Amber Uptain Crowned Homecoming Queen 2009

Tharptown - Amber Uptain was crowned Homecoming Queen 2009 in halftime ceremonies during Friday night’s game against Phillips. The crowning capped off a week of events at Tharptown including Friday’s pep rally and Homecoming parade which is arguably the biggest event held at the school each year.

Amber was escorted by her father, John Uptain. She is the daughter of John and Trina Uptain.

In the ceremony, she was crowned by last year’s Homecoming Queen, Miss Kylee Chaffin.

Also appointed as alternates were Miss La Tosha George as 2nd alternate, and Miss Nicole Lancaster as 1st alternate.

Rounding out the 2009 Homecoming Court were Miss Heather Hatton, Miss Casey Mitchell, and Miss Lori Metcalf.

For more photos of the Homecoming Ceremony and Parade, Click Here

Jess Myrick is first THS player to sign college offer

Published: Friday, April 10, 2009 4:25 PM CDT

Scot Beard

sbeard@franklincountytimes.com

THARPTOWN – Tharptown senior Jess Myrick made history Thursday night when she became the first athlete in school history to sign a letter of intent to play collegiate sports.

Myrick signed with Jefferson Davis Community College in Brewton to play softball.

“It’s a little bit exciting, but it’s a little bit sad because I’m moving away,” Myrick said.

She chose Jeff Davis for several reasons. She said she liked the small-town feel of the area and because of the success of the program.

Myrick also liked the way the coach approached her.

“Coach wanted to know about me, not my earned run average,” she said.

Another advantage Jeff Davis had over other programs was the attitude of the other softball players. Myrick said she liked the way her future teammates were outgoing and were able to have fun while being able to stay serious about softball at the same time.

Myrick said there are quite a few memories from playing with Tharptown that she will cherish for years to come including winning county titles at the junior high and high school levels and helping the Lady Wildcats reach the playoffs for the first time.

While at Jeff Davis, Myrick will study secondary education with a focus on history. She said she isn’t ready to give up softball when college is over.

“I want to teach history and coach either a junior high or high school team,” Myrick said.

Myrick’s coach, Laura Sellers, said she had sent information on the players to several colleges before the start of the season. She said several programs showed interest in the players.

Sellers said she was excited that Myrick was the first Tharptown player to sign.

“It has been a total blessing and privilege to be part of Jess’ life,” Sellers said. “It is hard to find kids like her. I can’t replace her.

Copyright © 2009 – Franklin County Times

Lady Bulldogs beat Tharptown 2-1

Published: Tuesday, March 31, 2009 3:14 PM CDT

Scot Beard

sbeard@franklincountytimes.com

The Belgreen softball team earned a tough 2-1 road win Monday against Tharptown and moved one step closer to forcing a winner-take-all series against Speake for the right to host the Class 1A, Area 15 Tournament.

Belgreen struggled offensively in the first inning as all three batters grounded out.

Tharptown did not fare much better its first time at the plate. Heather Hatton singled with one out, but was caught stealing before Hollie Hines popped out to end the inning.

Katelin Barber led off the top of the second for Belgreen by drawing a walk. She advanced to second on a sacrifice by Amber Smith.

Lauren Oliver grounded out to third, but Barber was able to score from second on the play to give the Lady Bulldogs a 1-0 lead.

Tharptown threatened to tie the score in the bottom of the second when Jess Myrick doubled. Her pinch runner advanced to third on a sacrifice by Chelsey McCluskey.

Lauren Scott lined out to shortstop and Belgreen was able to double off the runner at third to end the inning.

Belgreen had a pair of players reach third base in the third inning, but a stingy Tharptown defense prevented the Lady Bulldogs from adding to their lead.

Hines tied the game for the Lady Wildcats in the fourth inning with a solo home run to left field.

Belgreen took the lead in the seventh when Oliver singled and advanced to second on a sacrifice by Katy Britton. Deborah Billingham doubled to drive Oliver home for the winning run.

Martha Billingham picked up the win for Belgreen, giving up three hits and striking out six in seven innings of work.

Deborah Billingham had a pair of hits while Smith and Oliver both singled.

Myrick took the loss for Tharptown. She allowed four hits and struck out six.

Hines’ homered, Myrick doubled and Hatton singled for the Lady Wildcats.

With the win, Belgreen improves to 5-0 in area play. The Lady Bulldogs travel to Speake Monday and host the Lady Bobcats Tuesday.

Speake is also undefeated in area play and the winner of that series will be the favorite to host the area tournament.

Tharptown, which was swept by Speake, still has an outside shot at hosting, but the Lady Wildcats will need to win the rest of their area games – including another game against Belgreen – and get some help from other teams in the area.

Copyright © 2009 – Franklin County Times

Softball Photos!!

Photo by Donna Hines

I’ve felt bad about not having much Softball information on the site. However, Donna Hines has provided me with some GREAT photos taken during the games against Speake at Tharptown Field. Unfortunately, we got blanked! (11-0)

Anyway, Thanks Donna!

