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Page 1B • Thursday, December 31, 2009
The Year in Review
Gator title run highlights fun 2009
By Rob Gantt Murrian was a New York-Penn League
The Gazette all-star for the Oneonta Tigers and finished
with a .296 batting average. He had four
The Gator chomp was in full effect and so home runs, 16 doubles and drove in 35 runs.
were a few other things Goose Creek bas-
ketball fans were accustomed to seeing last STATE- CHAMPIONSHIP GLORY
season.
Senior guard Philip Jenkins’ dazzled and Goose Creek’s boys basketball team was-
the Gators’ air-tight defense was up to the n’t alone in putting on a golden perform-
test. ance.
Jenkins scored 33 points and made all six Hanahan’s boys 1600-meter relay team
of his free-throw attempts in the final two and Lady Hawks sprinter Jerica Howard
minutes as the Gators captured their first were state champions in the spring.
basketball title with a 63-58 victory over For Hanahan’s boys 1,600-meter relay
Gaffney in February at the Colonial Life team, the final event of the afternoon was a
Arena in Columbia. triumphant scamper in the rain. The Hawks
“A lot of people have waited a long time came in as decisive favorites in the event
for this,” said Goose Creek coach Brad and a downpour didn’t slow them down.
Dobbels, whose team finished 27-2 on the The grouping of Elijah Broughton,
year. “I’m really happy for the kids. They Sebastian Short, Irim Aiken and Jaleel
deserve this.” Brown bettered its seed time by better than
Goose Creek only led 52-50 before In addition to Wieters, First baseman He had his second major league hit in the three seconds and won the race by nearly a
Jenkins and guard Devontae Wright were Justin Smoak moved up to Triple-A sixth inning of his second game, driving a second.
able to handle the pressure from the line as Oklahoma City in the Texas Rangers organ- Verlander pitch into right centerfield that They had a winning time of 3:26.89 in
Goose Creek ended the game with a 9-of-10 ization and outfielder Justin Greene was bounced over the fence for a ground-rule besting a push from Newberry and Marion
performance from the free-throw line in the promoted to advanced A Winston-Salem for double. in the final stretch. Brown brought the baton
final minutes. Wright finished with 11 the Chicago White Sox organization. He finished up a solid rookie campaign on home and was almost immediately mobbed
points and senior Curtis Washington It had been a lifelong dream to play ball in Oct. 4, ending the season with a .288 batting by teammates and slung to the soggy turf.
chipped in 10 points. Jenkins had 20 points the big leagues and Wieters got the call up average, nine home runs, 35 runs and 43 For Howard, who signed with Coastal
in the second half. on May 29 for a series against the Detroit RBIs. Carolina, the decision to stick with the 400-
“They’re not the most flashy, the most ath- Tigers. meter dash proved to be the right one. She
letic guys but they made solid plays and “You get the voice mails and text mes- CRIM, MURRIAN SHINE AS PROS coasted across the finish line at 57.95, a full
that’s what great basketball teams do,” sages from everybody you’ve ever met in second ahead of the second-place sprinter.
Dobbels said. “... It’s good to finally win your life, you sort of see how big this is,” Shortly after Wieters made his major She almost gave up the 400 earlier in the
one.” said the 23-year-old Wieters, the fifth over- league debut in May, two other former year because she wanted to get back into the
Goose Creek’s championship is The all pick of the 2007 draft. “This has been a Knights were selected in the first-year play- 100-meter dash.
Gazette’s top local sports story of the year dream of mine ever since I was little.” er draft. “She was dying to get back in the 100,”
for 2009. Before his first at-bat, the sounds of Catcher John Murrian was taken in the Lady Hawks track coach Steve Childers
What follows is not a ranking but rather a AC/DC’s Hells Bells filled Camden Yards ninth round by the Detroit Tigers out of said. “She’d had some success there (in the
look at most of the moments as it related to and over 40,000 fans rose to their feet. He Winthrop and left-handed pitcher Matt 100) before this year …. when she was No.
the Gazette-area readership. We’re sure eventually flied out to right field off Tigers Crim was picked in the 21st round by the 1 in the 400 almost all year long on scrun-
there were some others that meant a great starter Dontrelle Willis and finished 0 for 4 Atlanta Braves after closing out his career at ners.com, I wasn’t going to pull her out. We
deal to you. from the seventh spot in the order. The Citadel. told her she was No. 1 for a reason.”
Here are some more of those sports stories He got his first hit a day later, sending a 96 Both were stellar in their first year as pros. Cane Bay sprinter Semaj Tolliver, a fresh-
that made 2009 a great year to watch mile-per-hour fastball from Tigers righty Crim led the Danville Braves to the man, captured the 200-meter sprint champi-
unfold. Justin Verlander over the head of center- Appalachian League title with 11 wins on onship in Class AA. She got her wind at the
fielder Curtis Granderson in the fifth inning. the mound, the rookie league franchise’s turn and put it in high gear with 50 meters
FORMER KNIGHTS MOVE UP The ball hit halfway up the fence and record for wins in a season. to go, surging ahead of runners from
Wieters raced all the way to third base after He became the first Appalachian League Emerald and Woodruff at the line to beat
Highlighted by catcher Matt Wieters’ call- the ball scooted away from Granderson. pitcher to top 10 wins since 1976 and was both by less than a second.
up to the big leagues for the Baltimore He scored his first major league run named the league’s pitcher of the year after Lady Cobras coach Greg Hall felt Tolliver
Orioles, it was the summer of advancement moments later when teammate Nolan striking out 53 batters and giving up just 74 was galvanized by close calls in the two
for three former Stratford baseball players. Reimold singled through the middle. hits in 77 innings. See Year, page 2B
Goose Creek basketball teams lose first games of season in tournaments GC United to hold
BY ROB GANTT wiching wins over Providence Day, rebounds a game, while senior guard For final results, check our web registration
The Gazette N.C. (66-33) and Wesleyan, Ga. (46- Devontae Wright leads the boys team site. The Goose Creek United Soccer
45) around the lone loss to Redan, with 12.7 points per game. Both Goose Creek teams get back Club will hold spring registration
Both Goose Creek basketball teams Ga. (69-56). The boys team improved to 9-1 on into action Jan. 4 against Hanahan, for both boys and girls ages 7-14
picked up their first losses of the sea- The Gators won two out of three the season by beating East Hall 48- the first of four straight home games at Foster Creek Field Jan. 2 from
son recently in pre-Christmas tourna- games in the Holiday Hoopfest in 44 Monday in the opening round of for the squads. 9-12 and Jan. 9 from 9-12.
ments but came right back to start Thomasville, Ga., beating Brooks, the Roundball Classic. They follow with West Ashley Jan. Those interested can stop by and
new streaks. Ga. (59-26) and Terrell, Ga. (64-57) They were set to meet St. John’s 5, Fort Dorchester Jan. 8 and have any questions answered.
The Lady Gators (10-1) were 2-1 in around a loss to Thomasville (54-49). College High School Tuesday night Berkeley Jan. 12. They can also visit the web site
the Crescent Bank Holiday Junior Aleighsa Welch leads the and either North Charleston or The Berkeley contests are the at www.gcunitedsoccer.com.
Invitational in Myrtle Beach, sand- Lady Gators with 22 points and 11 Centennial, Ga. Wednesday night. Region 7-AAAA openers.
CYAN-AOOO MAGENTA-OAOO YELLOW-OOAO BLACK 01/29/08
