ELKMONT TAKES THREE WINS

All three Elkmont baseball teams took wins in their season opening games.

The Varsity beat East Lawrence 9 - 4 in the first round of the Athens Bible School Invitational.

The JV team took the field following the varsity and won by 10 runs against East Lawrence, 17 - 7.

The Middle School beat the hosting Westminster in the Westminister Preseason Tournament.  The Red Devils scored 10 runs in the 10-2 win. 

The middle school will travel back to Westminister tomorrow to play Randolph @ 6:30 pm.

The varsity Red Devils will be hosting Falkville on Thursday in the next round of the ABS preseason tournament.

The Hill spirit would love for someone for each team to write about the games they are following.  Have someone for the scores but  would appreciate hearing about the hitting, pitching and great plays in the field.  If you would like to be a reporter in the stands, email the Hill spirit - elkmont1@charter.net

JV LOSE TO TROJANS - DIAMOND DEVIL SPEAKS

Cool nights and the distinct sound of a “ping” as bat meets ball.  Yes, it’s that time of year again; baseball season.

The JV team got off to a slow start losing to Brewer at home.  However, their season took a turn in the right direction with consecutive wins against East Lawrence, Falkville, and Addison. 

Last night, they met Athens Bible School at home. ABS took an early lead as Elkmont struggled to make routine plays and to get the bats going.  With ABS leading 8 to 5 in the middle of the fifth, Elkmont came to bat.  After scoring 1 with no outs, it looked as if the Red Devils were on track to either win or at least force an extra inning.  However, with a runner on base, the ABS pitcher struck the next three batters out giving Elkmont their second loss of the season.  The final score was 8 to 6.

Elkmont will face Westminister at home Thursday, weather permitting.  

ELKMONT BASEBALL BEGINS - DUST DEVIL AT THE DIAMOND

The Elkmont varsity baseball season has started and they have already played four games. The Red Devils'  record stands at 2-2.  Elkmont lost to Brewer 14 - 3, but played without six starters who were still playing basketball.  Elkmont also lost to East Lawrence, 10 - 5, when those six players joined the team and played their first game without any practice.  They were able to get in a couple of days of practice with the full varsity team before their next game.  Since then, the Red Devils have won their next two games; beating Falkville, 17 - 4 and Addison, 12 - 5.  Against Falkville, Cole Glass had three hits and Jared Bailey hit a grand slam.  Tyler Thomas pitched well against Addison picking up the win and the whole line up hit well.


OBSERVATIONS:
The team will be an excellent defensive team.   Both the infield and outfield are solid and the catcher position is strong.  The Red Devils also will be an excellent hitting team with both power and speed.  In particular, the first five batters will be a tough out every time.  Elkmont is well coached.  Coach Holt knows the game and continues to work with the players no matter the score.  


The Dust Devil sees two weaknesses that this team must improve in order to have a winning season and make the playoffs.  The first weakness is the number of strike-outs.  Even though Elkmont is an excellent hitting team and has scored enough runs so far, but good varsity teams seldom strike-out and put the ball in play to force the other team to make outs.  The second weakness is pitching.  The Red Devils have several good pitchers but none are dominate yet.  Ben Ferguson, Tyler Thomas, Michael Haney and Skyler Gant have the potential to become that top level pitcher.


PREDICTION:
The Dust Devil believes that Elkmont will be a fun team to watch and hitting and defense will be the strength of the team.  He also believes that the strike-outs will be reduced as the players get more practice.  The real question is the pitching.  The Dust Devil is going to watch a few more games before predicting if the Elkmont Red Devils will have a winning season or make the playoffs.

VARSITY TAKES FIRST WIN

Last Saturday, six of the starting varsity baseball players were dressed in shorts and playing basketball in the finals of the Northwest Regional.   They were back on their feet by Monday ( a scramble finding all the baseball stuff they haven't looked at since last summer) and played their first game against East Lawrence.  The Red Devils lost that game but they shook some of the rust off and hit surprising well.


Elkmont took the field again last night when the Falkville Eagles came to town.  The Red Devils were up 8-1 when several of the starters went to the bench.  New players took the field, Falkville took advantage of the transition by scoring three runs before Elkmont regrouped.  Jared Bailey put the icing on the cake when he hit a grand slam to end the game, 17 - 4 (run rule in sixth inning).


HIGHLIGHTS:

• defense looked good - a big positive for this year's team
• hit the ball well - another strong point; Jared Bailey(grandslam) and Cole Glass (3 hits)  
• several pitchers got valuable time on the mound - seasoned, developed pitchers are not a strength for the Red Devils.  This is a weakness that hopefully will resolve itself with more experience.  These early games will give the young pitching staff a change to work against varsity hitters before Area play starts later in March.
• Improved baseball atmosphere - press box music and announcer gives Elkmont's varsity games extra polish.  Announcer Mickey Glass is going a great job.  The music selected for each Red Devil batter brings a smile.

Reporter: Hillspirit