Click here to see Donna’s Photos

Tharptown softball sweeps Lady Red Devils

Published: Friday, March 20, 2009 3:24 PM CDT

Scot Beard

sbeard@franklincountytimes.com

PHIL CAMPBELL – The Tharptown girls softball team was not hindered by rainouts, as it was able to generate quite a bit of offense against Vina this week.

The Lady Wildcats scored 33 runs in two games against the Lady Red Devils to improve to 3-0 in area play and 5-3 overall.

“I was proud of our hitting,” said Tharptown coach Laura Sellers. “Between regular games and tournaments, we had about 13 games rained out. We’ve been doing hitting drills in the gym.”

The Lady Wildcats had 16 hits in Tuesday’s 16-0 victory at Vina.

Laken Barnett led the way with three doubles for Tharptown while Hollie Hines tripled and Jess Myrick doubled and had a sacrifice bunt.

Heather Hatton and Braeden Sellers had two singles each while Chelsea McCluskey and Lauren Scott hit one single each for the Lady Wildcats.

Myrick pitched three innings and struck out six to earn the win.

Claudia Townsend had the only hit for Vina.

The Lady Wildcats continued its offensive output Wednesday as they scored six runs in the bottom of the first inning to take a commanding lead. Tharptown sent ten batters to the plate in the first.

Vina threatened to answer in the second as Brandi White and Amber Evans each drew a walk to open the inning. Stormi Mitchell reached on a fielder’s choice, but in doing so White was called out at third.

Evans reached third base on a passed ball, but was unable to score as the next two Vina batters struck out to end the inning.

Tharptown seemed to cool off in the second, only plating one run as Hines – the only Lady Wildcat to reach base in the inning – scored on a sacrifice by Myrick.

Vina could not get a runner to reach base in the third inning, but Tharptown’s bats came back to life.

The Lady Wildcats sent 12 batters to the plate. Those batters recorded five hits and put seven runs on the board to take a 14-0 lead.

With one out in the top of the fourth, White singled for Vina and advanced to second on a ground out by Evans. Mitchell struck out to end the inning before White could advance any farther.

After McCluskey grounded out to open the bottom of the fourth, Barnett singled and stole a pair of bases before Hatton drew a walk. Hines hit a ball deep to the outfield to clear the bases and end the game.

Hines led the Lady Wildcats with three doubles while Barnett hit a single and a double and Tosha George hit a pair of singles.

Braeden Sellers doubled and Hatton, Myrick, Scott and McCluskey each singled for Tharptown.

Hines picked up the win on the mound, pitching four innings and striking out four. She allowed one hit and walked three Vina batters.

White had the only hit for Vina.

Jesse Norwood took the loss, pitching 31/3 innings and striking out one Tharptown batter. She gave up 11 hits.

Franklin County Times 2009 All-County Girls Basketball Team

 

Published: Friday, March 13, 2009 4:34 PM CDT

sbeard@franklincountytimes.com

Copyright © 2009 – Franklin County Times

First Team members include Amber Smith, Belgreen; Morgan Duncan, Red Bay;

Whitney Sharp, Red Bay;Erin Reynolds, Russellville;Tasha West, Russellville.

Tharptown’s Hollie Hines was named the Offensive Player of the Year while Phil Campbell’s Jessica Taylor was named the Defensive Player of the Year. Belgreen’s Shuana Humphries was named the Coach of the Year.

Second Team members include Martha Billingham, Belgreen; Kirsten Sharp, Red Bay; Kendra Baker, Tharptown; Chelsea McCluskey, Tharptown; Jesse Norwood, Vina.

Honorable Mentions include Katelin Barber, Belgreen; Caitlin Stancil, Phil Campbell; Whitley Yocum, Phil Campbell; Britan Bolding, Red Bay; Amber Elliot, Russellville.

Lady Wildcats Thump Saint Bernard 20-0

In what started as a phone call to set up an easy win for Saint Bernard, the THS Lady Wildcats sent a message to whomever was looking for the same favor by scoring 20 runs in 3 innings. I don’t have any game details, but I’m guessing that the message was received! So much for Coach Seller’s diplomatic skills!

THS Lady Wildcats End Season With Loss At Hazlewood

Hazlewood – The Lady Wildcats prepare for Thursday Nights game against the Hazlewood Lady Golden Bears.
Photo by Renita Flannagin

Hazlewood – The Tharptown Lady Wildcats lost their bid to advance in the Sub State Tournament on Thursday night with a 66- 61 finish against Hazlewood. The game started with a thunderous performance as the Wildcat girls conducted a “Shock and Awe” campaign scoring 23 points to Hazlewood’s 10. Kendra Baker scored 12 points in the first period with Hollie Hines adding 7. Also scoring 2 apiece were Chelsea McClusky and Laken Barnett. The half ended with Hazlewood coming back into the game 30 to THS’s 31.

The second half turned into a shoot out with the lead changing hands several times. But in the end it was the Lady Bears beating Tharptown by 5. (66 – 61)

Scoring totals were:

Kendra Baker: 24, Hollie Hines: 14, Chelsea McClusky: 14, Laken Barnett: 6, and Chloe Lane: 3.

