Honor Roll
Softball
Sarabeth Cummins, White County: Went 8-for-20 with three runs scored in three wins and a loss last week.
Courtney Gearin, North Hall: Earned a win with four strikeouts on Thursday and threw 11 shutout innings in two wins and a loss Saturday.
Lanae Hodnett, Buford: Had three RBIs in a win over Avondale on Tuesday.
Angie Hughes, Union County: Earned the complete-game win with ten strikeouts against Lumpkin County on Wednesday.
Kara Perry, Jefferson: Earned the complete-game win with eight strikeouts against Oglethorpe County on Tuesday.
Stephanie Satterfield, White County: Went 10-for-17 with three home runs in three wins and a loss last week.
Kaitlyn Seabolt, Union County: Went 2-for-3 with a home run, a walk and a stolen base in a win over Lumpkin County.
Volleyball
Taylor Cramsey, Jefferson: Had 24 aces and 19 kills in three wins last week.
Amanda Daniel, Jefferson: Had 38 assists, five aces and five kills in three wins last week.
Liz Darden, Buford: Had 42 digs in three wins Saturday.
Maggie Roper, Buford: Had 42 kills and 34 digs in five wins last week.
Cross Country
Ansley Lawson, North Hall: Placed first in the War Eagle Invitational with a time of 20 minutes, 19 seconds in the 5K event at Chestatee Middle School on Tuesday.
Cody Barger, North Hall: Placed first in the War Eagle Invitational with a time of 16 minutes, 5 seconds in the 5K event at Chestatee Middle School on Tuesday.
CLEVELAND— Before the start of every game, the White County High softball team has a tradition. Each player selects a temporary tattoo from a pile and puts it on her forearm. The Lady Warriors consider the practice good luck.
So far this season, they seem to be right.
White County is currently 11-3 overall and in first place in subregion 8A-AAA at 5-0 after beating Stephens County on Tuesday night.
Last weekend, the Lady Warriors participated in the Cherokee Invitational where they went 3-2 and were slated to play in the championship game before rain intervened and forced a cancellation. Earlier last week, White County beat North Hall 5-1 and Franklin County 2-0.
What did four of the five wins last week have in common? A strong performance from Callie McDonald.
McDonald went 3-for-4 with three RBIs against North Hall and earned wins over Franklin County, Gilmer and Woodstock with a combined 27 strikeouts. Against Gilmer and Woodstock, McDonald had an earned run average of 1.62.
For her efforts, McDonald is The Times Athlete of the Week.
“She’s done a great job for us so far,” said coach John Brown. “We’re really pleased with the way she’s been playing, period.”
Going into Friday’s game with Stephens County, McDonald was third on the team in batting average (.361), fourth in hits (13), first in extra-base hits (7) and tied for first in runs batted in (14).
And she’s also 5-1 on the year from the circle.
Her only loss was a nine-inning defeat at the hands of 8-AAAA’s Habersham Central on Aug. 23. McDonald threw a complete game in the loss and said Habersham Central “didn’t have an earned run until the ninth inning.”
McDonald’s strong play began late last season, Brown said.
“At the end of last season she really came on strong for us,” he said. “In the region tournament she came out and won three ball games to get us into the state playoffs.”
White County finished second in Region 7-AAA last season after losing to Creekview in the region championship. In the state playoffs, White County was swept in the first round by Ridgeland from Region 6A-AAA.
McDonald knows that if they want a chance to get past the first round of state this season, the Lady Warriors are going to need to win Region 7-AAA and draw a lower-seeded opponent at state.
And the junior likes her team’s chances.
“I was a little scared about (winning region) at first,” McDonald said. “But now we’re doing really good. We’re playing together well as a team.”
McDonald cited the closeness of the White County players on and off the field as one reason that they have played so well this season.
“We’re all just really good friends,” McDonald said.
Also a big part of White County’s early season fortunes is pitcher Stephanie Satterfield, who Brown said is White County’s No. 1 pitcher.
“But only because of experience,” Brown said. “Satterfield lost two games over the weekend. But one was to Gordon Lee, who are ranked No. 1 in the state in Class A, a very good team, and a loss to Cherkoee which is a AAAAA school.”
McDonald agreed with her coach, stating the Satterfield was one of the most important players on the team.
“She’s a really big part of our team,” McDonald said. “She leads us in hitting, pitching and pretty much everything else.”
Satterfield earned the win Tuesday against Stephens County in Cleveland, but it was McDonald who stole the show.
Ahead 7-0 in the bottom of the fourth inning, White County only needed three runs to put the Georgia High School Association’s 10-run mercy rule into effect and end the game.
McDonald stepped to the plate with the bases loaded and connected on a hanging fastball that flew of the right-center field wall. The grand slam was McDonald’s first home run of the season and put the Lady Warriors up 12-0 to end the game.
White County visits Lumpkin County at 5:55 p.m. Thursday.