Sports

By Joey Marchant
It was a mixed bag for Dodge County Baseball as they opened the regular season. There were highs and lows. The good news is that Dodge pitching gave up only one earned run in three games and starting pitching and produced two complete games. The bad news is that Dodge struggled at the plate at times and committed a few errors in the field. All in all, the team showed a lot of promise.
Dodge opened at home with Hawkinsville. Andrew Lowery took the mound for Dodge and pitched a complete game shutout giving up only two hits while striking out five and walking two. Lowery was efficient throwing only around seventy pitches. Hawkinsville came out very aggressive at the plate as the first three batters swung at the first pitch. A base hit and an uncharacteristic Dodge error set Hawkinsville up with a chance to take an early lead with runners at first and second base with one out. However, things ended abruptly when Lowery got a ground ball to second base that Garrett Durden fielded and flipped to Brodie Woodard covering second base for the second out. Woodard threw on to Noah Mincey at first for out number three to complete the double play.
Dodge wasted no time taking a first inning lead. Woodard reached on an error by the shortstop. Parker Dixon hit a two run homerun to left field to drive in Woodard. Lowery walked and was replaced by courtesy runner Timmy Johnson. Mincey singled in the gap between first and second base, and the right fielder allowed the ball to roll under his glove all the way to the fence. The speedy Johnson came all the way around to score despite taking a tumble rounding third. Mincey ended up on third where he would remain stranded, but Dodge led 3-0.
Lowery was on cruise control from the second through the sixth innings retiring fourteen of the fifteen batters he faced.
Meanwhile Dodge padded the lead at the plate. In the bottom of the second, Catcher Parker Hardin hit a fly ball to left, which was dropped by the left fielder. Hardin hustled into second base where he was relieved by courtesy runner Kade Harpe. Davis Marchant grounded out to the right side moving Harpe to third. Brendan O’Connor doubled to left center scoring Harpe. With two outs, Durden hit a fly ball on the infield, which inexplicably fell between the first and second basemen for a cheap hit. O’Connor was running on contact, but he had to hold at third due to stumbling rounding the bag. Dixon placed a two strike pitch into left field for a single plating O’Connor and giving Dodge a 5-0 lead.
Woodard walked in the bottom of the fourth and scored from first on an RBI double by Durden. Dixon had an infield hit. Lowery hit a pop up on the infield, which the second baseman seemed to lose sight of before making an unsuccessful attempt to catch it. Durden scored on the play to give Dodge a 7-0 lead.
Dodge added a final run in the bottom of the sixth when Durden led off with a standup triple. Lowery grounded out to third scoring Durden. Mincey followed with a double, but he was stranded. Dodge led 8-0.
Lowery came out for the seventh to try to close out the game. He looked to be tiring as he gave up a base hit and a walk. He later gave up a deep fly ball to center, but Landin Crummey immediately turned and ran the ball down in the air for the crucial second out. Fittingly, Lowery fanned the last batter for his fifth strikeout to preserve the win.
Leading hitters for Dodge were as follows: Parker Dixon was 3 for 4 with a homerun, 3 RBI and 1 run scored. Garrett Durden was 3 for 4 with a triple, a double, 1 RBI and 1 run scored. Noah Mincey was 2 for 3 with a double. Brendan O’Connor was 1 for 4 with double, 1 RBI and 1 run scored. Davis Marchant was 1 for 3.
Dodge later made a trip to Swainsboro to take on the Tigers. Brodie Woodard took the mound for Dodge, and he also hurled a complete game. Woodard scattered six hits while walking one batter and hitting one batter. He struck out one batter, and he gave up only two unearned runs.
This game should not have been close as Dodge would leave eleven runners on base. Dodge wasted base hits by Garrett Durden and Parker Dixon in the first inning when Durden was thrown out trying to steal home. It was a good idea as Dixon intentionally tried to get himself in a rundown between first and second in order to allow Durden to score from third. Dodge tries this often and has stolen many runs this way. This time Swainsboro played it well.
Woodard got through the first two innings fairly easily giving up only a double and a single and holding Swainsboro scoreless. Dodge loaded the bases in the top of the third inning. Brendan O’Connor led off with a base hit and was able to advance to second on a ground out by Woodard. Durden and Dixon each walked, but Dodge could not score.
[Full Story »] 

By Chad W. Smith
The Dodge County High School Squaws basketball team traveled to Northeast Macon on Tuesday, February 4 for the second round of the Region 3AA tournament to face the  third seeded Raiderettes. The Squaws had defeated Dublin on the night before, 64-46 to advance in the tournament. 
The Squaws lost twice to Northeast in the regular season, but Dodge fought hard in the game to only lose 88-89 in overtime.
Dodge trailed 12-19 after one quarter and was led by Kaonta Goolsby with eight points in the quarter. The Squaws outscored Northeast 16-10 in the second quarter to close the score to 28-29 at halftime. Goolsby had 11 of her game high 31 points in the quarter. 
Sophomore Sanaa Searles led the Squaws in the third quarter with eight of her 15 points as Dodge trailed 45-49 headed to the fourth quarter. Kylie Hart led the Squaws with nine points in the fourth along with Goolsby’s eight points to tie the game at 69-69 at the end of regulation. Searles again led Dodge in the overtime period with six points followed by Cheyenne Hunt with four points as the Squaws dropped a hard fought game 88-89. 
Scoring for the Squaws was: Kaonta Goolsby, 31 points;  Kylie Hart, 17 points including three three-pointers; Sanaa Searles, 15 points; Cheyenne Hunt, 10 points; Ileisha Mitchell, eight points; Altierra Gooch, six points; Ambria Simmons, three points. The Squaws end their season with the loss.