double and a triple and has driven in seven runs. In his last three games, he is 6-for-11 and he has six two-hit games this season.

—J.T. Whatley is playing well in his first season at Andrew College, batting .352 in 24 games.

Whatley has five doubles, a triple and a team-leading four home runs. He had 20 runs batted in.

—Red-shirt sophomore Gavin Patel has played in four games for Kennesaw State, starting two, and is 5-for-10 with a double and six runs batted in.

—Raines Plant has started 17 games for the Thomas University baseball team so far this season and is hitting .288 with two doubles and four runs batted in

Plant has four two-games for the Night Hawks.

—Henry Daniels is another freshman who is putting up big numbers.

Daniels is hitting .375 and leads the ABAC baseball team in at bats, with 48; runs, 12; hits, 18; runs batted in, 12; and home runs, four.

—Reinhardt University sophomore wrestler Nic Jarvis qualified for the NAIA national championships, where the Eagles finished sixth out of 52 teams.

Jarvis won two of his four matches in the championships, held in Wichita, Kan.

—Tory Ponder had one pass reception for 17 yards and returned four punts for 25 yards for Tusculum in its 58-20 win over Mars Hill on March 12.

In two games for the Pioneers, Ponder had four catches for 34 yards.

Tusculum will play next on Thursday, March 25, at UVA-Wise.

Ponder was named to the All-South Atlantic Conference team in 2019 when he had 35 catches for 571 yards and six touchdowns for Tusculum.

—Ty French continues to have an outstanding spring football season for Gardner-Webb.

In the Bulldogs' recent 31-24 overtime victory over Presbyterian, the freshman former Packer had three solo tackles, six assists, two tackles for loss, 1.5 sacks and five quarterback hurries.

Gardner-Webb, now 2-0, will play next on March 27 when it travels to meet Kennesaw State.

French's former Colquitt County teammate Camari Louis plays in the secondary for the Owls.