By Greg Sullivan
Sports Editor

After some time off, the Diamond Pups' bats collected no dust, and the pitching wasn't bad either as the team cruised to an 11-1 defeat over Social Circle in Madison Friday afternoon.
The Pups got started early with a Dylan Peppers triple to right-center to score Stewart Spence. A Fred Williams sacrifice knocked Peppers home to put the Pups up 2-0.
The two first inning runs turned out to be all the Pups would need behind the pitching of Dylan Peppers, who picked up the win after four scoreless innings where he allowed just one hit. Carter Shultz closed things out in the fifth, and the run he allowed was unearned.
Pups coach Brian Cousins said he liked what he saw out of Peppers. "Dylan pitched well," he said of the one-hit performance.
For good measure, though, the Pup offense elected to tack on nine more insurance runs as the game went along. Adding three in the third inning, two in the fourth and five in the fifth as the Pups buried the Redskins. The game was called in the fifth due to the conference's run rule.
"We really excelled running the bases," Cousins said. "This put many runners in scoring position and we were able to pick them up throughout the game."
Picking up hits in the game for the Pups were Peppers with three and Williams, Dustin Taylor and Alex Harris who each had two hits apiece.
The win moved Morgan County's record up to an impressive 7-2. Tuesday's outcome with Youth determined whether the Pups would be regular season conference champs or a three-seed in the conference tournament.
The Morgan-Youth winner gets a bye to Saturday's conference tournament semi-finals to be held in Madison on Saturday. The loser will be forced to play a game on Wednesday afternoon to advance to Saturday action.

By Greg Sullivan
Sports Editor

Who's on first? Nobody was defensively for Greene County when they appeared to have a Morgan County base runner caught in a rundown in the third inning of the Diamond Dogs' 16-0 win Monday in Madison.
To everyone's surprise the ball rolled to the fence, prolonging an error-riddled third inning in which the Diamond Dogs tacked up three runs to stretch their lead to 6-0. It was the fourth inning, however, when the Dogs put the Tigers away, scoring 10 runs to force umpires to call the game early.
Defensive errors are a nuisance that plague a lot of high school programs from time to time. The Dogs, themselves, struggled with them earlier this season. Monday, however, the shoe was on the other foot.
It must be pointed out, with some big hits from their batters and some stellar pitching from Caleb Duvall, the help of their opponent's errors didn't make much difference in the outcome of the game.
Bulldog Head Coach Brandon Patch said he was glad to see his team play well defensively and get a region win, especially after his team had to wait four extra days to take a swing at getting the bad taste out of their mouths from last Tuesday's Oglethorpe loss due to two rain-outs in the latter part of last week.
"It was a solid defensive effort that began with Caleb getting ground balls and the defense making routine plays for the out," Patch said following the game. "We have played much better defensively for the last five games or so."
Duvall pitched a four-inning, one-hit shut out; striking out four against the Tigers.
"Caleb continues to mature as a pitcher every time he takes the hill," Patch said. "He is really focused on his pitching and he has provided us with several solid starts throughout region play."

By Greg Sullivan
Sports Editor

Local Georgia Bulldog fans and fans around the Lake Oconee region soon won't have to drive up to Athens every time they want to take part in fellowship with fellow Dog fans.
"We've been trying for years to get a club started and it's finally come to fruition," said one of the new Lake Country Bulldog Club's founders, Peddy Parker. "There are so many alumni over in this area that we felt like we needed to have one."
The Club plans to draw members from Morgan, Greene, Putnam, Baldwin and surrounding counties, according to Parker. The new organization also says it doesn't just plan on limiting itself to alumni.
"It's open for anybody that loves the Dogs," said Parker.
Right now the club is in the process of setting up a website and getting rights to use official University of Georgia logos, Parker said, but the club is well on its way to having things up and running.
The big payoff will come soon as the group has tabbed UGA football offensive coordinator Mike Bobo to be its guest speaker Monday, May 12 at the Club's inaugural meeting to be held at the Rock Eagle 4-H Center in Putnam County.
The meeting will include a tailgate-type dinner with chicken, potato salad and the like. Parker asked for those interested in attending to pick up a registration form at either Crowe's Open Air Bar-B-Que or Whidby's Jewelers in Madison and send a filled out version to the Club by May 3. The May 12 meeting will kick off at 6 p.m.
As for its inaugural meeting agenda, Parker said, it is to get feedback from those interested in joining the club on who they would like future speakers to be and also how often they would like the club to meet.
One possibility, Parker said, is for the Club to meet quarterly. He said the group expects to draw speakers affiliated with a variety UGA sports and is not just limited to football.

By Greg Sullivan
Sports Editor

The Pups soccer team and their Athens Academy opponents both went into last Wednesday's game in Madison looking for a win, but both teams would have to settle for a tie.
"We had numerous opportunities to score," said Pups coach Mike House. "We just couldn't place the ball on goal."
The Pups did find the goal once, though, when Hunter Moore scored the team's lone goal in the first half to put them up 1-0.
The team fought to hold on for the win, but Athens Academy finally got on the scoreboard to tie things up at the six minute mark in the second half.
"Our defenders did an excellent job of being physical, playing the ball to the outside of the field and helping spark our offense," House said, despite the team not being able to eek out the win.
House said he was pleased with the play of Damien Anderson, Daniel Cochran, Campbell Harrison and Thomas Hughes, who all led the defensive effort. James Bearden and Albert Orr, House said, had good moments offensively for the team.
The team plays at St. Joseph's Wednesday. They visit GMC on Friday. Next Wednesday they'll host GMC for the season finale.

By Greg Sullivan
Sports Editor

The Lady Pups soccer team ran into a tough opponent last Wednesday in Madison and came out on the short end of a 5-1 contest at the hands of Athens Academy.
Despite the loss Morgan County Head Coach Katie Greenway said she saw some good things from her girls.
"We played really well as a team and looked really good against Athens Academy," Greenway said.
The Lady Pups got their lone goal from Savannah Hill who made the kick after Griffin Gardner and Sophie Jackson set things up for her.
"It was a great setup and our corner kick play worked beautifully," Greenway said of the play.
Greenway said she was pleased with the play of both Shakarah Boswell and Casey Gauthier, despite the loss.
The team will looked to get back in the win column with a make-up game with St. Joseph's on Monday, a trip to St. Joseph on Wednesday, and a co-ed away game with GMC on Friday.
The team's next home game will be Wednesday, April 16 when they host GMC for the season finale.
Following the season the team will be bagging groceries at Madison's Ingles grocery store on Saturday, April 26 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. as part of a fundraiser. The team asks for members of the community to come out and show support.

By Greg Sullivan
Sports Éditor

The Diamond Pups saw the rain wash most of their week away last week, postponing a big showdown with conference leader Youth and putting a stop on most of their action Friday with Carver.
Friday at Carver the Pups were in a 4-4 tie with one out in the top of the fourth inning when action was called in the first game of their double-header due to weather.
The team will try things again with Carver on Saturday, April 12 at 11 a.m. where action will resume where it left in game one last week. They will follow up the contest with game two.
Last Wednesday's Youth game was moved to April 15 in Madison.
The team has a regularly scheduled game Friday when they host Social Circle.