Hazlewood – Kendra Baker scores 2 of her 24 points against the Golden Bears.  Photo by Renita Flannagin

Third season the charm as the Lady Wildcats make school history with sub-region berth

Scot Beard

sbeard@franklincountytimes.com

THARPTOWN - Before the start of the season, Tharptown varsity girls basketball coach Chad Green hoped the AHSAA realignment would benefit his team.

Last season the Lady Wildcats competed in an area featuring Hazlewood, one of the premier girls programs in northern Alabama, and R.A. Hubbard, another strong team.

With Tharptown competing in the sub-regional round of the playoffs this season, it looks like the past competition paid off.

Green didn’t want to rely solely on the past to help his team, so he challenged them throughout the season.

“We played a tough schedule this year,” Green said. “We went to the Russellville Tournament at the first of the year. We lost both games, but we knew those games would prepare us for the season and the playoffs.”

The Lady Wildcats used that experience to build a strong season and earn the second seed in the Class 1A, Area 15 Tournament. They defeated Speake, one of the preseason favorites to win the area title, in the semifinals to clinch Tharptown’s first trip to the sub-regional round.

The Lady Wildcats played at Hazlewood last night but the game was concluded too late for today’s edition of The Franklin County Times.

The win against Speake set up a finals showdown with county rival Belgreen, which defeated Tharptown twice during the regular season.

Senior Laken Barnett said the Lady Wildcats were on a mission against Belgreen.

“We were trying to give them a good game,” Barnett said. “We haven’t ever played our best when we played them. We wanted to play our best and show them who we really were.”

Mission accomplished.

Although Belgreen prevailed in the end, Tharptown took the Lady Bulldogs to two overtimes and only lost by three points.

Another senior, Hollie Hines, helped push the game to the first overtime when she hit a pair of free throws with less than 10 seconds remaining in regulation to tie the game.

Hines, who has scored more than 1,000 points during her career with the Lady Wildcats, is also one of the team’s top rebounders.

“She is a beast down low,” Green said. “One coach called her an Amazon woman – we call her our bruiser.”

Hines said she doesn’t worry about her numbers as long as Tharptown is earning victories. She also thinks the game against Belgreen sent a message to other teams the Lady Wildcats will face during the playoffs.

“If we play hard Thursday night, we can come home with a win,” Hines said. “Anybody is beatable.”

Green thought the Lady Wildcats had a good chance at beating Hazlewood because Tharptown is playing its best basketball of the season right now. He also likes the Lady Wildcats chances if they do upset third-ranked Hazlewood.

“At Wallace State we will likely face familiar opponents – Belgreen, Hackleburg and Hubbertville,” Green said. “We’ve played almost all of them during the regular season so we know what they are going to do.”

Part of this season’s success can be attributed to the team coming together and gaining confidence in each other.

Senior Lauren Scott said the squad has gelled this year and is playing more like a team.

“I think we realized we can do it,” Scott said. “In past years we haven’t been so confident and really believed in ourselves.”

Green agrees, saying he has seen quite a change during the last few seasons. He said two years ago the team was getting its feet wet and last year they were still learning.

“This year you can see the girls on the bench cheering for the other girls and standing up giving them high fives as they are coming off the court,” Green said.

While the team chemistry has helped, Green said having each player fulfill her role is why Tharptown has gone this far.

“It can’t be all superstars and all-stars, you have to have some girls take charges and step in there on the boards,” Green said. “You have to have everybody do their job to be a successful team.”

Green said the players coming off the bench have been very good at fulfilling their roles this season. He said the bench players are not the same type of player they are replacing, but they do their job.

“Elly (Valdez) isn’t going to come in and score 25 points, but she is going to hound you defensively all over the court,” Green said.

While the seniors have worked hard to get the Lady Wildcats where they are today, the juniors are dedicated to continue building a strong tradition for girls basketball at Tharptown.

“(The seniors) have taught us how to work together as a team,” said Chelsea McCluskey, one of the Lady Wildcats leading scorers.

While the future looks bright for the Lady Wildcats, it is this team that made history by becoming the first squad at Tharptown to reach the sub-regional round of the playoffs.

Senior Gaby Gomez thinks the squad’s sense of team and its hard work are what she will remember when she thinks of this season.

“Everybody gets along and plays hard,” Gomez said. “They try their best on the court and try to prove everybody is wrong to think we can’t make it.”

Copyright © 2009 – Franklin County Times

Cheerleaders? We Got Em!

Belgreen - During the Area Tournament game on Saturday night, the Wildcat crowd had no regular Cheerleaders due to the fact that most of them were dressed out as Basketball players. (Pretty + Tough + Multi Talented = Tharptown Girl) But not to fear, Christy Dill and the Youth League All-Star Cheerleaders in to save the day! These little girls dispensed a SUPER SIZED dose of good ‘ole Wildcat Spirit, leading the crowd in cheering the Varsity girls on in their battle against Belgreen. I vote we dress them out in their Youth League outfits and send them to the next round!